I took this photo from the banks of the Melinau River in the Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, back in 1989.
The answer is in the photo below. At some point in this boat's history the owners obviously decided to do away with the advanced steering system and replace it with a manual one. I really didn't think about it at the time but looking back now I think these guys managed to scrape together enough money to buy a derelict hull and bolt a new(ish) outboard to it. Hey Presto - people will now pay us to ferry them up and down river!
Clearly the boat had seen better days. The windshield and side glass had long since disappeared. I wondered if in fact they had been plexiglass that had turned yellow and opaque. Note also that there is no-one steering up front! As you'll see in tomorrow's photo, even this wire and pulley arrangement was no longer in service, the steering mechanism having been superseded again. But despite the engineering modifications, the boat floated and it got the job done.
As I mentioned yesterday, about a month after I took this photo, the restoration order was published in the paper and over the next several years they set about restoring this row of former warehouses and stores into cafes, bars and shops. If you were to look at the same view today, you'd notice many of the rook lines remain the same but there's a degree more homogenization and cleanliness about the place. No more bushes growing in the gutters.
About a month before I took this photo this area was gazetted for preservation and transformation to new business. Now the area looks well maintained, the roofs all made of a consistent red clay material replacing the rusted corrugated iron and other tile roofs and the area is a hive of restaurants, bars and shops.
The Merlion was created in 1964 for the Singapore Tourism Board. With the head of a lion and the body of a fish resting on a crest of waves, it symbolizes the founding of Singapore. In the 11th century A.D., a Javanese prince thought he saw a lion on the island so he named the island Lion City - Singa Pura. The fish body of the Merlion symbolizes the city's origins as a fishing village. This is one of five Merlions in Singapore today.