00:00I am a native. I am a native. I live on this land.
00:05Everywhere on this land is my home, my home.
00:13In 1971, Parisian Christine Rohani Longue arrived in Pulau Duyong, Terengganu,
00:20an island famed for its skilled boat builders.
00:23Longue, a single mother, wanted to purchase two sailing boats,
00:28one for an acquaintance and the other so she could sail the Pacific Ocean.
00:33Little did she know that this little island stop would become her permanent home.
00:39Her first sight of Pulau Duyong remains etched in her mind.
00:47It is all green, emerald, all green.
00:53Pokok Cengal Pasir, Pokok Klapu, that covers the island.
01:01And then there is, there are sand, just a few yellow sand beaches to go there.
01:08And around you have the water of the estuary, estuary of the Terengganu River.
01:14Between the swaying trees, she spotted wooden houses with nipah roofs.
01:19And although it was a far cry from her glamorous Paris,
01:23she was drawn to life on the island.
01:25Eventually, she learned how to speak Malay from the boat builders here.
01:30So, I learned first, big, small, long, one, two, three,
01:39how many meters, how many feet, how many inches, how many.
01:44She also found love with a local named Wan Otman Wan Abdullah, better known as Awi.
01:52He was tall, had a strong smile,
01:59was very broad-shouldered, had a long neck.
02:02He was handsome, had charisma.
02:07I fell in love with him.
02:11So, I can't describe it.
02:13After some time on the island, she married Awi and the couple lived a happy life,
02:19even setting up a boat building enterprise and running a guest house together.
02:24Despite being a foreigner, Longge shares that the people accepted her with open arms.
02:30In return, she built a library for the community,
02:33filling it with books about architecture, art and botany, among others.
02:38While in Malaysia, Longge completed her master's degree
02:42and will be graduating with a PhD come October.
02:46She is also planning on writing her memoir.
02:49Although she never sailed the Pacific Ocean like she wanted,
02:52Longge found love in Malaysia.
02:55Love for the island, love for its people and culture, and love for a wonderful man.
03:02After spending more than half her life in Malaysia, where does she consider home?
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