60
about me (after Mass on Sunday) to deter any successor. That if my
knickers fell down, I was too lazy to pull them up was probably the
mildest. The Chinese are inventive in the extreme when it came to in-
sults. Even a most correct Chinese lady would resort to such tactics
when bargaining with a goldsmith. It was just the Chinese way and
greatly added to the colour of everyday life.
It was probably the Chinese cabinet that started my conversion. I
bought a cabinet from Shensi in the north-west of China and wondered
at its long journey, overland, perhaps by river. Who made the journey
with it and why? Then the Indonesian dealers arrived with their wares
bundled up in sarongs, sailing over with the Bugis traders. On our ter-
race they would set out blue and white Ming and celadon, some
blanc
de chine
, all from grave sites in Indonesia or excavated from river
mouths. The Mandarin Hotel is on such a site; the market at the time
was flooded with ‘Han’ jade. With the first piece of Ming and its se-
rene presence came the curiosity to learn about it, books to study, and
lectures to attend. It was the start of a lifetime of learning. The great-
est gift of life in Singapore was endless time.
We gave dinner parties in the garden after lavish use of Flit, the tulip
tree hung with gigantic lanterns which Ue Ching brought from China-
town wishing us ten thousands sons. We did things differently and
grew further and further from the constraints of the Service. And
through our life bustled Ue Ching, trading pig swill at the kitchen door
for half a chicken every now and then, feeding garlic to a reluctant hen
until it went obediently back to lay, or was despatched and served up.
A sore throat required a herbal remedy. Pounded black beetles made a
brackish brew which effected an immediate cure, more palatable than
swallowing a live baby mouse. I could always tell how she rated our
events by the stiffness of the silk of her trousers in the evening. Any-
one thought to have even the most distant connection with the Queen
was placed highest. She was a Royalist.
And so, at last, after nearly three years, I prepared to sail home for long
leave. On Val’s return from that leave, Ue Ching wrote to me in beau-
tiful characters with translation above: ‘Please be advised that Master
