Friends from Vancouver are Back Again

I was quite surprised to receive a WhatsApp message from Vun Kai in the afternoon of 11.02.2026, informing me that he and his wife had returned to KK. At first, I thought they had intentionally come back early to celebrate Chinese New Year, which was less than a week away on 17 February. However, I later learned that their main purpose this time was to attend the wedding banquet of his nephew in Sandakan - the son of his younger brother.

Time truly flies. The last time we met was nearly two years ago, on 29.04.2024 (Read here) . As is our usual practice when friends return from overseas, we spent a morning on 13.02.2026 at a local restaurant, enjoying the fresh seafood for which KK is well known. Interestingly, we chose the same place where we had breakfast last June with Daniel and his wife, Carol, who had returned from Vancouver for their holidays (Read here).

During our conversation, Vun Kai shared the challenges of travelling from Vancouver back to KK. With advancing age, being confined to a seat for such a long-haul journey has become increasingly exhausting. Crossing multiple time zones and enduring a flight from a place 16 hours behind our local time is no easy task. His reflections made me realize that future homecomings may become less frequent.

When we talked about how he spends his time in retirement, his wife was quick to share that Vun Kai has taken on the daily task of picking up their grandchildren from their daughters’ homes and sending them to school. After dropping them, he goes for an hour-long walk around a nearby park. In the afternoon, when school ends, he returns to pick up the grandchildren and send them home.

With a smile, Vun Kai added, “If I don’t do this, what do I do?” His simple remark reveals a meaningful routine - one that allows him to bond with his grandchildren while keeping himself active and healthy.

After the meal, I drove them to the old BCCM KK church premises at Signal Hill. This was a familiar place to them, where they had once spent a significant part of their youth as church members and choir singers in the 1960s and early 1970s, before the church relocated to its current site near the Dah Yeh Villa traffic junction.

One obvious change he immediately noticed was that the church entrance had been shifted from the east to the west.

We met again on Sunday morning, 15.02.2026, at church. After the church service and as we looked around for familiar faces he once knew, we noticed that they had become fewer with each passing year. With a gentle smile, he quipped, “Well, it’s not surprising - I’ve been away from Sabah for almost 34 years!”

It was hard to believe that so much time had passed since he left in 1992. This reality may also discourage him from returning more often, knowing that there are now fewer old friends to look forward to meeting.

Still, moments like these remind us of the enduring value of friendship, shared memories, and the preciousness of every reunion.