Have kung-fu will travel!

What we learn is never wasted later on in life. I realised this when I was on vacation with my eldest brother in Paris four years ago. We had attended my niece, Kam Ning's successful violin recitals in Belgium. Fortis Bank had given Ning some concerts to perform for their corporate clients. She was selected after winning the 2nd prize in the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition. After her 3rd recital, we decided to visit Amsterdam and Paris. Ning and I wanted to make her father happy because he is an artist as well as a violinist and composer. Mm......now you know where Ning gets her genes from. My papa himself played over 20 musical instruments, self taught.

It was about 2
p.m. when we were trying to catch the underground train in Paris, something like our MRT here in Singapore. I was waylaid by a group of five adolescents prettily dressed in frocks and laces. "Wass de time? Plis"", one girl asked with a strong French accent". I had to dig into my small backpack but as the train was approaching, I thought I would enter the train and then look for my mobile phone which had the local time. However, the girls seemed to be blocking my entry into the train, and suddenly I thought they must be some kind of racists who did not take to Oriental tourists! I became angry and with a booming voice, shouted, "Hey, let me in!" Suddenly, to my horror, one of the girls tried to remove the little handbag which I was gripping with my left arm. "Hey, what are you doing?" I yelled at her and gave her a push out of the door with my right arm. The other four girls also ran out of the train. Just then the doors of the train closed. Gosh, everything happened so fast. If I had not been alert, she would have taken my handbag with cash and passport! Just then two gentlemen who had witnessed the whole episode in the train gave their thumbs up. I asked them in French why they did nothing to help me. They shrugged their shoulders, "C'est la vie!" (That's life).

When we compared notes, my niece told me that she saw one of the girls putting her hand into my backpack just as I was entering the train. Kam Ning pulled the girl's hand out. Looming tall, with arms akimbo, the French girl glared at my petite niece. I told my brother and Ning that at first I panicked because I thought they did not want me to enter the train as they were trying to block me. Some election was going on between Chirac and Le Pen, and I thought these were Le Pen's people for Le Pen was known for his anti-immigration and racist sentiments. I had learnt Chinese kung fu in secondary school, and was glad I could make use of my kung fu when the occasion called for it. Later, my brother realised that his envelope of photos and portable CD player had disappeard from his hand-carry bag. The French girls were quite nimble! They looked so sweet and innocent!

"Wow! Till today, I only realise my youngest sister could speak French and do Chinese Kung Fu", eldest brother declared proudly. We laughed. An unforgettable incident indeed.

Gan Chau :-)