KUALA TERENGGANU: Out in the remote village of Kampung Pulau Duyung, here lies a modest library that is full of intriguing tales waiting to be discovered.
The public library, which was converted from an abandoned village house, belongs to 80-year-old Frenchwoman Christine Rohani Longuet.
Rohani shared her mother's shock when learning about her dream to open a library.
"So I asked: `Is it not good for making a living? My mother said: `No, don't go that way'.
"But I've always dreamt of having a library because I like books.
"I appreciate the thoughts and ideas shared by the writers and what they bring to the world," Rohani said when met at her library.
She said the library fulfilled her dream of having a cultural centre for young children and explorers exploring the world.
"It has been operating for about five years, but since I am working on my thesis, I have run it less than I would like it to.
"But we have people coming (here), like a cultural centre, film projects, young children and explorers.
"I also had an artist giving me the painting of our Yellow House (a guest house belongs to Rohani)," she said.
This quiet village library has a wide selection of books, including children's books, plants, ships, pictures, and local handicrafts.
Many of the books and pictures were gifted by friends and the public.
"I have these bird cages in the children's corner because I want to tell them that now they are small and they have to go to school, so they are in "cages" but one day they will go out, so that is why the cages are empty," said the mother of eight.
Meanwhile, sharing her life story, Rohani, who travelled to Malaysia over half a century ago, said she was in search of skilled boatbuilders when she fell in love with Pulau Duyung's stunning scenery and tranquillity.
Pulau Duyung, in the past, she said, was well known for building boats, prompting many, including from European countries, to travel there to have their ships built by highly talented local artisans.
"I am very interested in the world of sailing and boat making, and destiny brought me to Pulau Duyung after reading a French language book about the skilled boat builders in this village," she said.
Upon booking her sailing boat in Pulau Duyung, Rohani sailed to Vietnam with another boat, but her trip could not be continued due to the war.
"It was dangerous for my young children. I wanted to bring them to a peaceful place, and Pulau Duyung was it.
"When I returned, that's when I met my (second) husband, the late Wan Othman Wan Abdullah," said Rohani, who is currently pursuing her doctorate in ethnobotanical study.
Rohani was fascinated by the intricate architecture of the building and the meticulousness with which the ship was built in Pulau Duyong.
"Terengganu people have a special talent to take the best from others' talents and use them to make their own products.
"They can make beautiful shapes of "tembaga" (copper), which they learned from the Chinese people, they learned boat building from the French, and they use metallic for the "kemudi" (rudder).
"The people in Terengganu can identify the quality of workmanship, they have the eye and the taste for it. It is just a simple "kampung" house or boats made of wood, but the woods (Cengal) were taken from the forest and handled with about 200 years of craftsmanship, at least," she said.
Rohani, a talented ship designer, and her skilled boatman husband had a boat construction business.
They also owned a guest house called Awi's Yellow House.
"We built boats for other people, and at first, they (their clients) slept in our house, then we thought, okay, we can build a house for them.
"The house is yellow, so we called it the Yellow House (Awi's Yellow House).
"Our guests are mostly locals who want to experience the peacefulness of the place," she said.
Rohani, however, hoped that more would be done by the authorities to protect the nature and beauty of traditional living in Terengganu.
"I came from Paris, and here I saw people are happy. I saw art in the buildings. It was made from Cengal, which was transported (traditionally) via `rakit (raft)' or boat, not by cars or lorries, so you will see the wood being dried here. That was the view in Pulau Duyung (then).
"Now it costs more to build houses or ships in Cengal or other good wood than to build it in concrete, so the quality of the view, the landscape is going down," she said, adding that people are no longer using Cengal to build houses and ships.