Ah Meng or a story to pick

A few days ago we came across this nice story. A shame we didn't know earlier when we were in Singapore. But we could have been suspicious and could have explored a bit further. Our guidebook told us that the zoo in Singapore is well worth a visit. Lying in the North of Singapore, the zoo is one of the world's few open zoos, where moats are preferred to cages. There are some 3200 animals, representing more than 330 species. The zoo manages to approximate the natural habitats of the animals it holds, and though leopards, pumas and jaguars still have to be kept behind bars, this seems like a nice place for zoo-animals. As a special treat at Singapore's zoo, one can have a breakfast of seasonal tropical fruits with an orang-utan. We actually thought about this, but travel advice tells you not to have fresh fruit which you haven't peeled yourself on the first days in a tropical environment. So we didn't go.

Some days ago we found Paul Carter's first book at our favourite bookshop, Kinokuniya, in KL. The title is kind of catchy: Don't tell mom I work on the rigs: she thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse. Worth a try, we thought. Paul Carter has worked on oil rigs in the Middle East, the North Sea, Borneo, Tunisia, Sumatra, Vietnam, Thailand, Nigeria, Columbia and Russia. In his book he tells some of his stories, some terrifying and violent, but most of them utterly funny. Little D. loved the book and couldn't put it down once had started reading.

Here is one of his stories (summarised by us, it is really fun to read his whole account):
One drill ship in South-East Asia had a very special crew member. Ah Meng, a young orphaned orang-utan who the drill ship's captain found in some harbourside market. He brought her back to the rig and there she stayed for many years. The bar on the rig became Ah Meng's domain, since she ran the bar on the rig for the next fifteen years. According to Carter, the bar was always clean and organized, and Ah Meng mixed the cocktails as well. "And in this bar was never any fighting because everyone had too much respect for Ah Meng [...] and if she wanted to, she could pull your head off and throw it over the side. Whenever the rig was in Singapore getting work done in dock, the boys would take Ah Meng out into town. Some older taxi drivers still remember driving her, they will tell you she was just like any other tourist. [...] When the drill ship was sold to a new drilling contractor, the company said Ah Meng had to go. The crew was in Singapore at the time, and decided to phone the Singapore zoo for advise. The zoo had heard of Ah Meng, and immediately asked if they could have her. In a cab Ah Meng left the ship, the crew was in tears waving her off." Barely in her twenties, she started a new life at the zoo. Because of her bizarre circumstances and gentle nature, she became a kind of meet 'n' greet ambassador for the zoo.

Here is the story that the zoo favours:

"Born in Sumatra, Indonesia around 1960, Ah Meng came to the Zoo at the approximate age of seven in 1971 when she was confiscated from the Chinese family who had kept her as an illegal pet. In 1982, the Zoo introduced ‘Breakfast with an Orang Utan’ programme and Ah Meng was the star. She shot to fame instantly and became a celebrity both at home an overseas. By 1986, she had featured in almost 30 travel films and had appeared in more than 270 articles in newspapers and travel magazines.

For her outstanding contributions in promoting the Zoo as a tourist attraction, Ah Meng is the first and only non-human recipient of the ‘Special Tourism Ambassador’ award conferred by the then Singapore Tourism Promotion Board in 1992."

Now you can choose which story you like better...

Sadly, Ah Meng died on February, 8th this year. She was 48. A devoted mother, Ah Meng leaves behind two sons, two daughters and six grandchildren. You can see here how popular she was! We feel sorry for not having met her.