What a Goat Year - Feb 2015

It's Chinese New Year. Year 2015 is the Year of Goat or Sheep or Ram, whatever. One of the things we enjoy, not sure it's a tradition or not, is making crafts for decoration. Paper cuts is a popular Chinese handicraft. It's good for training the motor skills as well. Learning some simple designs from Youtube  and the techniques of cutting can be tricky. We've some visitors this CNY, so we put up more decorations in the house than usual. The red crafts sure made our house looked cheerful and festive. 


Another tradition we enjoy is meeting up with our family members and friends. Especially those who come back from afar. We do not reside overseas so we do not feel the anticipation of travelling far for family gatherings. Most of the gatherings revolved around eating, and eating and eating. The kids enjoyed throwing the Pop-pop at each other, and the more daring ones played the firecrackers. Think the boys have outgrown the mild sparklers.



 Visit from my Myanmar students. It's their first time visiting during CNY. Well, there're many firsts, as I explained to them some of the traditions, the CNY cookies and goodies and ang pows. It's good to have a break from a normal lesson and did something different. Sure they'd agree too.


Visit to Farm in the City with our relatives. It's a very nice, cooling place and small in comparison to a zoo. Suitable for younger kids. They've some rare species of tortoise, birds and reptiles. Kids can get close to touch and feed the docile animals. Like in all other parks in Malaysia, this place can be better - if only it's well-maintained.


CNY can be a drag - doing the same thing over and over - gatherings, eating and be merry. Maybe I have reached mid-life transition, but I am counting my blessings each year for the time together with loved ones.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spilling the Beans in Ipoh - 6 Apr 2012

Image
Ipoh's familiar specialty - Nga Choy Kai or the Taugeh (Bean Sprouts) Chicken. What else to accompany the poached chicken than the fresh, fat and crunchy Ipoh famous bean sprouts!! The bean sprouts are served blanched, with a dash of sesame oil, white pepper and soy sauce. Ipoh is a well-known food haven in Malaysia, and most will agree that Ipoh's bean sprout is the best in Malaysia. The premium-grade bean sprouts come from the Buntong New Village, which is also my husband's hometown. Growing bean sprout requires only water and more importantly, watering techniques. Madam Toon told us that there were at least 8 operators in Buntong. They were all family-owned businesses, and the three Toon brothers have been growing bean sprouts for more than 70 years.  Bean sprouts are grown from black mung beans imported from Myanmar. The beans need to be watered every 4 hours throughout the day for 5 days, no shortcut, otherwise they will be not be fat and juicy. At
Read more

Al-Attas Garden in Janda Baik - 4 August 2012

Image
Besides being a well-known contentious writer, little do we know that Syed Hussein Alattas is also a self-taught gardener and an architect. He had built Taman Hana in Janda Baik from scratch and named after his wife.  Taman Hana sits on a 8-acre plot of land in the quiet village of Janda Baik. It boasts a collection of 1,000 species of plants including fruit trees, more than 700 big flower pots and five buildings that include the home of the Alattas family.  The good news is that it is open to visitors every day.  As we made our way past the entrance, this place appeared unkempt. It was well beyond its heyday (in 2008) but still showing off its faded beauty. Some parts were badly neglected, which was so unfortunate, because it originally was to be a quiet kampung retreat. A mix of traditional Malay, Peranakan, Indonesian and colonial British architecture and a Minangkabau styled roof. Syed Hussein had actually started building the structures in 1982 and he spent a lot of time
Read more

Sungai Besar Fishing Town - 12 Jan 2014

Image
I have no clue where is Sg Besar before the trip.  I thot it couldn't be that far cos it's still in Selangor. Together with my boys, I went with my friends to their hometown.  It's a small, quiet fishing town, home to mostly TeoChew fishermen.  The drive  on a Sunday morning  was  very relaxing and a good getaway after a crazy week.  Very scenic driving on the west coast and we passed by many small villages, paddy fields, interesting roadside stands and some cottage industries. There're familiar names like the Kuala Selangor town, Sekinchan, Tg Karang, and some homestays eg Kampung Haji Dorani in Sabak Bernam. I was worried by then cos we've not even reached Sg Besar, and it's already 150km! After another 15 minutes, and we're there! It took us about 2 hours in total. Fishing boat coming back with bountiful catch! Spending time at the jetty to watch fishing boats back in late morning.     Locals looking for bargains and fresh produce
Read more