Uncle Ben

When Uncle Ben was young, he teamed up with an archaeologist to fish for porcelain and antiques from ships at the bottom of the sea. This is the first time I have heard of such a profession. I know about diving, I know about archeology, and I also know about shipwrecks, but I have never associated these three things together. Thinking about it carefully, this is a dream connection. I’ve watched One Piece a lot, but I don’t think it’s true; many things can actually be true after looking at it from a different angle.

I work watching the weather for three or four months a year and diving to salvage antiques from ancient Chinese shipwrecks. If I remember correctly, it seems to be a ship from the Ming Dynasty 400 years ago. Shipwreck is a very sad thing. People and things were swallowed up by the sea. All the people involved died, leaving the world with a lot of suspicion. If I want to think more optimistically, I can assume that all the parties involved have escaped.

The complete porcelain that was salvaged was donated to the National Museum of Malaysia. There were a lot of ceramic fragments left. Uncle Ben started another path that I had never thought of - he polished and decorated the ceramic fragments and made them into decorations for sale.

He wears a sign of his own on his finger with the word "Shou" on it.

This is his shopee website https://shopee.com.my/benrongen , which contains his products and videos of the salvage process. The products are very beautiful. When I first saw them, I immediately thought that whoever wears them is a noble lady (or husband, too).

The jewelry is so light, but it has carried 400 years of time. After soaking in the sea for 400 years, I must have seen many wonderful scenes, just like the psychic jade worn by Jia Baoyu.

Once while riding a speedboat with Uncle Ben, he pointed to the top of the highest mountain in the mainland and said that he wanted to visit there one day.

I asked him if he knew the name of that mountain?

He said he didn't know, and neither did I.

But if Uncle Ben hadn't mentioned it, I didn't realize that there was a mountain that was particularly sharp.

He said that he did too many dives when he was young, and the diving tank was heavy. As he got older, his back hurt. When taking a speed boat, he had to find a corner where the vibrations were not so severe to spend the boat ride.

He bought an air mattress from MR DIY for RM30 (cheaper than I thought).

He wears an air mattress to soak in sea water every day. He can soak twice a day, in the morning and evening. One time I happened to meet him soaking in the sea water. He sat in a shallow place and let the waves beat gently, passively. Unlike us young people, who have water fights, swim, and laugh wildly.

He would chat with tourists he didn't know, and then lend them the air mattress to play with, telling them to put it outside the chalet after they finished playing. The air mattresses were returned safely. I find this very interesting. Tourists enjoy the air mattress unexpectedly, and Uncle Ben is also willing to share. When others are happy, he is also happy, and it is a happy cycle.

After soaking in the sea water, he would rinse the sea water off his body in the outdoor shower head, and then go to the room to take a shower. He would put soap on his clothes, rinse off the bubbles and hang them up to dry. "The clothes are not dirty, they are just soaked in sea water.", he said.

One day we were very hungry and cooked dinner in the kitchen. Because we were so hungry, everyone was silent.

He came into the kitchen and wanted to make sandwiches. The first thing he said after seeing us was: "Why are you not giggling?"

Because we are usually very noisy, hahahaha.

We burst out laughing. It turns out that everyone knows that as long as we are around, it will be noisy and the laughter will be loud.

Later he kept calling us interns the giggles.

Uncle Ben is willing to save his accommodation fee to treat his friends to drinks. Every time he came he asked for the cheapest room.

That room looked pretty good to me. Its compartments have been in disrepair for many years and have been taken over by tree roots (taken by nature, I specifically mentioned the original words, I think the words used are beautiful). Some people may mind sleeping with tree roots, so that room is particularly cheap.

Once, he wore his pants inside out. In fact, he didn't mention it and we didn't find out. The trousers he wore were loose, three-quarter-length trousers with small black and white checks and pockets. So if you wear it backwards, the pockets on both sides will hang on both sides, looking like an elephant's ears, and they will sway with every step you take.

How can anyone admit that they have their clothes on inside out and still be so nonchalant and funny?

I like Uncle Ben's relaxed attitude, he thinks nothing is a big deal.

When relocating the turtle eggs to the hatchery, he said, we (this group of interns) can also build our own hatchery, in which case you will be the mother of a group of baby turtles.

We said, it's impossible.

Conservation is about restoring nature, and there is no reward in the short term. If there is a reward, it will not be a clear monetary reward. Even if the environment improves, humans will live better. Conservation is charity in disguise. I saw that the NGO I was interning in was barely able to survive with funding from the public, and I felt that all this was not simple. We were not doing it for money, but we needed money.

Uncle Ben said with a serious face, it can be done, you are already practicing for the future.

I think he is also a thoughtful person, thinking about things that others don't think about.

That's right, who says you can't think about these things.