echo from Sarawak

我的Uncle Hen喜欢养鸟. 他什么鸟都养. 我记得小时候他连老鹰都养.  几年前我开始跑婆罗洲大道做工的时候, 他都会叫我记得看路边有没有人卖些奇怪的鸟, 然后帮他买下来. 我跟Uncle Hen 讲, ‘哪里能够? 上下也要两千公里, 你要叫我把它放在哪里?’. Uncle Hen讲, ‘不用紧, 你买下来放在你车里飞来飞去都不要紧, 多少钱我Uncle 一定出, 只要是特别少有的鸟’. Uncle 就是这样特别爱鸟的人. 潮州人讲, ‘养鸟破家’, Uncle 可以为了一只特别的鸟而省下一星期的饭钱, 除了Beer. 特别的鸟实在是难找, 每一次我回古晋都没有给他好消息. 有一次回来我们在’香香’喝Beer, 他不耐烦的问我, ‘鸟Leh?’ 我就跟Uncle 讲, 很难啊, Uncle 就讲, 怎样难? 我知道有一只鸟每次我出门一两个小时它就出现, 下车小便后它也跟我回车上。那只很特别。 ‘什么鸟这么特别’， Uncle 醉醉的问。 Uncle，那是一只很特别的鸟，我老婆也是特别爱这鸟，我很难抓给你。 ‘什么颜色？’， Uncle不耐烦的问。 Uncle， 是蓝色的。。。 Uncle想了一下，然后大骂一声，‘你的蓝叫’。 以后我出门的时候， Uncle也没有叫我在找鸟了。 不过每次我回古晋的时候，我会先跟Uncle讲，我得把我捉到的蓝鸟给我老婆先， 然后我们才喝Beer。 Uncle 满意的大笑。

Kampong (village) life is a customary scene in many parts of Malaysia/Malaya and British Borneo, including Sarawak, before & after the War (World War II). As with the post-World War II economic boom, similar to other parts of the World before the mid-70s recession, the era of economic growth progressively helped Sarawak to transform from a rural Kampong lifestyle to a more urbanised standard of living. Many older residents still can remember the earlier Attap roofing (thatched roof using nipa palm leaves) and changes to zinc roofing in the 60s & earlier 70s. There were various nostalgic moments in those poor & happy old days as my older relatives used to recount in beer sessions. The one those old men kept repeating was the story of Zinc roofing & the Monsoon rains. Family size was big in those days, and many families lived in the same roof. There were not much entertainments at nights and most nights were quiet, especially after s