mumsiechu2

VALENTINE 2011

2012-02-17T17:44:00.009+08:00

Most people agree that time flies when you're having fun, but time also flies when you're not having fun...so "fun" isn't necessarily the right word..Maybe mumsie should change "fun" to "BUSY, VERY VERY VERY BUSY..." And do you know that one day to an eleven-year-old would be approximately 1/4000 of their life, while one day to a 55-year-old would be approximately 1/20,000 of their life. Now you know why a day would appear much longer to a young child than to an adult...

What mumsie wants to point out is that it just seems like yesterday when mumsie celebrated Valentine's day ....look at the following pics taken last year...(mumsie didn't get the time to blog about it but since they were still lying around my computer...don't think it is toooo late to put them up to share with all of you...)

Love they say is one of the most beautiful feelings... So one can express one's love ANYWHERE

So last year we didn't get to go to any "posh" restaurant cos dadda gotta work..(night clinic) and mumsie 's special evening was at her own garden...Mumsie remember to light the candle.. "shedding" its soft romantic glow...
Yup we had our Valentine Dinner here...with dadda's favourite red wine..
A table set for two..
With the moon just above our head....

and mumsie eating her Valentine dinner with her favourtie bowl and chopsticks...
Whilst dadda used fork and spoon
Yum sing and good health...

And dadda brought home some "sweet" given to him by aunty Muthumah (his midwife)..his favorite "bubur pulut hitam"

We had classic love songs blaring out here from these outdoor speakers via the radio...think mumsie had her favourite Radio Singapore's 90.5...not bad cos the DJ really made sure that the songs chosen were meant for Valentine's Day...
So we had our romantic dinner (cooked by Yati) under the watchful eyes of Ernie ...

Actually when you come to think of it Valentine is not just the only time of year to celebrate romance...actually, any day too can be the time of year to celebrate romance....whenever one wants to express one's love, and whenever one wants to celebrate the spirit of love so every day can be Valentine DAY !!!

When you can still celebrate Valentine after many many many years of marriage with him/her

then mumsie thinks...this is real VALENTINE CELEBRATIONS...!!!!

THE MOST ROMANTIC DAY OF THE YEAR

2012-02-15T00:43:00.024+08:00

In Malaysia Islamic officials warned Muslims against celebrating Valentine's Day, linking it with vice activities. Deputy Prime Ministier Muhyiddin Yassin said the celebration of romantic love was "not suitable" for Muslims..In fact they proclaimed that this day "is associated with elements of Christianity," and "we just cannot get involved with other religion's worshipping rituals." And so their religious officials raids hotels ect ect so as to stop young couples from having unlawful sex !!!And leaflets were distributed to Muslim university students warning them against the day!!!! The Malaysian Muslims were also told that celebrating Valentine's Day is a forbidden activity in Islam because it contained elements that were anti-Islam!!!!

Any way since Mumsie is not a Muslim...mumsie and Dadda went all out to celebrate this day this year.......

Look what mumsie got from dadda on Valentine's day !!!!!! Not one stalk but a pot of orchid !!! Believe it or not the price tag is still on it...He did say that it is better than a stalk of Rose...

But to mumsie it is WOW !!!!! Will definitely make sure that mumsie will look after it properly and show you how this plant again next year's Valentine .

Anyway did you know why Roses are popular during Valentine ??? Remember Eros, the god of love of Greece??? If you turn the name around, it will spell out a rose...Now you know why one of the most popular flowers ever given on Valentine's Day is the rose and for a very good reason.. Roses are one of the most romantic flowers anyone can ever give to their lovers... Of course, roses aren't the only flower to give duruing Valentine's Day...Orchids are also recognized as a romantic flower...(Wonder did dadda did some research on this...???) It has varying meanings such as beauty, wealthy, and love. Now, orchids are generally considered to be a perfect symbol for delicate beauty that is rare and treasured. Having a lover is like looking at a delicate beauty that is so rare... So treasure her/him and if you have these feelings and would want to convey them to her/him then give them elegant orchids for Valentine's Day...Now you tell me whether dadda did do some research...???

Beautiful isn't it ??????
Happy happy happy mumsie receiving her romantic flower from dadda
Flower of beauty...(ahem that's mumsie) flower of wealth....( hopefully big money will come to mumsie this year)...and ???love...ya ya ya mumsie wants lots and lots of it...especially if it is from Dadda !!!!!!

Now Romance is an ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people..So what did mumsie give Dadda on this Valentine ???? One of the most pupular customs of Valentine's Day observed worldwide is to go on a date with sweetheart..go for romantic candlelight dinners with one's Valentine. Now look at that day's Straits Times ...and its advertisement about their "VALENTINE DINNERS"...

There are so many choices....with its prices and menu ect ect ect

So when dadda came home that evening mumsie showed him the above and asked him to choose his Valentine's Venue..and he chose The Zone Regency Hotel...3 minutes drive from our house...
The above is the Zone Regency Hotel
The hotel's grand entrance...

And as you can see from the New's paper's advert...one can either choose to dine at their Salt and Pepper Bristo's buffe

Or a 4 course Candle light Western Diner....and Dadda chose this

Look at their Decor for this special night......

Lucky thing mumsie rang up for booking...cos when we arrived there the place was full....!!!

A very very very happy mumsie in her new attire..yup kept this for tonight...
One of the
Wonder if the Muslims dare to come out for dinner that night...what if this day happens to be their wedding anniversary or Birthday ???...Maybe if their bring along their wedding certificate or birth certificate..to this dinner, will they still be prosecuted ??? Should someone try this ???
Now you know why this place is filled with Chinese and Indians...the Muslims do the "serving"

It is a "see" and "no touch" situation.. Hope that next year their Islamic council don't come out with anew ruling that they can't even watch people "celebrating"
They did say candle light...so they light the candle the minute we sat down...and rose petals all around the table...added as a final touch...
look pink table cloth...a colour that can create an atmosphere of love and romance is pink..This colour is gentle and soothing and stands for a naive and innocent form of love..
The candle before it was lighted...

Look at all the Heart shaped balloons....

Look at this young couple..bz bz bz "sms-sing"Maybe they are too shy to talk to one another, so they sms...yeh yeh yeh..

Oooops Dadda too is sms-sing...no not to mumsie...to his darling daughter Linny...

There is nothing like music to set the mood for a romantic evening..So the girl band of Philipinos did a good job...only thing is not all their songs were of romance...some quite loud and "off beat" maybe they probably want to avoid the classic love songs..

Our first course....
and our white wine...(you can choose either white or red wine)
One whole bottle for just the 2 of us standing in this ice-filled bucket...
A generous helping of "sorbet"

The soup

Mumsie's main cours is beef...
Whilst Dadda's main is fish...tuna to be exact...was supposed to be cod...but too "laku" so no more cod...
And this is our sweet...

These chocalate came with tea or coffee...
After we snoop around the place and found this dragon...

All this is "indoors" so these palm trees are FAKE....

Their "pup" is also packed

Mumsie likes the carvings on this door...

And we get our Valentine's gifts too....

Two quite pretty photo frames...

They do look "romatic" with mumsie's daddy bear...on mumsie's bed...

Mumsie thinks that one should celebrate this day by expressing love not just to their sweethearts but everyone they hold dear and special ..!!!

Remember reading this passage from Mother Teresa..."Spread love everywhere you go. first of all in your own home. Give love to your children, to a wife or husband, to a next-door neighbor."

Mumsie didn't know that one of her favourite songs that she used to dedicate to Dadda

"Every thing I do" by Bryan Adams ..is in the lists of Valentine's Songs...

So hope all of you did have a beautiful and lovely Valentine's day...(Wonder if wishing my Muslim friends this is allowed...???)

BREAKING NEWS

2012-02-10T18:16:00.010+08:00

Look what mumsie got from one of her friends who just got back from Jakarta ??? KOPI LUWAK !!! Muumsie told her that she tried Kopi Luwak in Shanghai at the Indonesia's Pavilon during the Shanghai World Expo..We paid about $350 (or was it $150??) per cup and she saw this in Jakarta and bought it for us...!!!

Look it came in a bag with ribbons and all..

All packed in an exclusive Paper Gift Box..
With 6 Sachets (10gr each) of Ground 100% Authentic Kopi Luwak There is also a Certificate of Authenticity...with their trademark Cup and Saucer..

Each sachet is beautifully presented with a beautiful bag and ribbon..

Coffee comes with a "Birth" Certificate....
And a nice booklet....

Now what is Kopi Luwak..They boasted that this is "THE MOST EXPENSIVE COFFEE IN THE WORLD" with prices reaching from US$160 to $600/ per pound!!!!!! OUTRAGEOUS!!

Kopi Luwak coffee comes from the Indonesian island of Java. Bali, Sulawesi and Sumatra, an area well-known for its excellent coffee. Also native to the area is a small civet-like animal called a Paradoxurus. That's the scientific name, the locals call them luwaks. These little mammals live in the trees and one of their favorite foods is the red, ripe coffee cherry. They eat the cherries, beans and all. While the beans is in the little animal's stomach, it undergoes chemical treatments and fermentations. The bean finishes its journey through the digestive system and exits. The still-intact beans are collected from the forest floor, and are cleaned, then roasted and ground just like any other coffee.

One most wonder about the circumstances that brought about the first cup of Kopi Luwak coffee. Who would think to (or even want to) collect and roast beans out of animal faeces? Perhaps a native figured it was easier to collect the beans from the ground this way, rather than having to work harder and pick them from the trees? We will likely never know. But because of the strange method of collecting there is not much Kopi Luwak produced in the world. The resulting

coffee is said to be lke no other. It has rich, heavy flavour with hints of caramel or chocolate. Other terms used to describe it are earthy, musty and exotic. The body is almost syrupy and it is very smooth...

And like other products in this world scacity of this product due to the decrease in civet population caused by hunting for meat. Kopi luwak production involves a great deal of labour ..so the small production quantity and the labour involved in production contribute to the coffee's high cost...
Then we used one sachet and followed the instructions carefully to make one cup of coffee..

the other cup is mumsie's usual black kopi from the packet below...look at its price..M$6.50 for 20 sachets !!!!!

Or if you prefer with sugar....from the packet below..price is M$7.50 per packet of 20s....

Here they are experiencing and enjoying an unusual and rare delicacy..
Dadda enjoying his expensive Kopi and trying to tell the difference between the expensive one and mumsie's plain coffee bag....
and The Verdit ????...of course dadda agreed fully that the Luwak taste very very very different and after tasting that coffee...the others are all no taste...very very diluted taste...

and Mumsie's verdit????? Well the thought of drinking something from somebody's "poo" and their 'bums' doesn't go down very well with me (whether all those washing really remove all the harmful organisms ???) and and and just in case...just in case "the poo" was not properly washed off......ai year........taste wise...a bit too strong for mumsie...so mumsie will still keep to her "Mister Coffe"...Kopi 'O' So don't think it's truly worth that amount of money...Didn't see any 'halal' sign on the box so doubtful that Malaysian Muslims will drink the most expensive coffee but it is declared halal in Indonesia so our guys are still waiting for the halal certification...till then I suppose this drink is "Haram!!!"

Wonder if PAS allow the Muslims to drink the world's most expensive coffee...since it is extracted from the dung of a civet cat, over concerns that it is "UNCLEAN" So until the Indonesians can pass "the washing process" of the "poo" don't think Malaysian Muslims will drink it..The reason given was ...the cute little cats that poops out the highly-prized, hugely expensive coffee beans was "najis" (ritually unclean) . Any Muslim coming into contact with najis are themselves contaminated, and thus require purification before performing religious duties like prayers...

Look they too come in individually packed sachet ..only difference is they didn't have any ribbon round the sachet.

CNY TEA CEREMONY

2012-01-28T17:28:00.029+08:00

The most important things in life come to us in ordinary ways like giving a cup of tea to our relatives....Wonder if you heard of this popular traditonal saying "Qian li song er mao, li ging ging yi zhong" = I travelled a thousand miles to bring you the gift of a goose feather; light it is but it bears the weight of our firendship to you !!

Every 1st day of CNY after returning from Church...mumsie will make sure that we continue our

tradtional culture of offering tea "nicely and respectively" to our seniors .. the idea is to deliver a message of gratitude, respect and love...and also a time to reflect on the real meaning of ancient customs and traditions.

Yati would have prepared the tea together with the breakfast...so first we gotta sit down and have our breakfast of auspicious delicious sweet soup to welcome the Chinese New year..

Yup this is the "tong sui" which literally means "sweet water" in Cantonese but actually it is a healthy, delicious sweet soup usually served as dessert. This dessert is auspicious cos its official name is "Pak Lin Yan Kor Ho Hup" with the meaning "A Hundred Years of Fated Peace and Harmony"..so we have an auspicious start to the new year ..when we have this dessert as a family in harmony...
And what about this dish ??? Sweet, steamed Sticky Rice Cake..another popular dessert during CNY.. This has symbolic significance too..their sweetness symbolizes a rich, sweet life, whit the layers symbolize rising abundance for the coming year...and as this "nian gao" is round..the round shape signifies family reunion..."Nian" in Chinese sounds liKe 'year', and 'gao" sounds like "high". As such, eating "niangao" symbolises"the moving up or promotion of oneself to a higher status or level in every coming year'.
Guess what dadda is doing?????
He is peeling the "blessed" orange given to him at Church and he puts each slice into our auspicious drinks.
Getting grandma ready...so now our tong sui has additional blessings
As usual we have the tea ceremony in mumsie's favourite garden...amongst her beautiful orchids..Orchid is a symbol of the exotic beauty. It symbolizes refinement, thoughtfulness and mature charm. It also symbolizes proud and feminity.
These orchids never let mumsie down. They are always flowering throughout the year.
Look this year mumsie got "Mei Hua" high up on this tree...
Dadda pouring out the tea
Look our new addition ..a small red lion..given to mumsie by Yee Tze..
And a quick look around the place..
Mumsie's heligonia...or "birds of paradise" heligonias bearing an unmistakable resemblance to a brightly coloured bird in flight, bird of paradise represent joyfulness and thus paradise..Do you know that this flower are the 9th wedding anniversary flower ??? It also symbolizes magnificence..
Here we are 'tucking" in our auspicious breakfast...

With the neighbour's birds twitting in the background and mumsie's plants around this is really mumsie's favourite spot..

Dadda gotta be the first to perform this traditional rite of tea offering...
While offering this simple cup of tea with both hands dadda gotta say out all the auspicious phrases...

mumsie's turn
Of course grandma will also wish us all the "good things" for this coming year and angpow was given in return for the simple cup of tea and well wishes.Adults give children and unmarried relatives red packet with lucky money inside to signify good fortune. There is also an ancient belief that red packets are given to symbolize long life for the person who gives it. The lucky money inside the red packet is called "Ya Sui Qian" in Chinese, which means 'surpressing the age money'. As everyone grows a year older during CNY, the elder folks 'borrow' the younger energy of children by givning them red packets in return. The effect of such practice is believed to be stronger when one gives more red packets to children.
See it for yourself the magic it may bring on the face of your folks...

Then kor-kor's and here is grandma wishing him all the good things for the new year...

ooops his angpow

Yee Tze's turn...
Danny's turn

Then it's David's turn to give dadda and mumsie tea

Notice the red dates inside the tea cups???? Yup the simple cup of tea must have red dates..for in chinese red dates are 'Hong Yun Dang Tou'..signify 'good luck in every endeavour'

Guess what mumsie is saying???

Gee he's hoping that this ang pow will be BIG MAN....

Yati got her angpow without giving the tea...

This is Kor-kor 's and Yee Tze's first time giving CNY angpows
Now more tea before Danny boy gives his tea first time tea to kor-kor and his sis-in-law
Kor-kor trying his best to get Danny boy to wish him more good good wishes before he takes out his angpow...
Finally...he gotta drink his tea...
After all the hard work Danny boy must be wishing that this angpow better be "big"

Yee Tze too get a cup from Danny boy
Pocketing his "Big angpow"

An offer of a daily beverage in important rites is therefore a message in itself: life is not about the highs and lows, but about living everyday well, appreciating the simplest niceties as tea, and turning the ordinary moments into our daily rewards...

ANCESTOR WORSHIP

2012-01-28T10:25:00.013+08:00

Why do we pray ???? Prayer is complicated. Some people pray out of duty, others out of theological understanding and others because they're just at the end of their rope.

Some of us pray (and this include mumsie) because God wants us to tell him what is on our minds. Even though he sees and understands our situations better than we do, he still wants to hear from us in our own words!!!!!

So have you ever been asked "why do people pray?" Perhaps, your answer would most likely be that there is something that you are asking from God. People often pray because they believe in the power of prayer. Prayer is a way of communicating to God. While prayer is often regarded as a way of asking God for something, prayer is a simple conversation with God. Praying is an implicit way of recognizing God's presence within us, even though we cannot hear his voice speak to us. Praying draws us nearer to God when we constantly outpour ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that is happening in our lives...In reality, most people pray to ask for something from God, especially when they know that what they're asking for is beyond their control. SOME TREAT PRAYER LIKE IT'S A ATM CARD that they use when they need something or fall into dreadful situations !!!!

FAITH is also one of the reasons why we pray...Those who pray with faith do not seek for concrete answers. They pray not to test if their prayer works. They do not beg or bargain with God. To them, to pray with faith is to approach God with utmost respect. To pray with faith is to put away their doubts and to put their trust in God's ultimate wisdom..So God does hear and answer our every pray...the answer could be "yes", "no" or "later" Sometimes, God answers yes, but there is a waiting period before things take place. There is no recipe to get whatever you want from God, but if you pray with faith in your heart, certaintly, you will understand that God hears every word you say...

This year CNY falls on Monday and so our church can't have the usual CNY Eve mass..cos Sunday is Sunday and must have the usual weekly Sunday Masses..so that (mumsie supposed no didn't consult anyone form the church) the congregation don't get confused..So the usual "Ancetral Veneration" during the CNY Eve Mass was brought into the CNY Mass on the first day of the Lunar New Year..As a traditional practice for the non Christian Chinese in particular the Buddhists on the eve of CNY, they would burn incense and give offerings to their gods, as thanksgiving as well as presenting their requests and hopes of the new year. The same actually goes to us Chinese Caatholics. On the first day of CNY (most) Chinese Catholics would attend the CNY Thanksgiving mass in the respective parishes. And we also have gifts offering to God during the Offertory. So like usual the Chus trod to Church early CNY day..

The Church was decorated for CNY ..look at the foot of the Cross they put some "Mei Hua"

As a Catholic, Mumsie has always wondered what does CNY have to do with Christianity. Is it really a culture for us Chinese, or is it some kind of cult practices, or occasions similar to Halloween that can be ignored by Christians?

The celebrations of the CNY is accompanied with rich traditions and customs which are indeed very meaningful if taken seriously, as they embody real values .. It is in a way regretable that these customs and traditions are being gradually abandoned by many among the younger generations

On that day there were 4 priests and one Decon taking part in the celebration...
The focus in CNY is vary largely on the family. It is very much a family celebration. The traditional reunion dinner on the eve...then there is the very important offering of respects to the parents by the children, the visits to various members of the family and the family should certainly seize the opportunity to instruct the children in family values..as well as the importance of going to church...As usual mumsie makes sure the family comes early...
Tradition is important as it gives us our identity. Just as the Catholic Church has her own traditions passed down from the Apostles, so do the Chinese and all the races (and people) across the globe.
The entrance procession

The beginning of Mass, to incense the altar..Now there are 2 reasons for the incense being burnt the first being a symbol of the prayers of the faithful rising heavenward..The second (don't laugh) is for practicle reason...to cover the smell of BO....It seems in older times, before baths were common, can you imagine the smell of a crowded church ??? Now you know...

Remember...frankincense (an incense) was broght as a gift to Christ in the manger..???

The priest going round the altar incensing it..The purpose of incensing and the symbolic value of the smoke is that of purification and sanctification...
Look at the smoke here..(nothing wrong with my photography) ..The usage of incense adds a sense of solemnity and mystery to the mass. The visual imagery of the smoke and the smell remind us of the transcendence of the mass which links heaven with earth and allow us to enter into the presence of God.

Then there is a procession, people bringing the bread and wine forward with the people's offerings. The rite of carrying up the gifts connects us with the traditions of the early Church where people brought up bread and wine which they worked to make for the celebration of the Lord's supper. Here you can see the offering include oranges, being fresh fruits, imply a new vigour and new lease of life. And for us Christian,s it means that in the coming year we ask God to give us new vigour in our Christian life, and new lease of life in Christ!! (notice the very "chinky boy bringing in the offering???) Then there was the New Year cake too ("Nian Gao")

Made of pulut (glutinous) rice. Because of its glutinosity,(hey is there such a word in the dictionary ??) is emblematic of eternal friendship. For us Christians, it means eternal friendship with God through our Baptism. Its stickiness is suggestive of a theory of standing by one another through thick and thin...a universal brotherhood. Christians should stand by one another in Christ...

Then the signifies the offering of ourselves.. It is the giving of the fruits of our labour to God.

Then after the mass we had "Ancestral Veneration"
Here the Chinese Appostlates prepare the "Altar"

Love and respect fits into the Catholic faith. Since God is the origin of all life, reverence for our ancestors is really reverence for God. It is an expression of the commandment to love our mother and father. As Catholics we believe that when people die they become part of the Communion of Saints. The deceased who share God's life in heaven remain involved in the lives of those who struggle on earth...
Three representatives from the Chinese group came up for the ceremony.
During the rite we offer three joss sticks (another form of incense) this is the oriental culture of incensing. "Do you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?" Our ancestors had been baptised in the Holy Spirit, hence their bodies are also temples of the Holy Spirit, we offer incense as a symbol of our respect to the temples of the Holy Spirit. The smoke that rises symbolizes our prayer rising up to our Lord in heaven..
Flowers were offered, flowers which symbolizes the good Christian virtue of our ancestors
Wine were offered which symbolize our gratitude towards our ancestors' benevolence and fresh fruit, which symbolize our gratitude towards our ancestors' for their tolls produced the fruits that we now harvest..

Faith comes in, not for people to despise their culture, but to align it to higher values -- the Gospel values..It does this by introducing a divine character into culture. Thus faith transforms culture into a means of salvation and leads it to an eternal end...
Last and not least...baskets of oranges were brought out for the priest to bless them ..then these will be distributed to the congregation together with an ang pow...(as a symbol of good fortune) Now this is what I call cultural traditions....Last two years we even had Lion Dance performance..

but not this year....wonder why ???
This year's CNY Mass at our church Sacred Heart Cathedral was filled to overflowing with parishioners young and old and of all races joining their Chinese counterparts - some in traditional costumes - to give thanks and receive the blessings of almighty God as they ushered in the Year of the Dragon

Each and every parishioner was given angpows and oranges by the priests...Maybe next year someone should suggest lighting up some fire crackers ?????

KONG HEY FATT CHOY

2012-01-23T16:33:00.060+08:00

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2012 is the Year of the Dragon..and the Dragon is a creature of myth and legend. (THE ONLY ANIMAL OF THE CHINESE ZODIAC YEAR THAT IS NOT REAL!) In ancient China, the celestial Dragon represents an emperor and power. Today, it is the ultimate auspicious symbol signifying success and happiness!!! So this in Chinese astrology this fella holds special significance for the Chinese people...

So here Dadda and Mumsie is trying to say "May the celestial Dragon bring great good luck to everyone of our loved ones, relatives and friends..."

Dadda in his "chinky shirt and mumsie (WITHOUT ANY MAKE-UP) in her very "chinky cheong-sum"

Do you know that the Dragon is not only a beautiful colorful and flamboyant creature ..It is also an extroverted bundle of energy, gifted and irrepressible creatures, everything Dragons do is on a grand scale - big ideas and extreme ambitions.????.However, this behavior is natural and isn't meant for show. Because they are confident , fearless in the face of challenge, they are almost inevitably SUCCESSFUL..People born in the Year of the Dragon usually make it to the top..Now you know why the Chinese is soooooo "kan cheong" about having dragon babies!!! (and mumsie has 2 dragon babies....but then mumsie didn't plan for them...didn't even know that there is such thing during those days!!!!)

So unlike the "Western Ang Mo Dragon" which is a malicious monster (wicked and fire-breathing) ..the Oriental Dragon is regarded as a divine beast...so in Eastern philosophy, the Dragon is said to be a deliverer of good fortune and master of authority.. Therefore, those people born in Dragon years are to be HONORED and RESPECTED...

Now before the dragon appears the family gotta sit down to eat this all important "re-union" dinner " This is a MUST! This dinner is like a magnet that draws all the family members back home..Reunion dinner is less of a ceremony and more of a promise that the family will once again be united despite of their work and studies outside..

So the table is well laid with some additons of new crockery..According to mumsie's mummy every year one must add new crockery big and small so that every year the family will get bigger and larger with additions "big and small" no decrease in number in family members but additions!!!

The feast gotta be well prepared and sumptuous.. Here is a stewed duck...a present from one of our neighbours...To ensure completeness and to avoid misfortune the dishes are prepared with uncut or whole ingredients. So this duck is being served with the head and feet..that's why mumsie gotta put on her apron and cut this personally...make sure that Yati won't chopped off its head and feet...In fact using knives, or sharp objects ON THE TABLE during this dinner is considered unlucky as this could sever the entire family's good fortune... The significance of having a meat dish on the table, just like fish, symbolises abundance in the year ahead..Ducks represent fidelity in Chinese culture..

This year dadda is all ready..he even poured out the "yum sing" drink (red wine) before we even sit down for dinner...
Mumsie's great helper Yati
The boys with their Godpa
This year we invited Kelly who was on duty and also because she was all alone in the hostel...
Yee Tze 1st re-union dinner with us..

Why do we gotta stand up ??
Ah cos we gotta toss this all important dish..Yee Sang symbolises abundance, prosperity and good health. This is the one dish that really exemplifies CNY and is eaten only during this time of the year...
Yup this is the all important Yee Sang and the fun is in the tossing of the salad. Just don't forget to toss deep and toss high as the higher you toss, the greater your luck and fortune!!!

The Yee Sang before being tossed...with its fresh salmon and abalone..and just to prove what an important dish this is during CNY- they even served it on the plane !!!Yup was told that this is on the menu of SIA during CNY

For desert we had lychee and sea coconut - lychee - close family ties..
and creamy chocolate meringue pie made by Yee Tzeand this
This year mumsie brought the whole table of sumptuous and auspicious food (symbolizing prosperity and good wishes) from Peking Restaurang and so the night before we gotta sent our crockery to them and collect them a few hours before before re-union dinner night...This is their fish lip soup.

Brocoli with abalone ..green vegetables symbolise new beginnings and abalone is prized for its name - Bao Yu - which intonated differently -can also mean "assurance of surplus"(guaranteed abundance) now you know why it is served at the family Reunion dinner on New Year's Eve..
Prawsns for happines., laughter and vigor ha ha ha..THE BIGGER THE PRAWNS THE LOUDER YOU LAUGH ???

braised sea cucumber ("hoi sum' when literally translated means "happiness") and pig's trotters /knuckles "Wang Choi Chou Sau" = extra money outside of your normal income..

rice with preserved meat and sausages

This is supposed to be a Chinese new year traditional foods..a reflection of the desire for good fortune, familial peace and longevity. Above all, these foods bring a sense of security into the new year a source of comfort with which one faces the uncertainties ahead..
a whole duck dish complete with head and feet intact to symbolise "completeness" for a good beginning and ending of the new year
Fish (representing an abundant year..) but this year Peking's fish menu is cod fish...a very very expensive and tasty dish but the fish comes in slices...so mumisie gotta cook one more fish dish
Mumsie's home cooked whole fish dish -head and tail is a must...an intentionally not finished and the remaining fish is stored overnight... The reason for this stems from a pun, as the Chinese phrase (nian nian you yu or every year there is fish/leftover) is a homophone for phrases which mean 'be blessed very year"..The fish is considered to be a lucky Chinese New Year Symbol It is a good omen to leave the bones and head and tail intact. This symbolizes abundance and a good beginning and end in the new year. This also symbolise 'surplus and abundance of walth and food for the entire year !'

Look @ Furbie getting a very special treat from Danny Boy
This is a packet of fire-crackers.. Mumsie got this as a present from one of her friends

The worst time to preach about noise pollution would be during the CNY celebrations This is because the blowing up of fireworks is amongst the traditonal celebrations that the Chinese people take part in for the purpose of welcoming the New Year

In fact the firecrackers are the final touch to the entire festive season !! Without them the CNY would be incomplete. There is no denying the fact that the CNY holds immense traditional importance for the Chinese. It is a time when ancient beliefs are brought back into light and age old traditions are revamped and reintroduced so as to keep them alive. The use of fireworks is also amongst one of the ancient traditional practices of China which hold great significance in the eyes of the Chinese. The history of the use of fireworks goes back to a long time ago and their use is deeply embedded in the Chinese Culture with regards to the arrival of the New Year.It is a belief that the firecrackers are meant to scare away the evil spirits and misfortunes right at the start of the year. This way the Chinese people hope to keep the coming year free from all evil. Now this year for some reason Fire crackers were abundance.. Mumsie even saw it being sold in the wet market...!!
So here is dadda helping mumsie to put up the firecrackers...from downstairs then upstairs

via our bedroom onto our balcony...

see how long this thing is...

So the tying and tugging of the firecrackers...began

David came to help too

At last the fire crackers is up
Are you ready ???

and so this brave guy lighted crackers

and the red remains on he ground..

The Chinese loves red ...so if the ground is covered is red...it is goooood omen...

Dadda videoing the whole scene

Then at the stroke of 12 mn...our whole Taman sounds like "war zone" (quote from Yee Tze who came running out of her room) Yup every year the whole neighbourhood seems to be competing with one another with their fire crackers and fire works and sometimes (mumsie thinks) TMJ (who happens to reside in our neighbourhood..too join in the fun and he too light up some fire works and fire crackers...and needless to say...we know who won the competition)

and so the whole sky is lighted up for quite a while...in fact for about an hour + Think Yee Tze was quite surprised cos don't think S'poreans dare to light up fire works or crackers...but in Malaysia this is illegal too but with CNY everybody just closed both eyes...think this only happen in Johore or a few other states...seems

Ipoh nobody dares to light even one cracker...
Now these "dotted lights" in the sky are are the the Kongming Lanterns some sort of airborne paper lanterns that are best known as a tradition found in some Asian cultures. They are constructed from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame, and contain a small candle or fuel cell composed of a waxy flammable material. When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, thus lowering its density causing the lantern to rise into the air. The sky lantern is only airborne for as long as the flames stays alight , after which the lantern sinks back to the ground..Now Dadda said that these lanterns are ban in most European countries especially with farmers due to the potential for causing crop fires and the chance of death to livestock on consuming the lantern remains upon landing...

Anyway started last 2 years quite a few were being lit during CNY (even our neighbour lighted quite a few) And to night mumsie counted at least 50 flying around our area...and some seem to be flying dangerously low... wonder if these are legal in Malaysia...was told that these lanterns are quite cheap...3 for RM 10/-Check it on line...they are also sold on line...

Our neighbours coming out to light their fireworks..

Look at this Kongming Lantern just flying over our roof. Light a Sky Lantern to send your wishes to the God of Heaven and ask for his blesssing. If you're a business owner, "the higher the lamp flies, the higher your business will soar"
Beautiful fireworks all around us

This was how mumsie decorated our garage this year..since it is dragon year we had 2 dragons guarding at out door...
As usual auspicious flowers at our door Chinese saying "Hua Kai Fu Gui" meaning, "when flowers bloom, prosperity comes". So it is important that gardens are green & blooming and homes are decorated with healthy vibrant

plants. Look at mumsie's chrysanthemums...they really bloom so well for CNY. Mumsie was a bit worried that they may not bloom well..

Flowers accompany us in every major event in life - birth, marriage, graduations, illness, and finally death..

Chrysanthemums sympolise perfection, optimism and joy and on a more spiritual level, longevity and meditation in China..Now you wonder why Japanese emperors sat on the Chrysanthemum throne...????

Of course you must the auspicious lime tree..A pair of blooming lime trees are placed at door ways and living room to bring abundance good luck and wealthy for the coming year.
Look at mumsie's orchids ...they really do mumsie proud and they bloom just in time for CNY..Orchids are also popular objects in Chinese art and culture as they are emblems of love and beauty.They fragranced flowers represent virtue, more excellence refinement and reputation.. They also symbolise good family luck and plenty of progeny. Violet coloured orchids are said to the most auspicious..

These are "Bird of Pradise flowers..obviously they symbolise freedom..as well as good perspective, and faithfulness.

Mumsie's ever faithful orchids..They bloom for musmsie all year round...

These are mumsie's plum blossoms..or "mei hua" They symbolise beauty in adversity, good fortune and longevity.
This plum blossom is another major symbol for the festival. The plum blossoms burst forth at the end of winter on seemingly lifeless branches.. They stand for courage and hope.. This plant is hand made by mumsie...In fact the branches were from one of mumsie's trees...kept and dried properly for this occasion...and each little flower carefully "stuck" on to the branches...(yup lots of hard work and mumsie does this every year...!!)

The red colour is an auspicious one ..and stands for life and prosperity..

This year this little baby lion came indoors ..last year he was at the garrage..
These are plum blossoms..flowers that we associate with CNY ..No matter where we are and what our climate zone, you will find them in almost every home during the festive season. Just like poinsettias are for Christmas, plum blossoms are important for CNY
Mumsie big pineapple plant..had been with mumsie for quite some time
Aren't thse orchids beautiful????Orchid flower also

symbolise many children, ....

Mumsie's money plant

These hydrangea love this corner..

Some of mumsie's and dadda's presents from friends..

This year the altar has a different flower pot and flower decor...
Look carefully at this pussy willows... the silvery buds look like silk and the emerald green shoots and leaves..They symbolise the arrival of prosperity and growth in prosperity. It is a good sign if we can get the pussy willows to sprout new shoots and leaves...so don't cheat and try to buy sprouted ones...mumsie will make sure she got the unsprouted ones and then worked very hard to make sure that they sprout and every year they never fail mumsie..
This is from Dr Jayanthi
and it is filled with auspicious cans of

food...

This decor basket is filled with auspicious things..bananas. oranges , fatt guo ect ect
This hamper is from Dr NG...

Well gotta go...but shall continue "showing off" more auspicious things in in my later blogs

HAPPY NEW YEAR

2012-01-02T19:05:00.027+08:00

WE ARE FAMILY !!!

WHERE WERE YOU ON 31/12/11 @ 12 MN ??? Were you in a packed, overpriced nightclub and got very drunk...??????

New Year is a time to celebrate, a time to enjoy with your friends and family. And New Year's Eve is celebrated with much enthusiasm and vigor all over the world...

Well mumsie was in Singapore (KFC's house to be exact) with her loved ones and family...

All in all, even if the customs differ from one country to another, the general idea is that everybody wants to spend this special night with their loved ones and hopes that the next year will bring good luck, healthy and success in all activities...

It is traditionally thought that the first day of the year is symptomatic of the approaching 364 days. Accordingly people try to spend the first day of the New Year in the best possible way in the company of family and friends.

Look Poh-Poh and Yee yee were also there..Yes they were flown to S'pore from Ipoh for that day...just one night..so that they too can celebrate that night with us...!!!
Family time is something we all say we value but few actually experience it. Often people are too wrapped up in accumulating wealth or pursuing a career and forget those around them. Have you looked back on you childhood and recalled your parent or family spending enough time with you ??? There is nothing you can do to change the past but you can decide to spend time with you family now
Guess who was the Santa Claus ???
GETTING READY FOR THAT NEW YEAR EVE PHOTO AND COUNT DOWN...
Spending time with family members certainly help to bring them closer together.
Christine is all ready cos the minute the family photo was taken she gotta rush to Marina Bay for the countdown and fireworks..
KFC getting ready his booze
Getting ready to "pop" his champagnes to celebrate The New Year!! It has launched millions of ships into the sea, it has been present at countless weddings , and of course, it's a staple for everyone's New Year's Eve party!! I'm talking about the Champagne !!
And this is the way to celebrate .."in style"

"pop" the champagne

He is our "bar tender" for the night..
"CHEERS"
A very very very HAPPY Poh - Poh who kept on repeating that she's very happy to see her children and grand-children and great grand child..together celebrating....
Nice drinks...
"YUM SING" AND good health
Looke even Poh-poh is in the New Year Eve's mood
He is very ready...
Yum Sing again
and again
See who is happier ???

Yum Sing again..

And oops there were Xmas Presents too...
Look a "branded" purse
Wonder what's inside her Xmas present
The drummer boy
And there was dancing too
Look who is here tooooo????
There was Xmas in the air too..as Aunty Jodie's Xmas decor were still around the house...
THERE WAS LOTS OF YUMMY FOOD like Penang laksa..
Cup cakes baked by Wen Lee
Jodie's home-made Salmon toasties
Japanese sushi
Iced leong fun with added lychee
Salads and fried bee hoon and "top hats" "nyonya" appetisers..or "pie tie" one of mumsie's favourite..
This cute little duck is a wine decanter -used to separate the wine from its sediment and to increase oxidation...(one of mumsie's Xmas present to KFC some years ago...)
Wine comes in all shapes and sizes..look at this dragon shape bottle of wine..
Now is party time...and he blows
and he blows
and blows...
Great fun for every one...!!!And they are getting ready to pop some "party poppers" which shoot rainbows of confetti and streamers...
To make sure that we got the timing right (FOR THE COUNT DOWN) we turn on the TV Yup to Singapore TV 5..and we can watch the biggest celebration and also the main focal point of all New Year's Eve celebrations in Singapore..live at the Marina Bay area...where it was supposed to be attended by some 250,000 or more people..The audiences there were also being entertained by a host of variety shows and concerts (even our Malaysian darling popular song bird Dato' Siti Nurhaliza a 10 time winner of Regional Most Popular Artiste in Asia was there!!!!! Do you know that she is said to be paid RM 45,000 for a 30 min show ??? Dunno how how much was she paid that night !!!!! Now you know why she currently tops the list of the 'Richest Artistes' in Malaysia) Anyway we didn't watch any of the show that night we just tuned in just in time for the count down and the Fire works..
Countries around the world celebrated New Year Eve with spectacular fireworks displays....and Marina Bay was no exception. It was the venue of Singapore's New Year 2012 fireworks display with thousands of excited Singaporeans and tourists watching...And so we watch the spectacular and glittering fireworks of Marina Bay..on TV

Most of us would claim that our families are a top priority, but our actions do not prove our words. The best way to let our family know they are important to us is to spend more time with them...

mOATime to say good-bye and good-night...And Mumsie and Dadda drove back to JB immediately..Luckily there was no jam on the Causeway but even then by the time mumsie got to bed the time was 3.30 am....!! Sweet dreams everyone and

A VERY VERY VERY HAPPY BELATED HAPPY NEW 2012 YEAR TO ALL!!!!!!

GOOD HEALTH , GOOD LUCK AND GOD BLESS!!!

MUMSIE CELEBRATES CHRISTMAS

2011-12-30T18:17:00.021+08:00

Christmas is celebrated on Dec 25 around the world, to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. It is also a time of worship , family get-togethers, carolling and rejoicing.
So one week befor Christmas David & Yee Tze had a small house warming "do" and this pic was taken in their home...
Mumsie's siblings were there tooo
Joanne and hubby happens to be home from Australia for Xmas hols so they too were there...

Traditionally mumsie will "spruce" her humble house before Xmas...now do you know why do we decorate our houses at Christmas time?????Answer...to celebrate Jesus' birthday on Christmas Day many people decorate their homes...
Red and green are the traditional colours of Chrismas.. Green represents the continuance of life through the winter and the Christian belief in eternal life through Jesus...Red symbolizes the blood that Jesus shed at His Crucifixion...
This little round snowman piece is from Japan
Mumsie got this as a present last Xmas
Now every year mumsie try to get some fresh poinsettia from mumsie's usual garden shop but this year mumsie got them from Ikea Singapore . Now if you look at these 4 plants of poinsettia carefully...you should able to see that there are 2 plants that are real (from Ikea) and 2 are fake...mumsie was a bit kiasu..just in case mumsie couldn't get any fresh poinsettia in future mumsie can bring out these 2 guys...Beautiful aren't they...and thses star-shape poinsettia is a favourite flower for Xmas..It is also called "Flower of the Holy Night"

The legend of the ponsettia comes from Mexico. It tells of a girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo. They were very poor but always looked forward to the Christmas festival.. Each

year a large manger scene was set up in the village church, and the days before Christmas were filled with parades and parties. The two children loved Christmas but were always saddened because they had no money to buy presents...(Now you know how lucky our children are)They especially wished that they could give something to the church for the Baby Jesus.. But they had nothing...One Christmas Eve, Maria and Pablo set out for church to attend the service. On their way they picked some weeds growing along the roadside and decided to take them as their gift to the Baby Jesus in the manger scene. Of course they were teased by other children when they arrived with their gift, but they said nothing for they knew they had given what they could. Maria and Pablo began placing the green plants around the manger and miraculously, the green top leaves turned into bright red petals, and soon the manger was surrounded by beautiful star-like flowers and so we see them today...If you don't belief this story try keeping ponsettia in your garden the plant will grow many leaves but they just won't turn red...they only turn red during Christmas...

This outdoor lighted reindeer was bought from Shanghai

This has been mumsie for many years ..think it is from Japan

Mumsie's hanging basket of flowers are doing well for Christmas

They do look beautiful in front of mumsies door..and each time mumsie sees these flowers mumsie gotta say "thanksgiving prayers" for she has enough not only for her loved ones but also spare to share with "others"
Weeks before Xmas mumsie start to prepare her garden and try very hard to "train" her flowering plant to "flower" at the right time and effort is rewarded look at this bougenvilla plant...loaded with flowers...

Mumsie's orchid never led her down...
Now this little pink flowers look like little pink birds......not much of them for Xmas but Mumsie is "training" them to produce in time for CNY...

look closely at these flowers they too look like little green birds and they do flower through out the year...one of mumsie's favourite
Mumsie's orchids again...
Inside the house just outside mumsie's room mumsie put this snow man (who has been with musmie for at least 5 year +) with a tiny little Xmas tree..Do you know that the needle like ponts of holly leaves on the Xmas tree are thought to resemble the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when He was crucified. The red berries symbolise the drops of blood Jesus shed..
And when you shake his right hand he will "belt" out his carrol "I wish you a Merry Xmas" .....

Mumsie decorates the stairs a bit different this year..

This little guy is from japan tooo..

Xmas carrol music will spin out of this santa clause
THESE TOO ARE AT LEAST 7 YEARS OLD...
this Santa had a bath before putting him here..that's why he looks so smart..
New additions of the year...
This lighted reindeer is also from Japan ..supposedly to be put outdoors...but he seems to like it here..
Look at this LOADED XMAS TREE. The lighted christmas tree..."the power of light".. to help light triumph over the darkness.. The tree - is the symbol of life in the dark, the evergreen is the only living plant , when all is dormant and dead..and in many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness..Christ is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, who was also called the Light of the World..Normally a star or an angel(so don't put a fairy there) may be placed at the top of the tree, representing the host of angels or the Star of Bethlehem from the Nativity. To the Catholic this is our "tree of life" of Geneis, an image of Christ, the supreme gift of God to humanity..

Hope those who receive presents will spare a thought for those who give them cos not only you gotta spent money buying them, wrapping them labelling them but also gave a lot of thought into buying suitable presents for suitable people...

Many Christian homes will have a nativity scene..and you are supposed to put baby Jesus on his cradle on Christmas Eve..Got this from Australia. This scene include Baby Jesus.. Mother Mary and Daddy Joseph then the donkey to remind us that Jesus was born in a stable then the 3 kings with their presents..

Mumsie's new additions for the year hanging around the house..
These glass delicate angels and santa and snow man are from Hokaido Japan

Now this is one of mumsie's favourites very very delicate but beautiful...the tiny Xmas trees are lighted up and so is the house then as the christmas carol music starts playing this tiny little train starts running round the house...on tiny little railway tracks...beautiful...also from Japan...
See the train has gone behind the house...
Mumsie's big Santa from one of Jodies' Xmas presents some years ago..
Look he is quite a Jolly old fellow
Of course the star of mumsie's collections is this little mouse who can play any christmas carols that you can pick from his collections....he never fails to "act" and amaze you...and if you don't choose any songs for him to play he'll tell you that he will play some of his favourite carols from memory

Even mumsie's big vase is decorated...with lights and all...
CANDLE STAND FROM ..one of the many countries that visited during chrismas..couldn't remember where mumsie got this

Ooops this is not a toy it is Furbie in her new Christmas baju...she doesn't seem to like it...got her dress from "$5/ Japanese shop" in Singapore..

During the Yuletide season, shopping malls and hotels are also decorated with Christmas trees, giant gingerbread houses and colourful lights for that Christmasy feel..

Look at this huge Xmas tree ..gotta ask Emily and Dominique to be here so that one can compare their huge size

The shopping complexes not only decorate their buildings, Chrismas songs will also be played in the malls and mumsie can really feel Chrismas in the air...and really enjoy looking at beautifully decorated trees and ect ect

Of course going to church is a must during Christmas and here grandma with Suk Yee after morning Christmas day mass...The rest of the family attend the Christmas Eve mass so exempted from this morning mass. Anyway do you know that going to church is good for you...because researchers (scientists) have discovered that attending services lowers blood pressure..and the more often you go the lower it becomes...

don't believe google on this !!!!
After mass mumsie took grandma to the nativity scene...

This year mumsie's church has 2 nativity scen one inside the church and the other one outside at St mary's Square..
The church during Christmas eve..
and here is the family attending midnight mass.. it really is midnight cos the mass only starts at 11 pm

Before mass our church usually put up a play about Christmas..Normally children will be playing and the choir of adults will sing...but started 2 year ago Christmas play are "played by adults"

Look at these 3 kings who brought their presents to adore the new born king...and they are not children acting...the kings are acted by 2 doctors (a general surgeon and an orthopaedic surgeon...sorry can't make out who the third king was ??)

Of course we did have our Christmas Eve turkey dinner and also our usual Christmas Day lunch at uncle Solomon's house and dinner at Mutiara hotel...maybe in mumsie's next blog mumsie will put up some more photos..of our Christmassy Celebrations!!

BUT BEFORE THAT MUMSIE AND DADDA WOULD LIKE TO WISH ALL FRIENDS AND RELATIVE A VERY VERY VERY BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!

GOOD HEALTH, GOOD LUCK GOD BLESS...!!!!

MAY THE GOOD LORD BRINGS US MORE BLESSINGS AND DELIVER US FROM ALL EVIL AND HARM AND MISHAPS AND MISFORTUNE THIS COMING 2012

DONGZHI FESTIVAL

2011-12-23T19:46:00.028+08:00

Are there certain foods your family eats every New Year?? If so, you might be practicing a tradition !! Traditions are practices and beliefs that are passed down between generations of a certain family, culture, or other group. Unlike laws, and rules, which we have to observe for our safety and well-being, traditions are usually things we do by choice because they are customary and meaningful. Most traditions are enjoyable things that help people to observe an occasion or feel unified with a certain group , such as their religion, team or fellow citizens.

The word tradition also implies that a certain practice has been around for some time and is observed regularly..The tradition for a culture to eat specific foods, for example, usually goes back to parents, grandparents, great-parents, and beyond!!!! Traditions are SO important!! Sooo meaningful to think about how we use them, how they change, what they mean, where they come from....During mumsie's childhood mumsie's mummy observed many tradition celebrations and one of the most significant Chinese festivals - Dong Zhi or Winter Solstice Festival. Recently mumsie learnt that unlike most Chinese festivals that are based on the Chinese lunar calendar, Dong Zhi is based on the Western solar calendar..so this festival usually falls on or around Dec 23 ..and by the way do you know that this is the LONGEST NIGHT of the year...????Yup this occurs when the earth's axis is tilted furthest away from the sun, resulting in the shortest daylight hours and the longest night of the year...(happen to read this in one of Dadda's many books of "stars")

And this is how mumsie's "tong yuan" looks like...

So every year mumsie will trod to the market to buy some "tong yuan plasticine"...they came in big mushi ..clay -like substance and you gotta to give it a good beating and smacking before you divide them and roll them up into little balls..The cost??? Well they are being sold according to their weight...that is the amount you want to buy ...but started from last year the market doesn't sell this type anymore the reason given was "short of man-power" so mumsie gotta to buy packets of glutinous rice flour like the above

add a little bit of sugar and warm water and start making your own dough...
and for a bit of colour.. mumsie got this green thingi....
Yup from this green pandan leaves we can pound it or grind it or blend it..in order to get the green juice out of it...the natural colour taste much better and "healthier" Unlike the "red" dough that tradionally mumsie's mum made..

Now it is ready for Yati to pinch portions of the dough to roll it into round shapes
First you gotta line the tray with a bit of flour so that the "balls" wouldn't stick together in a clump..

It needs some "expertise" and skill to consistently create your "balls" in the required standard size..But then again if you want to cut down all the "fuss" you can always buy mass-produced tongyuan packed for sale as frozen food...and these are being sold all-year round ,, so you don't have to wait for the Winter Solistice to enjoy this delicacy..
Then the cooked "tong yuan" will be dropped into this pot of fragant brown coconut syrup brew
see quite a big pot..no not becasue mumsie's little ones around to share this meal..but mumsie gotta share with mumsie's staff..

It is significant for Chinese to eat the tong yuan together as a family as the round shape of the balls and the bowls in which they were served, symbolise family togetherness... In China , this annual tradition of eating tong yuan makrs the arrival of winter..

Mumsie's staff enjoying the tongyuan with mumsie and they reminded mumsie that you will be a year older as you munched the chewy tong yuan balls..so if you are in no hurry to grow older reduce the number of tongyuan in your bowls for eating each tongyuan ball would add another year to your age !!
See even the boss got a bowl of tongyuan ..and here is what mumsie remarked..."the east meet the west" cos Dadda is having his usual salad for lunch and he had "tongyuan" for "afters"

Each year at this time of the year mumsie will recall fond memories of helping mumsie's mum and grandma creating these tongyuan balls...but for them the colour must include pink so we used to have pink and white balls instead of green and white...

Even Singapore's channel 5 news mentioned about this festival yesterday..see how they are trying their best to bring back tradition celebrations to their citizens..

A Very Happy and Memorable Dongzhi Festival to all mumsie's friends and relatives...hope you enjoy you tongyuan just as much as mumsie did.....

AN IMPROMPTU BIRTHDAY PARTY

2011-11-21T20:19:00.006+08:00

Why do we celebrate birthdays ??? Do you know that the tradition of birthday parties started in Europe???...Superstition has it that it was feared that evil spirits were particularly attracted to people on their birthdays and to protect them , they would be visited by friends and family who would bring good thoughts and wishes..Anyway birthday wishes definitely adds cheer to that special day... and so with all our prayers and good wishes we took Doris out for breakfast (after our usual daily Morning Mass and Rosary.)

Yup it is Doris John's birthday today....

Blessed are those who receive blessings on their birthdays from their friends and loved ones..

It is good to be thankful for what you have in life and what you have accomplished. But open your eyes to the larger picture. If we are to appreciate the fruits of life, we must first appreciate the tree that bears the fruit : BIRTH itself..

Birth is your beginning. It is a window to the chance of a lifetime, the chance to fulfill your unique mission. So a birthday is a momentous occasion, to be commemorated just as a nation commemorates its birth or as an organization celebrates its founding.. Still, it is much more than an occasion to receive gifts. It is a chance to remember the day that a major event occurred, to celebrate and give thanks and to reflect upon how well we are fulfilling our calling..A birthday is a time to celebrate birth itself, the joy of life. It is also an occasion to rethink your life : How great is the disparity between that I have accomplished and what I can accomplish ?? (Here mumsie must congratulate Aunty Doris...she really has accomplished herself as a wife and mother, having brought up all her four children ect ect ect )

For many many years (for mumsie it has been more than 40 years..) a group of us has been gathering in our Parish to attend our daily masses and also to pray for one another...(and off course to pray for our loved ones and children tooooo) And today after Mass and Rosary (yup a few of us...very very few of us stayed behind after Mass to recite the rosary praying for "anything and everything" we took Aunty Doris out for breakfast...as it was her birthday..

This is the restaurant that we had our impromptu b'day party for Aunty Doris ..seems this is our Bishop Ameritus Chan favourite restaurant...
It seems this stall sells one of JB's best beef noodles...
and this stall does tasty fish ball soup
Look even though it was an impromtu party we managed to bring along Aunty's Doris favorite suji cake...(Christina Chong our "expert cake maker" bake this delicious cake...) So infront of a crowded morning breakfast crowd we sang the birthday song and also "May the Good Lord bless her song" to the amazemnt of the owner and some of her helpers...

All of us enjoy our food and cake

So we hope that Aunty Doris had a nice birthday with us this morning and we sincerely hope and pray that the Lord will shower her with Good health, Good Luck and Lots of Blessings for many many more years of Birthdays..

HALONG BAY VIETNAM

2011-11-19T14:53:00.047+08:00

We were told that Halong Bay is one of the world's natural wonders and is the most beautiful natural treasure in the world, classified as World Heritage Site by UNESCO, one of the most famous sites in Asia. So Halong Bay is the "must see" for every traveler once visit to Vietnam..Named as eighth wonder of the world, .. Halong Bay features more than one thousand awesome limestone karsts and islands of various sizes and shapes

One of the best ways to discover the natural beauty of this bay is to go onboard a boat so we booked ourselves a " two day one night" cruise on Halong Bay. It took about 3 hours coach ride from Hanoi to this Pier...during this ride we pass through a combinations of rice fields and towns..and finally we reached the harbor ..very busy cos there are literally hundreds of boats moored here..some about to pull out and others just arrived...
No we did not stay in this hotel ...we booked a cruise so we gotta stay on a luxury junk...
Here we are marching towards our "boat" which will ferry us to our junk -the Huong Hai Junk
Many travelers to cruise on Halong Bay and there will definitely e enough of "junks" to take these many travelers..
The happy "Chus" are prepared with their cameras and smiles...

Now going to board a small boat which will ferry us to our Junk

A helping hand from mumsie's "hero"

Ya ya mumsie is coming...

Here we are safely seated...

we made it safely to this boat which ferry its passengers to their differnt junks..

This is our wooden junk ..which is going to "cruise" us in style in Halong Bay.This is a tradtional junk, small enough to be intimate but large enough to be comfortable. It has 5 cabins, all air-conditioned.
Here we are climbing on to our junnk

This is our junk a "3-star" one. It seems that there are 3 main categories of trips..1-star trips..which are equivalent of a floating hostel, brom both a price and luxury stand point. The food will be basic and the boat might be crowded and not fancy at all, but aside from those things everything else is likely to bt same..

The 3-star trips...the group will probably be smaller, the boat will be at least a little fancy, and the food will be a big upgrade (in quality and quantity) from the common restaurant meals you find in Hanoi. Then the 4-and 5- star trips, ..obviously once you get to this level the price jumps considerably and you get mostly packae tourists and rich folks who don't mind paying a lot more for the best of everything. Cabins and food will be even nicer and the onboard staff will be large as well..

we were introduced to our tour guide and given a welcome drink and a short description itinerary of our cruise..(and face towels tooo) which included a visit to a cave, kayaking and swimming ect ect.before they gave us keys to our cabins..

Look we are not the only cruise ship..Throughout our cruise we "bumb into many many more...
Th junk cruised past many small islands

photo taken with the captain of the junk
This is the corridor to our cabins..all in all there were 5 cabins..the Chus occupied 3 cabins and the other two were occupied by an "honey-moon" couple from Austalia whilst the other was by a Swiss guy..and the tour guide and the cook and the waiters (think 5 of them altogether) shared another cabin towards the back of the junk...
All our cabins are fully air-con and has attached bathrooms with hot water
Clean and comfortable beds..and there are electric outlets in our rooms and so mumsie can charge her handphones and camera..Mumsie did sleep well that night...the water was calm...even though mumsie heard the news about eleven foreign tourists and their Vietnamese guide have drowned after their tour boat sank in Halong Bay a few months back in Halong bay (doesn't affect my sleep at all) It seems those who didn't make it were sleeping in their cabins.) Nine foreigners and six locals were able to jump into the water, from where they wer pulled to safety by people on other tour boats anchored close by...

Here we are on the sun deck
Legend has it that the islands of Halong Bay was created by a great dragon who lived in the mountains, hence the names meaning "where the dragon descends into the sea"

Superb scenery
During our cruise our tour guide pointed out to us this 'Fighting cock islet' ...This islet looks like a pair of Cock and Hen in the sea...

Hey these fellas are not kissing they are supposed to be fighting!!!
A closer look at another junk..think this is a bit bigger than ours with many more cabins...
and so many many more cruise junks..

Took this phot at the entrance to Hang Sung Sot Cave..if you look at the far right hand side it's like a man's two legs hanging on the cliff
Believe it or not, mumsie is the only one

who got up before 7.00 am to catch this "sun rise" photo -7.00 am on the dot...

The tour guide did say that sun-rise is at 7.00 am but mumsie was "kiasu" so she came up to the top deck at about 6 am

Time is about 6 am and everything is quiet and calm... a few of these small boats are seen coming round the cruise ships selling their fresh food to the cruise ships...
Suppose all the "tourists" in those ships are still sleeping
Like this one here...when mumsie got back from taking my "sun-rise" photos he's still sleeping...

Our junk stopped by this Hang Sung Sot Grotto (Cave of the Surprises) -in our itinerary..it's one of the 3 most popular caves in Halong Bay..This cave is about 25 m above sea level, so gotta climb a series of steep stairs without hand rails !!!

This cave was discovered in 1901 by the French
the lighting system with elegant styles adds more charm to the beauty of the grotto.
There are several water pools in the Sung Sot Grotto..Now our tour guide here (which was also our tour guide from our junk) is NO GOOD...hardly said anything during the tour of this place...most of the informations mumsie got was from another tour guide..(coincidently he was taking a group of Malaysians)

Many stalactites hang from the high ceiling, with numerous possible forms and shapes...see whether you can see the "goddess of Mercy" here..at the far end..
This place is filled with unusual rock formations which are highlighted by colored lights..supposed there is a large tortoise,,here can you see it??? ..Rock fromations that vaguely resemble animals if you squint and use your imagination...but the most well-known is a massive phallus which is a penis-shaped rock which is known as a fertility symbol to the locals..so mumsie should recommend her infertile patients to go to Vietnam and touch this rock...

The narrow passage that leads to the second chamber of Hang Sung Sot grotto

After we finally exited the cave we were still way above water level and this place proved the best views of Halong bay

View of Halong Bay from Hang Sung Sot
Now this is optional which means this is not included in our tour fare..kayaking..and our whole group plus the other two groups too paid for this..so we put on a life vest and hop in to a two-person kayak for a paddle around the area..
we did paddle quite some time around the bay here...
Look we were not the only ones..we spent more than an hour here...kayak in the open water...hey this is not a pond man.!!..huge bay with big boats surrounding us and passing us by...each time a boat came near us the water was quite rough...and mumsie start saying her prayerd...fun yes but can be quite "scarry" at times...

and so we paddle and paddle paddle till sun set...

Then we were brought to this place too

There is a staircase behind the beach that evidently has about 450 stairs up to a viewing area near the top of this island..and we all did climb up and was able to catch quite a nice view up there...

No sweat man ,mumsie did climb Mt KK DIDN'T SHE ??

Now you know why Halong Bay is designated a World Heritage site.. You can compare this magical, mystical landscape of limestone islets to Guilin in China...but mumsie thinks that this is more spectacular..

Beautiful view isn't it ??
Managed to get our group photo up here

Behind Leng is our junk
A closer look at our cruise boat..
This photo is taken from the summit of Titop island..and one can see some of the bay's 3000 limestone islands from here..
For those who didn't do the climbing have a swim here and soak up the sun on this beach.. "

we even have a game of volley ball here..

Then it's back to our junk but first gotta wash our feet...so they prepared a bowl of water here just before we step into our junk..

But there are some who preferred to wash thoroughly in their cabin bathroom
Whilst waiting fro our dinner we were told that we can have a swim...but only these 2 brave guys swam...

Wonder if they have a good swim???

After dinner we were given some fishing rods..to fish for squids...

Here the locals selling freshly caught crabs and drinks...

Leng bought something..
Dinner time with music playing in our back ground..mostly "oldies" Look nicely laid table with napkins..
The cook on board will cook us local dishes with fresh products bought in the floating villaes of the bay..
Look at the menu
Fresh prawns...which taste yummy

Our group is the largest so we occupy the largest table and dadda ordered wine for dinner too...

The dinning room

steam clams

crabs
Look at the differnt wine that you can have --off course you gotta to pay extra for these...
baked clams
sea-food soup
cucumber salads
Fried shrimps with garlic

Had this for breakfast
Bread with different types of butter and jam
fresh food

and we can do a bit of shopping here too ..seems these pearls are brought over here by the near by fishing village where they do some "culturing of pearls" and mumsie did buy 3 pairs of pearl ear rings...Just like shopping....

VIETNAMES FOOD

2011-11-12T20:18:00.035+08:00

Back in the hotel ...This is how we feel after eating , and eating and eating in Hanoi's restaurants (and there are about hundreds, if not thousands, of them in Hanoi)..

Vietnam is a country of variety of food. Vietnamese cusine is particular although most of the dishes have root from China but after generations..food has been changed and improved.. You will never have to look very far for food in Vietnam..like in Hanoi - restaurants (nha hang) of one sort or another seem to be in every nook and cranny. Unless you eat in exclusive hotels or restaurants, Vietnamese food is cheap.. The best bargains can be found at street stalls, most of which are limited to the amount of ingredients they can carry, so tend to specilaise in a couple of particular dishes..

For our first lunch in Vietnam we went looking for this restaurant..recommended by David and KFC..and we had "Bun Cha" for lunch

A very popular meal in Hanoi and was told that this is one of the best bun cha places in the old part of Hanoi

Bun (rice vermicelli) is a luxurious as well as a popular dish. There are different varieties of vermicelli depending on their shape bun roi or stirred vermicelli bun mam or twisted vermicelli Here we are supposed to put everything into a bowl mixed it up and eat..

Here we are trying to enjoy this meal

It seems upstairs of the restaurants is for tourists and the downstairs is for the locals. Somehow musmsie felt that we were "slaughtered" here..cos the price we paid was a bit too much...this was our first place we visited the minute we left the hotel ...so we were not very sure about the currency ect ect if not mumsie would have made some noise about the aamount that we paid here for a simple lunch..
their famous deep fried spring rolls
A big bowl of oily grilled or fried pork meat..
You are suposed to dip everything in this "broth" and eat..
with lots of greens...
Ban mi" or sandwiches, are most popular in Vietnam Hanoi. so with the recommendations of the hotel staff we went hunting for this stall...baguette loaded up with all types of fillings..pork with cucumber chili sauce and pork
The fillings of the baguette, are the most important aspect of the sandwich, a savory combination of Vietnamese, and French pate..what a hybrid !!!
Spread the bread with a thin layer of mayonnaise, pork liver pate..(see the French influence??)

Jie-jie trying her best to copy the recipe

Is it nice ???
yeah yeah yeah

Look they served our baguette, still warm from the oven, it golden crust trellised with cracks..but no serviette or plates only with old newspapers!!

Like the fish & chips in UK which used to serve in old newspapers...(and our Malaysian kachang putih too used to be served with old newspapers)...mumsie supposed this too should taste just as good with newspapers as its serviete..

Look at their display buns...
Those bread that are not on display are kept here...boy would you feel like eating all these ...bread are covered with "gunnie sack"..is it hygienic ????

If you want to eat authentic Vietnamese, you must eat the street food, whether it's a food cart attached to a bicycle or just outside a store front. While the tour books will recommend gourmet, "authentic" restaurants, you will rarely see a native Vietnamese. Why ??? why?? Because most Vietnamese don't eat this way, except on very special occasions. Their culture is to eat street food..so if you eat in upscale restaurant..then you are lacking in the full authenticity, while the flavors of the food may be right, the atmosphere is not..SO we had our dinner at a sidewalk food stall..

This is where we had our dinner...

Dadda with one of the bosses
Leng with another boss
Here we are perching on our playskool-size stool on a steaming sidewalk, surrounded by cluds of carbon monoxide..
and trying to cook our beef
Whilst there is some entertainment.. across the road..believe it or not this is a portable koraoke party on the go with the Singing Machine portable karaoke machine ..see this guy belting out some kind of Vietnamese pop song. First time mumsie see this "all-in-one karoake machine & PA system..it came with an amplifier, player, mixer and speakers built-in..Obviously you gotta to pay to use this machine...
and this is what we ate
Look at the amount of tourists here.. the Street food, as many Southeast Asia traveler knows, is one of the culinary highlights of the region..

and we are not the only here..look its full house here

If there is a thing you can not afford to miss in Vietnam, it can just be the food. Famous all over the world for fresh ingredients, unique spices and diverse cooking styles.. Vietnamese dishes are there for you to try, and fall in love
You can either eat your meat with rice or with bread..
The other diners
Our stove
Just plong everything onto this pan and pour oil onto them and then wait for it to cook...
Lots of sauces
Lots of meat minus the "insides" have no guts for the "insides"
There was another night where we had our dinner here...and this is an indoor restaurant..so we were served in an air-cond room..Again this restaurant was recommeded to us by our hotel staff

The room is air-con but no chairs gotta sit on the floors...

you gotta have strong knees to eat in such places...cos it might take you quite some time to stand up...here we are deciding on the menu
dunno what we ordered but this taste nice..and hot

took this pic from my window...of the restaurant..

and this is the entrance to the restaurant...

should have coppied the menu ..now mumsie cann't tell what is this??
think this is beef with sotong???
This is Vietnamese "Com" (steamed rice) - which is eaten at the main meals of the day..with a variety of different dishes like the following dishes

This is "Banh Tom (crispy shrimp pastry) To remind you of the local shrimping business, waiters will often tell you that the shrimps that you have ordered for your meal have just been netted in nearby West Lake. This will be a memorable meal that will ensure that you remember your stay in Hanoi
suppose to dip our shrimp into this sauce
Vietnamese popular spring roll ??
SAIGON SPECIAL BEER...

SOOOO VERY RELAXED...

Never done this before ..mumsie can lie down and have a nap here whilst waiting for dinner to be served!!!!
In the same room with us there is another couple of tourists...from Switzerland

These guys who prepared our dinner...

After dinner we trod down the very narrow stairs

Oh this is not food but found these very interesting..3-D cards...very nicely cut and cheap...about 2 US $ per card...Christmas cards..
Chinese New year card
Seems this is a replica of a stadium..
Specially for MU fan

Found this stall along our way back to the hotel after dinner ...would love to buy all of them but under the watchful eye of Dadda...took only a few...
Now mumsie will highly recommend this place to those who goes to Hanoi..especially if you are a buffet fan or Vietnamese food-gourmet, this is the place for you..SEN.(the restaurant's name)...our tour guide took us here..This restaurant is not in the Old Quarters of Hanoi..We paid about 100.000 VND and we were able to taste more than 50 traditional dishes of Vietnam..think this is also popular amongst Hanoians as well as foreign tourists..in fact think we were the only tourists there that day...the place was well packed with people..
Now compare this to the side street stalls...this is the entrance to the restaurant...
Different types of stalls cooking different food
There are also international types of food...an Italian corner doing pastas ect ect...A Japanese corner with sushi and Japanese food
Various type of "sweets"
Fresh oysters..
This place is huge and one will have the opportunity to enjoy some surprisingly good dishes, some of which can be found nowhere else in the world.
Jie jie still looking...
Here this lady is preparing the different types of soup noodles one of which is Vietnamese famous Hue Beef Noodle..seems one must have years of experience to cook excellent Hue beef noodle soup.. This recipe mainly consits of shredded meat and rice noodles..
Here you can enjoy traditional foods such as beef noodle sups (Pho) , pork sausages (Giolua), spring rolls (Nemran) fish balls (cha ca) ect ect

This is " Banh Cuon " I think (steaned rice cakes) this is made from rice flour..eating banh cuon for breakfast is a great favorite among many Vietnemese ..this is supposed to be very thin, white and sticky and even tastier when dipped in a sweet, sour and spicy sauce.

some dishes are prepared from sea foods such as these ..which are relatively rare and expensive in some Western countries but abundant and cheap in Vietnam.

This is a beautiful decor of fresh ginger.. yes ginger..

don't they look like our chee choeng fun ??
The first time mumsie ever ate Vietnamese spring rolls was in Melbourne..Ingredients used comprise of lean minced port, sea crabs or unshelled shrimps for some spring rolls whilst others can have dried onion, duck eggs, pepper ect ect..all are mixed thoroughly before being wrapped with transparent rice paper into small rolls..something like our Malaysian poppiah...
this this is "Tom Chua (sour shrimp soup .I think..this is lobster soup

Mumsie is the only one who enjoyed this dish ..snails
looks like our Penang char kwee teo
Grilled pigeon anybody ??
Don't think many of us like the sight of this poor guy..so everybody was "yee yee ya-ya" when dadda brought this guy to the table
Look he is sitting here like a duke...
Now guess what is dadda eating??
Look at his face ..is he or is he not enjoying his WORM ???..

Yup...it is worm that he is eating...

Food is arguably the very best experience of a trip to Vietnam. And Hanoi has many dining options. Vietnamese Restaurants in Hanoi is one of the great delights in visiting the capital, Hanoi is home to Vietnam's most famous dish - pho (rice noodles in chicken or beef broth) In Hanoi, prices range from the incredibly cheap to the just plain inexpensive..Even in some Vietnamese Restaurants in Hanoi you'll pay less than in other big cities around te world..We diidn't have much time in Hanoi cos we spent one and a half day at Halong bay...so we didn't venture further than walking distance from our hotel that's why we ate around the Old Quarters...was told that there were quite a few nice restaurants at the "other side" of Hanoi...well maybe we'll go again but mumsie was planning to visit the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Min the next time we visit Vietnam..

IT'S WEDNESDAY AGAIN !!

2011-11-06T00:42:00.029+08:00

Well mumsie and dadda has been to quite a few lunches during our Wednesday lunch outings but must blog about this Wednesday's lunch at KSL

There was quite a few nice restaurant in KSL that we can go for our lunch like this Mamak food restaurant

or this Manhattan fish Market and its next door neighbour Wong Kok..typical Hongkong Asian Cuisines
But mumsie chose this Arashi Japanese restaurant which serves shabu-shabu, a Japanese variant of hot pot of the Chinese "steam-boat" Think of your favorite restaurant. Got the mental image? Bet you weren't pondering the cuisine or the service. An essential aspect of the restaurant that brought a smile to you palate was probably the often-overlooked yet critical component of any dining experience : AMBIANCE. Ambiance is that illusive feeling, mood, character or tone that helps define a restaurant's distinct atmosphere. Cuisine is important, and so, too, is service. But ambiance is an important part of any dining experience. Ambiance does not only define an experience, it can transport diners to another world...
Look at the inside of this restaurang...this is their pay-counter...
This is what mumsie called "an upscale surroundings...
The dish is prepared by submerging very thin slice meat or a piece of vegetable in a hot pot of soup and then dip them into sauces...that's why here different types of sauces are prepared here -buffet style..just dish out what you like
Look around here and soak in the atmosphere and enjoy the place...To mumsie ambiance is REALLY important in a restaurant experience. Of course you can go to eat at a restaurant with no ambiance, but it's a whole different experience; (you must remember that Wednesdays lunches are mumsie and dadda's special outings and we are not here just to eat some food..(feed our hunger, nothing more) we want to enjoy one another's company and nice ambiance does makes a lot of difference..
Different types of sauces are kept here for you to dip your meat and vegetables
The dish is prepared by submerging very thin slice of meat or a piece of vegetable in a pot of boiling water or like the above tomyum soup and "kombu" soup
The paper thin slices of beef -no need to marinate the meat...they tste nice just like this...
and also with tofu and vegetables, like Chinese cabbage, shitake and enokitake mushrooms
Dadda doesn't seem to be impressed by the surroundings... he is "playing" with his I-pod...no wi-fi so he can't "talk" to his children...
Even though the food is just simple shabu-shabu but with such background and decor one feels that one is being served like a celebrity. Why settle for less when one can eat in comfort, style and feel like a million bucks as one dine.While good food and good customer service are crucial for return business, the ambiance of a restaurant is also important...Mumsie will definitely return here one day..if not for the food it will be because mumsie wants to show David & Ye Tze the ambiance of this restaurant..Restaurants that can do well can be because four elements...their food, their service, their ambiance and their price...But musmsie wants to add in another fifth element...you can brush it aside as "luck" or "karma" but mumsie says it"s Feng shui !!It is the best restaurant in the world not because it has the best food, best service, best ambiance...it has the Best Feng Shui..Yeah Yeah Yeah ..Oh Yeah says the Beatles..Would the Beatles have been the Beatles wothout all FOUR???

So 2 days later mumsie taught Yati to prepare a "shabu-shabu" dish...so out comes these 2 steam boat utensils...one for tom yum soup and the other for chinese herb soup (but yati forgot to add the chinese herb so we had plain yellow bean and pork bone soup)

Showed Yati the photos of the Shabu-shabu food preparation of Arashi And Yati did try to produce similar decor of the dish...

Mumsie managed to get very fresh and nice salmon - seems you can eat this salmon raw - sashimi style..but it taste just as good as shabu- shabu style

Must admit that Yati is not bad with her cooking decor nowadays...

Now we had this in the "junk" at Ha Long Bay Vietnam and mumsie showed her this photo and discussed with her about the sauce and

whoa-lah she produced this dish though the decor is not so similar cos less cucumber (not so many people eating) but Kor-kor and Yee Tze's reaction to this dish is "thumbs-up"

Mumsie got this pamplet from Nando Restaurant and showed this to Yati and also brought home some of Nando's sauces..with the help of the inter-net we managed to get out Nando's chicken recipe...
and whoa-lah Yati was able to produce this...any comments...???Dadda's comment???= thumbs-up
Yati's chicken rice..told her that in Malacca the chicken rice comes in "balls" so this is what she produced...
Told her that Indian Restaurant served their sambal fish on banana leaf...and this is her version of steam cod fish with chili sauce..
and what is inside this???
Crab and rice...though Yati doesn't read or write she managed to produce "TV recipe" for our dinners quite often..

Everybody likes her Laksa noodles...
Yati's version of ayam Penyet
Yati's version of Ipoh kweo-teo soup..Recipe from the NEWS STRAITS TIMES..it is not bad ..should sent her to Ipoh to taste Mr Wong's chicken then maybe she can produce his dish in JB...
Yatis's stuffed sotong -recipe from TV

Recently Yati is into Brunei cooking... and for the past few nights we have been trying her Brueni food like this one

Mumsie quite like this vegi dish
"Nasi" from Tv
Yatis's version of Kelantan mee
Most of the time we have fruits for "afters"
but on-and off we have "afters" that she produced from "tengkok TV"
Our typical tea...yati's pulut rice with either chicken or pea-nut and different types of chinese tea..

Now you know why it is soooooo difficult for mumsie to loose weight

ON THE STREETS OF VIETNAM

2011-10-30T00:13:00.054+08:00

It seems Vietnam has a rich eating-out tradition. Most of the dishes can be made at home, but many Vietnamese prefer to eat out. Restaurants are usually famous for one speciality (See my next blog about Vietnamese food). So this trip is great for those possessing a quality stomach and wanting to save extra bucks !!! Anyway a trip to Vietnam is not complete without tasting the street food. With emigration and globalization, many Vietnamese street food dishes have become popular favourites around the world...Mumsie had her first Vietnames food in Hawaii....more than 20 years ago...then most of her Vietnamese dishes come from Melbourne (with Jie-jie's guidance we tried quite a few Vietnamese Restaurants in Melbourne)

Our hotel is located right in the middle of Hanoi's old Quarter..an area well-known for the history, the architecture, the enormous amount of things (from food to anything and everything) can be found in the shops around here..and according to KFC one tiny shop here is selling for US 1 million !!!!!! Don't think the Vietnam War did much damage to this place..

Now should we eat out in the streets of Vietnam??

The sidewalks are filled with locals plying their trade -small plastic tools for customers to balance their bottoms as they enjoy their food
The most incredible snack..some sort of porridge..Dadda said it's yummy

Whilst the rest of us watching "brave" dadda enjoying his food...

a porride full of "yau char kwee"
Mumsie might as well eat her porridge "Vietnamese style" ie balancing on a tiny platic stool in the middle of mad beeping traffice eating Vietnamese porridge. Nope mumsie was not as brave as dadda...she "borrowed" dadda's bowl to have this photo session...but she did tried a small mouthfull...not bad ..very smooth and milky type of porridge

The French influence is still found throughout Hanoi..see this lady selling baguettes and pate..??It may not live up to the expectations of these Angmos but you don't have to pay much to taste French food here
Linny wouldn't want to try the food..
Is this hygenic??? Is it save to eat here??? Well if you visit my next blog you will see all of us eating our dinner in one of these places and nothing happens. Even though all the food is out in the open and people walking past and fumes from the motorbies and polution...In fact it is the food from Tiger Airways that gives Linny food poisoning....????

See the difference ?? The smaller stools are for sitting whilst the slightly bigger ones are used as "tables"

When the French left Vietnam, they apparently left a vault of baking secrets somewhere in old Hanoi.. French pastries like these Croissants are fresh, flaky, buttery...(we were introduced to a special stall by the helpful hotel manager and see my next blog...we did managed to find the shop and had croissants there!)

These baguettes do look fresh and delicious man
We stopped by here and bought some of these..."sticky balls"

Our tour guide booked us on these trishaws for a whirl around the Old Quarter..Our city tour include a "cyclo ride and we got pedaled around the streets of the Old Quarter of Hanoi
The price we paid for the city tour include these trishaws rides...or shall we call this "pedicap" rides ??
Oops dadda was told to hang on to his bags
Wonder what he was telling Linny
Read somewhere that every Vietnames own a moto-bike!

And we saw quite a few thousands here..the streets are filled with scooters, bikes and people..

From the moment you step into the streets, the Hanoi motorbikes are honking their horns at you..

If you don't possess one you can always rent one...Pedestrians have the choice to either struggle between the parked motobikes on the sideway, or to get honked at every 10 seconds on the street..

Look a parking bay for motor bikes...believe it or not they even have "valet" parking for motor bikes

Fancy a hair cut here??? This is the most interesting option..for dadda..to stop at one of the roadside barbers scattered around the

streets here..and have a quick trim or shave...

This guy has full confident in his barber..no mirror, no towel around his neck and no shirt...just let the natural wind blow the bits of hair off your shoulder and to the neighbouring food stalls...

Unique experience of getting a touch of personal grooming

the traditional way..whilse passers-by come and go, and cars and motorbikes zoom past

This guy prefers a more "classy" barber who provides mirrow and towel...

If there's anywhere that lives life on the street, it's Hanoi Vietnam. People around the city seem to just inch everything closer and closer to the side of the street. Through the Western world, sitting road side is shunned, maybe even illegal in some places!

A popular local and tourist hangout by the street, they are seen sitting all around the sidewalk drinking Vietnamese Coffee while munching on local peanuts throwing the skins on the floor. Foot high stools are used as makeshift tables while groups of yoursters are seen sitting around chatting and wathching life by at Cafe..this is a common pass time for locals in Hanoi so if you wnat to blend in and try out this way of life, simply find a spot grab a few stools and wait for the workers to come and take your orders..was told that one can find some of the best Street coffee in Hanoi here

It seems here they even serve a special type of coffee known to the locas as Paris Mai...noted as the the most expensive coffee in Vietnam similar to Kopi Luwak in Indonesia..Yup the exotic blend of coffee beans eaten by the local civet cats where they are then passed through the digestive system..and the they passed out as "shit" and you "process" the defecated beans (washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing) and make them into the most expensive coffee in the world....No we didn't try this here (we did drink Luwak Coffee in the Indonesia Pavilon in Shanghai at the Shanghai Expo)

I suppose drinking coffee plays a large role as a social and leisure activity in Vietnam . There is an abundance of street coffee shops like this one throughout Hanoi. Sitiing indoors is like locking yoursel up in a jail..so why no enjoy the busting scenery and listen to the screaming traffic by taking to the side of the street to enjoy your beverage? Was told that coffee wasn;t a part of Vietnam. Coffee in Vietnam was introduced hy the French during their period of colonization. Along with crusty loaves of bread, sweet pastries and creamy pate, coffee remained after the country gained independence and began to integrat itself into the Vietnam culture. Walking around here you will think that coffee culture appears to have been here long long time ago..Th highland areas of Vietnam offer an ideal climate and elevation for the cultivation of coffee beans. For this reason there is a diverse range of coffee specis that are produced - each bringing and offering a unique savoring taste.. Nowadays, coffee is one of Vietnam's biggest exports and they are second only to Brazil in world coffee production...(Got this knowledge from playing the face book game Restaurant City..) Now we know why David and Yee Tze got us coffee from Vietnam and also some device (metal cup) for us to brew our Vietnam coffee and in Vietnam one of the most popular brew, is black coffee mixed with a dose of sweetened condensed milk and served on cubes of ice...Try it it does taste nice it's called "Ca phe sua da" and it is not half as expensive as the "shitty Luwak coffee"

Maybe you want proper chairs and tables to drink your coffee...due to French influency...one can also find this type of cafe..but then there will certainly charge you "AngMo" style...but mumsie still thinks when you grab a 6-inch stool, and pull yourself up to a street coffee shop in Hanoi the coffee taste different...

Saw quite a few of these pubs..seems they serve refreshing ice-cold beer and Western palates..pizzas, burgers you can either sit outside to watch the tourists go by, or enjoy your drinks with air conditioning inside the premises.

Some of thse bars have Filipino band belting out pop music..

Food stalls can be found at literally every corner. it'll take a little courage to eat in some of them as

Motor bike for three
Can you handle this???

he can
Hanoi is home to plenty of street vendors, mostly women,who walk around the narrow streets of the city with either a shoulder pole attached to two baskets,

Woman hawker still wearing the traditional Con Dai hat

This is the 21st Century but life here

goes on the old traditional way and nowhere is this more apparent than in the aptly named Old Quarter ..this is really a chaotic square of ancient merchant quarters but still able to maintain "the Vietnamese idenditity"

or a bicycle..

Hanoi residents squat low on tiny plastic tables and seats helping themselves to piles of steaming rice, and bubbling noodle soups

This restaurant is a bit different cos it uses wooded tables and not plastic......but the sizes are the same..Guess whose legs are these...

Who said motor bike is meant for 2??

She can even text on her motorbike

Three adult on one motorbike

A family of four

You can buy almost anything and everything along the street...

they were alive on this motobike...

Now they are dead...kena "roast"

Look not everyone in Hanoi is on motobike...one can also find expensive and luxury cars...around here

Another one here
some fanciful ones like this one
The streets too have some temples
and shopping complex
Traffic on Hanoi streets is extremly chaotic. Everything buses, heavy trucks, cars, motobikes, bicycles, pedestrians all running on the same pavements. Crossing the street is an extreme sport. My first impulse is to make a mad dash and hope for the best. But later found that it is best to cross in tiny spurts, giving the oncoming traffic a chance to swerve around me before proceeding further..

Motorbikes are by far the most common vehicles, followed closely by bicycles. It is common for bikes to drive the wrong way down streets, against traffic

This guy is going to have some business transactions with these two tourists

Successful transactions and happy Jie-
jie and Leng walks away with their new hats..
This bicycle is soooo loaded that you can barely see the "rider" !
Moving house ???

No need traffic lights or "roundabout" or traffic police...they seem to know where to go..
Fancy crossing this street...??

It seems Hanoi is roughly divided into 2 parts, the administrative, business and tourist heart of Hanoi..which is also know as the city's old quarter, and this is the part that we stayed..and this is the area which carries the most original architectural and lifestyle flavor of Hanoi and should not be missed..so for those of you who have never been to Vietnam..go and see it for yourself..a fairly cheap holiday (compared to the Western Europe and Australia !!) How long can the Vietnamese resists modernization ?? So before Vietnam succumb to the onslaught of motorcar enjoy the Old Quarter whilst you can, motorbikes and all , before the cars start clogging upt the streets and there's no room left at all to walk down the ancient streets..

No sweat man...he is pushing a wheelchair across the bz bz bz street... you just got to put up with the hongking...

VIETNAM

2011-10-22T12:45:00.032+08:00

Recently dadda and mumsie together with their 2 daughters and their friends went to Vietnam for a short holiday...why Vietnam...Yup mumsie has travelled far and wide but never like to visit SEA cos it's too near home..(not much difference in terms of weather and food and also too hot..)(prefer the cold places) ..so instead of the newly weds going for honeymoon we flew off without them to Vietnam for a very short visit...Most of the time when mumsie goes off on holiday with her family mumsie normally took charge (booking flights itenary ect ect) but this time mumsie left it to Jie-jie...and she booked us on Tiger Airways...Now mumsie was not very sure about flying "budget" on international flights...but she did got us to Vietnam via Singapore at a very low cost...fantastic value (think less than S$500 to & fro) This include 20 kg of luggage and 5 kg of hand luggage..All booked on line ..But trouble with Tiger Airline is, they frequently change their flight shedules (cancelling flight) at short notices and our flight did change to a (one day) later date...we were lucky ...only one day delay ..saw some reiviews in the internet that Tiger always cancelled their flight at the last minute with no explaination and offered fights several days later...So don't think mumsie is keen on international flight with Tiger anymore (even though it is much cheaper...it is just too risky and inconvenient !!!)

As usual gotta to reach the air port early..."kiasu" about the causeway jam...so our usual breakfast..@ Uncle Mac..the only difference is mumsie brought her own coffee...dunno about you, don't think their coffee is NICE..see the little flask in the next pic...yup it contains mumsie's thick coffee...managed to get the nice lady at Mc to give us some hot water to dilute it...
The drawback about this place is not having any airport lounge hence we couldn't utilize our Priority pass card...so each time we come here we end up in McDonalds for our breakfast...gotta to tuck in some food first cos flying budget airline means no "free food" on board...never mind about paying for our food..Linny on our flight back from Vietnam to S'pore bought some noodles and drinks and got some food poisoning symptoms later.....was wondering whether we should write a complaint to "TIGER" about this...
To be honest, Mumsie is never a big fan of any budget terminal. In my opionion, in aviation world, the word "budget" always seems to be synonymous with basic and cheap services. But must admit that mumsie is quite impressed with this budget terminal of Singapore.. The terminal is spacious and like any other places in Singapore spotlessly clean. The whole terminal has Free Wifi coverage . Even if you ddidn't bring your computer, there are plenty free internet kiosks. ..but each user is limited to 15 mins usage...Then mumsie found this "FREE" electronic Gadgets Charger..If your moble phone, Ipod, digital cameras are running out of battery, go the this Free Gadget Charger..
Pigeon holes are available for you to lock up your gadgets while charging..Wonder if there is anybody who will forget to claim their item before boarding theri flights ???
Just pick the pigeon hole that supports your mobile phone devices such as iPhone, Nokia, BlackBerry, Samsung, Motorola, Htc and Sony Ericsson and connect ...
It takes about four hours 50 mins to fly from S'pore to Hanoi Vietnam...and what is so funny here...what is tickling them ??
Ah just behind them they saw this lady trying to catch some sleep...Obviously being budget airlines they don't provide you with eye shade/patch, and noise canceling earphones / earplugs...so this fella improvise...

At last we left the Hanoi air-port and is on our way to the city's downtown Hanoi about 45 km...and this is what we saw on the way...
Colourful buildings all the way

Since Vietnam was once occupied by the French and was under French rule for quite some time , the French colonial architecture style became dominant so many examples remain today like this building here
Take a closer look at this building..think this building reminds mumsie of The Arc de Tromphe..a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle..
We arrived at our hotel...must admit that we love this place...for those of you who is thinking of going to Hanoi you must book into this hotel..highly recommended Essence Hanoi Hotel situated at 22 Ta Hien Street, Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem District Hanoi
This hotel is just a 5-minute walk from Hoan Kiem Lake and Dong Xuan market. It is a 10 minute walk from the Opera House and the Thang Long Water Puppet Show
Seems this hotel is a chain of the "Essence Hotels" Group in Hanoi...we came across at least 2 more and they all look nice and clean..and this particular one was just opened in September so we got a discounted price..and was really worth the money...think less than $200/ M ringgit...It is no exaggeration, mumsie has travelled to many many countries and must admit without a doubt that I've never have better service, even in 5 star international hotels ..The entire staff from the doormen to the managers were tops!! Our flight was delayed by one day and we checked in for 2 nights instead of 3 ..NO cancellations penalties...and on top of that we had a split say - 1 night before and 1 night after our trip to Halong Bay..Throughout our stay we were really pampered.

Once you step out of the hotel it is crazy ! This hotel is in the middle of a rather busy, and noisy street
Most of the staff (including their
manager) speaks good English and are eager to chat. They make you feel that they are genuinely interested in helping you. The minute we arrived we were welcomed by numerous staff with smiley faces and our bags were whisked away promptly to our rooms whilst we were asked to sit and enjoy our welcome drinks..
Here we are enjoying our welcome drink...
Our happy faces tell it all...
Our first lessons...whilst enjoyig our welcome drink ..was shown a map and was informed where we are staying and the surrounding areas
So everyday before we set off..more lessions and tips...
Breakfast was excellent ..you can order anything on the menu and as much as you like "ala-carte"
Daddy enjoying his yougurt...
and mumsie tried their "pho" a noodle soup with clear broth mde from a long boiling of meat and apices. There are many varieties of "pho" made with different meats (most commonly beef or chicken) along with beef meatballs. It seems this is a typical vietnamese breakfast dish
Jie - jie with one of their managers...

Real yummy breakfast
Plenty of fruits

Nice warm croissants...Vietnamese style
mumsie had this tomato juice every morning
Beautiful egg omlet
French toast
Fried Egg, bacon and hot cake or is it BIG MAC'S muffin ???
The breakfast table is well laid with napkins and all
All rooms come with satelite TV channels, and a brand new Laptop with free Wi-Fi Mumsie knew that the Laptop is new , very new cos mumsie gotta "download" goggle chrome ect ect before she can use it !!!Think this hotel was only opened a few days ago...
The rooms are new and clean and it seems their windows are sound proof..notice the flowers pattern on the beds...???
Take a closer look ,they are real leaves and flower petals...good idea isn't it ???
Rooms are crisp, clean and was thoughtful of them to decor the white bed sheets with flower petals and leaves...It does make a difference
the bathroom
look flowers petals in the wash basin too to welcome us
The lightings at the stairs
This pic is taken by Dadda...showing off his "artistic" phtography
Mumsie just love their flower decor

Behind this door is the toilet...

On our arrival one of its staff started to let us know the facillities availble about our stay and the tours that we had bookd..and must admit that this newly opened hotel is really amazing..The staff are so very friendly and they make mumsie feels that they can't do enough to help us.
Here they are again trying to help us with our map..Sevice at its "Highest level!!" So very very friendly and welcome..makes you feel like a king...no joke...They will provide you with all information you need to know and will also try to advice you about some trips and sights to visit..
One final look at our map before we set off...with some help from the amazing, friendly and helpful staff.
There are hundreds and hundreds of motorbikes in these streets, and the traffic never stops!!!!! The only way of crossing a street "safely" is just to walk slowly without look or hesitating. No Zebra crossing...just walk !The drivers are supposed to look our for you and not the other way round...Yup they will take cre of everything !!!

We happened to be around whilst some ot their staffs celebrated their manager's birthday...yup this guy is the manager..
Nice and tasty b'day cake...we did got to taste some of this

Happy happy birthday!!

There will more about mumsie's hols in Vietnam in my future blogs...(gotta find the time to blog man)

THE NINE EMPEROR GOD

2011-10-15T11:47:00.039+08:00

Now Dadda has a group of class-mates and unimates that like to "Plan Reunion" so it was quite often that Dadda got called up for re-unions either for class or uni... Mumise is sure that her "little ones" remembered one of those "re-unions" that they attended ..Quote from Linny " Was really funny meeting all "daddy's nerdy class-mates" Anyway Dadda's class in King Edward V11

Taiping ie Class of 66/88 had reunion in 1955 in Taiping, and the 2nd Reunion was in KL in 2005. Since 1/4 of the class ended in MU as Doctors we tend to meet quite a few of them again during Uni-class re-union...And now with the help of twitter , facebook, e-mail ect ect which provide a way to connect with an almost unimaginabley large global community looking for class mates are "no-sweat man". In fact they are so transparent that what gets "said" in a social network - for better or worse - is immediately "heard", potentially by the entire planet..(that's how we gotta know that one of dadda's unimates is living with 2 cats and 7 dogs!!!!!) Anyway more about this Uni (not class) re-union in my other blog..This blog is about the "NINE EMPEROR GOD"

On 1/10/11 (Saturday) we flew back to Ipoh for Dadda's uni-class re-union and the first place we drop by as we touch down was the Tow Boo Keong Temple located at the Jalan Kampar roundabout..Why ?? Because mumise's mummy is staying there for nine days...Yup, it's the nine month of the Chinese Lunar Calendar and this is when the Nine Emperor Festival took place. For nine days throughout the festival, mumsie's mummy will stay here praying and eating vegetarian. That's why sometimes this festival is also known as Vegetarian Festival ..This is to celebrate the return from heaven to earth of the Nine Emperor spirits. So every year the Nine Emperor Gods will visit the worshippers for nine days . It was also an occasion to declare one's

religious devotion and piety so that wishes and favours such like health, wealth and perosperity would be granted for the coming year.

Here we are in front of the temple which is named after the "Dou Mu (Goddess)'s palace..referring to the mother of Nine Emperor Gods..She is venerated by Taoists so this is a Taoist celebration. In the Taoist pantheon, she occupies a position similar to that of Kuan Yin the Buddhist bodhisattva. Eversince mumsie can remember mumsie's mother has been coming to this temple and observing the nine days vegetarian diet and praying for many many years...Only thing is when we were young Mother was not able to stay in the temple for 9 days but now for quite some years she has been moving into the temple to stay and pray ....
A tall flag post is erected on the temple compound to hang nine lamps, representing the presence of the Nine Emperor Gods during the festival. When the festival ends the lamps will be taken down from the flag post, culminating the festival. Now why NINE ??? Nine day festival during the ninth lunar month of the year. The Chinese conceive of nine as a sacred number imbued with elements of mysticism. Nine is the number of planets in the solar system, and is als the number of points on the Chinese compass. Doumu, Goddess has nine eyes (three on each of her three faces) has nine pairs of arms and hold nine precious objects that symbolize nine special qualities.
A carnival-like atmosphere pervades the temple througout the nine-day festival . This is possibly the oldest, largest and most popular temple in Ipoh and when the Nine emperor Gods festival rolls around, it's packed with activities.
The temple is surrounded by hawkers
It seem the devotees of the Nine Emperor Gods will offer yellow joss sticks, yellow candles and pink tortoise buns, which you can only see once a year during this festival.

Things that they sell here..

Rows of stalls selling buns and red and yellow tortoise bun flood the main road of the temple. Now the yellow tortoises are something new cos don't remember seeing them during my younger days... Yellow is the colour of sunshine. And, more importantly for us here, it is the colour of the Nine Emperor Gods Festival. Yellow is the oldest and sacred colour of the Chinese and therefore appropriate for a ritual festival, steeped in secrets and mystery, to have a colour so associated with ancient traditions and beliefs. The first Emperor of China was known as the Yellow Emperor and it is said that a yellow dragon appeared on his death bed to guide him to heaven. There are yellow dragons in the most wonderful locations in the Nine Emperor Gods temple ...placed to guard the worshipers.
These pink tortoises are actually just plain (no filling) buns and they are offered in pairs, to seek good health, longevity and prosperity.

They do taste nice when you slice them & fry them with eggs and sugar
In the five colours of the elements, Yellow represents the Earth. According to Taoist tradition, Yellow generates Yin and Yang and is therefore the colour of everything.. For a festival charged with balancing Yin and Yang the use of Yellow is unquestionably the perfect choice. Yellow is also the colour of status and power and is thought to bring the energy of fire. In Chinese the concept of the Yellow Earth ties the colour Yellow to the practice of farming and agrarian traditions....(Now you know why that guy chose yellow when he asked his girl friend to "tie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree") In Buddhism, yellow represents freedom from worldly cares and according to Feng Shui principles, yellow is thought to increase self-esteem and strengthen health and well-being...Now you know why mumsie surrounds her house with yellow flowers during CNY.....
These are the sedan chairs where the spirit of the Nine Emperor Gods are believed to be seated in during one of the the ceremonies Now this is the hall for those who want to stay here nine days...!! Fully air-con Believe it or not, this is the hall that housed the many many guests and tables of food for mumsie's wedding years and years ago....
Here we are trying to locate poh-poh's bed...
You gotta bring your own mattress and ect ect...they only give you an empty place to sleep

This is Poh-poh's "holy" mattress..once a year she return to this place...yup same place every year with her mattress
Seems it's full house every year..forgot to ask poh-poh the price for each place
All your toiletries and praying utensils are "hogged" here
Most of the devotess who stay here wore white

The bed might include 3 vegetarian meals (optional) Hundreds of worshippers - most had become vegetarians for nine days in a row packed this small canteen...
So this is their canteen - fully air-con
Poh-poh having lunch with her crowds of friends
Gotta to put on your "name-tag" to enter here to entitle to your free food...
Wonder what they talk about during meals...cos it seems they meet here once a year....

Obviously for those who don't want to join them they can buy their own food from the outside stalls...no air-con here but plenty of choices tooo
It seems for those who didn't observe the nine days vegetarian diet will try to observe 1/2 day...the day they come to pray..so after praying they'll come here for lunch or dinner..
Not very pack for lunch but seems for dinner this place will be packed

These people are queing for their "free lunch" yup when the "members" finished their lunch then it is their turn..
Besides payig for the beds & ect one can also give some donations to the temples and got your names posted above the temple door.

If you can read Chinese you will notice Poh-poh's name her.
The devotees prayed fervently with their jossticks.
It really doesn't matter what people believe, just that they believe. Their purpose in the temple is the pursuit of health, happiness and prosperity and it is personal and with good intentions...AND mumsie is here as a tourist..

Many buns will be carried into the temple tonight before the arrival of the nine emperor gods..as a tribut to the gods and Mumsie's

mother sent a one hundred buns tray into the temple that night

Here mumsie's brother is trying to explain to Dadda the ceremony that is going to take place that night...yup being the 5th night of the festival it is the all important night..cos tonight the all important God is coming into the temple...The Nine Emperor Gods Festival is held to celebrate the return of the Nine Emperor Spirits from the heaven to earth. There will be ceremony for the arrival of the gods whcih arrive through the waterways such as river or by the sea. So, throughout the nine days of festival , there will be ceremony where the devotees goes to the river or sea side to hold the welcoming ceremony for the arrival for each of the nine gods. Usually, it will be held at midnight..
And so that night after Dadda's re-union dinner with his mates we return to this temple @ 12 mn

And waited There are some who prepared these fire works and fire crackers to be burnt to invoke and welcome the Nine Emperor Gods. At the same time, floats are assembled here ..ready to follow the devotees to the river bank to "receive" the Gods

Devotees knelt in front of the tiemple. One by one the idols of the Gods were brought out of the temple and placed in the sedan chairs, and with great pomp and ceremony the procession leaves the temple and stops at the river bank where the welcoming ritual is performed

Temple volunteers in white binging out the sedan chair, where the spirit of the Nine Emperor Gods are belived to be seated in..after the ceremony at the river side ..
Here we witnessed the leaving of the last seden chair
The return procession heads slowly and triumphantly towards the temple following the same route it came by, and on arriving the temple fire-works and fire crackers are lighted ...The process is led by the entranced spirit mediums to the beat of the drum and gong.

Gods in their sedan chairs. Once again, the Gods were carried in their sedan chairs in the usual way, although it might well looked as though the Gods were actually carrying the men than the other way around, given the mad rocking and swinging that have continued unabted . The heavy sedan chairs were each lifted by four devotees in white t-shirts. The sedan chairs began to jerk and rock wildly in every direction, while the carriers struggled to keep a balance. It looked as though it was some superhuman force within the chairs that were manoeuvring around, instead of the men carrying them. To the believers, the Gods were merely displaying their powerful ability to "possess" the sedan chairs as well as their carriers. And more importantly, the Gods needed to be entertained !!

It seems once the medium is in trance he is being taken over by deities and he is protected from any harm. It seems there is no blood involved when the skewer goes through his cheeks. According to the mediums they feel no pain.. So after the removal of this thick steel pole from his cheek there won't be any sign of blood or injuries...The believe is that the Gods protect the medium especially those who stay on track with their vegetarian and "clean" living during the festival.

During their trance it seemed they become complete different people. With their eyes closed, even their faces look completely different from earlier that day.. Immagine having a heavy metal rod stitched on to your cheek !!!!
Mediums weilding axes and swords will perform the rituals..Occasionally, they will hack themselves with the weapons.
having bleeding scars on body is not something uncommon and it is believed that these devotees doesn't feel andy pain from the ceremony As the worshippers believe that these purified devotees were possessed by gods...

Notice that all participants are barefoot, and they must be ritually clean, having abstained from sex and observed a vegetarian diet for the past few days. They are not allowed to wear leather belts and metal objects, including rings and belt buckles, as these objects are highly repugnant to the spirits.

the dragon dance....

One of the main attractions of the festival are the flag bearers who dance to the sounds of drums and cymbals and take part in this street parade as the nine gods are being brought back to their abode at the temple
Mumsie remembered that she used to see these giang flags being poised high up wth tobacco and alcoholic graphics on them because the tobacco and alcohol company sponsored them but now it seems these companies are prohibited to sponsor thses events...
Now why lion dance??? The lion dance, is thought to recarnate the breathing rhythm of a lion and therby coordinate the interaction of yin and yang influences. The lion's exhalation is believed to repel yin forces, and its inhalation to draw in yang forces from the surrounding area. In this way the lion attracts yang and repels yin, thereby insuring the harmony of the enviroment..The underlying purpose is to ensure the equilibrium of the universe in which humans live.

The worshippers following behind the procession with their jossticks...By the time all the gods return into the temple it was well passed 3.00 am and we too gotta be back at our hotel for whatever hours of sleep we can get before we catch our flight back to Johor Bahru via Sinagpore..(Sigh) What a night..Wonder if my little ones would have joined us if they were around that night or they would have prefered their beds..

Actually mumsie took some video of the procession but just hasn't got the "know-how" to cut them into the desire length to put them on the blog...maybe someone can help me..??