Chinese New Year

Hi all!

I hope all of you have enjoyed your Chinese New Year's break. Chinese New Year (CNY) is really part of my growing up years but it is not one of my growing pains. I have not celebrated CNY like most of my friends. I did not visit relatives until most recently. Therefore, I did not have many 'ang pows'  to collect. I also have to travel a great distance for my reunion dinner.  In fact, I have not celebrated any CNY celebrations at my schools.I would be travelling in my father's car to Kuala Lumpur (KL). I remember leaving home as early as 5 in the morning so as to avoid the jam at the immigration points. I think my father would like to squeeze as much time as we could spend with my grandmother as possible. Don't bother pitying me - I enjoy the cosiness and coldness in the car early in the morning. It is something that I look forward to. It is the same feeling that I get as if I was going on a vacation and I look forward to seeing my grandmother and cousins.

Most of my paternal relatives are in Penang. I only have one grandaunt to visit in KL. So I only get to collect red packets from my granny and the relatives at my grandaunt's place only. My mother said that before I started Primary School, we used to spend a week or more in Malaysia. After the reunion dinner, we would go to another part of Malaysia for a vacation. We had stayed in Lake Kenir, visited Cameron Highlands and the west coast of Malaysia, stayed in a condominion in Port Dickson, etc.

At my grandmother's place, there are 2 dogs, a coconut tree, chickens running around, (and even two turkeys in the past!) These are eye- openers, things that I do not usually see in Singapore. I really enjoyed waking up in the morning to feed the chickens (predominantly hens). As things in Malaysia are a lot cheaper than in Singapore, my father would bring my grandmother together with us to check out different restaurants in KL. During my recent trip to KL, my grandmother brought us to Kajang, a town in the outskirts of KL, where I had the most delicious satay I have ever tasted. It is the famous Kajang satay. The chicken satay which I had was simply soft and juicy and the satay sauce was delectable.

As we went to KL a day before the eve of CNY this year, many shops were opened and I came home with new shoes and clothes. We even managed to catch the movie that I wanted to watch at just 10 RM which is about S$4  only! I would recommend my friends to watch it  -' Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It had a good story line, good effects  and good looking actors and actresses. However, what I missed most was buying 'illegal' firecrackers and lighting them up. It was very exhilarating and fun. However, I was a bit fearful of the sparks when I was younger.

But for now it is back to work, tests are coming, (sigh). Au revoir till next year, year of the rabbit...

                                                        My cousins burying me in the sand

Bathing the dog with my aunt