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CNY 2013: 年初二 Reunion Dinner @ Pengkalan Hulu

Sunset @ Pengkalan Hulu, Perak.

CNY 2013: 年初二 Reunion Dinner @ Pengkalan Hulu – Morning was PSY Gangnam Style, evening was to somewhere ulu to Pengkalan Hulu @ Perak for another reunion dinner and bai nian to relatives. After a heaty morning, it’s time to getaway from the city to the countryside for some relaxing time with family.

The host!

Table full of home-cooked dishes.

Mangkuang-char.

Vietnamese Spring Roll.

Ginger duck.

Vegetable Vietnamese roll.

Mushroom!

Siu yok roasted pork.

Chicken.

Ginger vinegar pork.

Kou yok.

February 12, 2013
CNY 2013: 年初2 PSY Gangnam Style x2 Penang

CNY 2013: 年初2 PSY Gangnam Style x2 Penang – BN said it’s just a cultural Chinese New Year open house for the Penangite, no political agenda behind it, but how do you explain the thousands of blue Barisan National & 1Malaysia flags in Penang which are dangerous to the motorist and unsightful to the beautiful Penang. If you are in Penang, it’s just madness.

Monday morning, 2nd day of Chinese New Year was extraordinary hot yet I was very excited to see PSY’s Gangnam Style at the Barisan National Chinese New Year Open House Celebration at Han Chiang’s High School. Surprisingly, there’s not much of traffic jam on the road, instead it’s human jam at the venue. I was there to see PSY, not Prime Minister, nor other government officials.

Eyesore, unsightful flags.

It’s really very hot, I regretted did not bring an umbrella with me and a big bottle of ice cold water. The scorching heat of the sun could anytime dehydrate me and caused me to faint. I was seeking for shade, squatting down among the sea of human to get some shade from the 35 degree cel direct solar heat.

The venue was filled with everyone, Malaysians, it’s not just Malaysian Chinese, but Malay, Indian too. Many were there to see PSY, many were there to get free food too. I wonder how many were there to actually see the PM?

Manage to hear the nice voice of Shila Hamza, later then the speech of Teng Chang Yeow (Penang BN Leader) & Najib Razak (Prime Minister) caused some laughter among the crowds as they were not what the crowds wanted to see most. Feel bad for them as crowd was booing for Teng Chang Yeow, saying NO when Najib shouted ‘Are you ready for BN?’, Rosmah singing Chinese New Year song and Najib failed to invite PSY for lou sang. Hahaha. Too bad.

After 1.5 hours being under the hot sun, PSY appeared, after the long winded speech by Teng, Najib and singing of Rosmah! Oh gosh! The excitement increased more than 100%! Took a few photos of him in a rush and get myself into the tune and rhythm of Gangnam Style! Oppa! Very sad to see that the front crowds was busy taking video and photo of him, come on, you see him all the time on the Internet and it’s time to join the Gangnam dance. Luckily, happily, PSY did the Gangnam Style the second time! And this time, he managed to get the crowds dancing along! SHIOKNESS!

After PSY, time to go, took about half an hour to get out of this place. Very bad crowd control and went to look for fluid to re-hydrate Very hot. Well, very happy to see PSY and enjoyed my 10 minutes with Gangnam Style. BEST CNY! Thanks BN for bringing PSY, but you still are not my favourite political party in Malaysia.

Gangnam T-shirt!

PSY Head!

Lot’s of Lion Dance head at there, seriously, a lot!

Uncle Choi Shen! God of Wealth.

Happy happy!

They probably does not know what’s going on the stage. They were probably waiting for PSY, or free food, maybe?

Uncle preparing food.

OK, met Kok Sheng who was helper at there. No political influence, just a random helper, and thanks to him only I get entrance ticket into the area near the stage.

The ticket.

Some argued because they don’t get to go in. Very bad crowd control, serious.

Trust me, you don’t want to stand under this weather, 35 degree celcius, direct solar heat, cloudless.

=(

Brother!

Favourite T-shirt.

Shila Hamzah is awesome!

Unfavourable Teng Chang Yeow.

Unfavourable bunch of political people. NAJIB, ROSMAH, NG YEN YENG & more.

MC, DJ for PSY!

‘Are you ready for GANGNAM?!’

PSY PSY PSY PSY. REALLY VERY HIGH!

Go home right after PSY, didn’t care what happened after PSY.

February 12, 2013
CNY 2013: 年初二 The Reunion Lunch

CNY 2013: 年初二 The Reunion Lunch – Happy Chinese New Year everyone, it’s a one very very good celebration of the year with your friends and family, no matter you are Chinese or not, celebrate or not, let’s embrace the celebration and feel the fun and love and food! Here’s some simple yet awesome dishes I had at my grandma’s. How about yours?

February 10, 2013
Chinese New Year Is Almost Here At Pavilion, Bukit Bintang

Chinese New Year Is Almost Here At Pavilion, Bukit Bintang -Two more weeks to Chinese New Year, the Snake year, are you ready to celebrate this best-of-the-best Chinese festival of the year? Almost all shopping malls are decorated with ching chong Chinese New Year decorations and all competing to show the best decor of all the lure customers.

Well, it’s fun to see the decoration, feel the atmosphere, but I feel most important is that your mall must have good parking, cheap parking, good shops, cheap buys not just good decor. Last Saturday I went to the city, famous shopping district Bukit Bintang for some CNY shopping and it’s fun, spent for like almost whole day at there and the traffic in the city was so traffic, the street was so crowded with people, especially Pavilion where the super red red Chinese New Year decoration attracts so many visitors. I went there to see see also. =D

Kid by the roadside of Bukit Bintang.

Well, my ass, my body is so itchy for Chinese New Year now, 2 more weeks of work to go and it’s gonna be slacky and slow, and I don’t care already, Chinese New Year DAI SAI. HAHA.

Have you got the feeling of Chinese New Year for this year Snake Year already?

January 28, 2013
Mid-Autumn Lok-Lok At Steve’s

Mid-Autumn Lok-Lok At Steve’s – Mid-Autumn Festival is often known as a reunion day for the Chinese, but it’s not as important as Chinese New Year’s Eve, so I did not reunion with my family.

So how did I celebrate Mid-Autumn this year? I actually so-called celebrated it on the eve, means the day before at my friend – Steve’s place. To be exact, it was his uncle’s place. Very simple only, they hired a truck of Lok-lok (fish ball, sausage, meat skew steamboat) and we went to eat. That’s it.

No lanterns because the kids took them all. So, it’s us the 4 ma-lat-lous – Steve, Arvin, Wesley and me talking crap and eat lok lok, and with a bunch of Hakka uncle and aunty that I do not know. First time being in a Hakka-community that I know nothing about this dialect.

Thanks for the invite. I’m getting interested with the Hakka-dialect, anyone teach me? Let’s start with vulgar word first (most language learner start with vulgar word, don’t you think so?). Haha.

September 30, 2012
Biggest Tai Su Yeah (King Of Hades), Bukit Mertajam

Biggest Tai Su Yeah (King Of Hades), Bukit Mertajam – It’s hungry ghost month (Phor Thor), or just simply the 7th month in the lunar calendar. It’s one culture festival for the Chinese. It used to be a very eerie month but with the busy city nightlife and the loud ‘kotai’ playing at almost every neighbourhood, the eerie feeling gets away.

Taboos are strictly observed in this month to respect the dead spirit (we call them ‘buddies’). Parents always warn children not to play at night or go out till late night in this month. Yeah, I still don’t really dare to get pass midnight where the city gets quieter a bit. Haha.

During hungry ghost month, many people worship the King Of Hades – Tai Su Yeah. Peter Tan has a good write up of Tai Su Yeah. I went to Jalan Pasar at Bukit Mertajam (玄天庙) to visit the biggest Tai Su Yeah in Malaysia and also do a little prayer.

It was very crowded. Worshipper of all ages offering the Tai Su Yeah/King Of Hades with joss stick, ‘gold’ paper, and fruits. I prayed and I went away. There’s a few thing you cannot do at there, considered taboo, like you need to be careful of what you talk, no vulgar stuff, have to be kind, and do not place anything on their offering table even for just a while, it will be considered as coffering to the ‘buddies’ and the Tai Su Yeah.

Well, Happy Hungry Ghost Month!

August 23, 2012
Goddess Of Mercy – Guan Yin’s Birthday 观音誕

Goddess Of Mercy – Guan Yin’s Birthday 观音誕 (Guan Yin Dan) – Taoist and devotees celebrates the birthday of Goddess of Mercy (also known as Guan Yin Dan) on 19th February, 19th Jun and 19th September each year on the lunar calendar.

It’s a very hot Sunday!

Today is the 19th February in the lunar calendar and it’s a very happenings day at the Goddess of Mercy Temple (Kuan Yin Teng) on Pitt Street. I went there with grandma to pray, I also brought along my camera to take photos of the celebration. It’s really very crowded and hot because of the burning of joss stick. It’s overly crowded in the temple hall, moreover some part of the temple is closed for renovation.

It’s very uncomfortable to move around due to the heat and amount of people, but then I managed to ooze myself into the crowd to pray and take photos.

Look at the number of joss sticks!

The super crowded inner hall of the temple.

Lighting up the joss stick.

Offers to the Goddess of Mercy.

Freeing the birds is a way of doing good deeds, which I don’t really agree as these birds and caught and then bought to release.

The birds stall.

Huge dragon joss stick.

Giving out food and drinks to the needy.

Renovation going on in the temple.

There’s a corner offering ear piercing. It is said that it brings good luck to the children who get their ears pierced during Guan Yin’s birthday. There’s many parents bring their little girls for ear piercing. It looks pain, some are brave and some cried. I’ve pierced before and I know the feeling. Haha.

There’s many beggar gather at the Kuan Yin Temple on this day and there’s people bring a bag of coin to give out to them.

March 11, 2012
Penang First Taoist Float Procession 槟城太上老君古庙游神

Penang First Taoist Float Procession 槟城太上老君古庙游神 – Last Sunday, Penang has its first Taoist Float Procession with a spiritual route of 11.8km, and a length of 4km of more than 80 floats, representing different Taoist temple around Penang, and other state.

This Taoist float procession was organized in conjunction with the 115th Anniversary of the Lean Wah Thong Temple in Air Itam, Penang. It has attracted many locals and tourists to experience the float procession and also caused some traffic congestion in town.

I didn’t really know about it at first until my grandma told me about this event, only then I searched on the Internet and found out about it. It’s very cool, with many different Taoism god on the decorated float and many devotees join the procession. It’s a very happenings night, but I think the state tourism and culture authority should tell people more about it, so more people can experience the event as I know many didn’t know about this event.

I went to Pangkor Road and Jalan Dato Kramat to photograph the event. Hopefully, this kind of event will occur every year in Penang to attract more tourists and devotees to Penang.

More photos after the break.
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March 8, 2012
Penang Dragon Chinese New Year Miao Hui 2012

Penang Dragon Chinese New Year Miao Hui 2012 – Last year, I did not go to check out the Miao Hui in Penang because I was in Kuala Lumpur, studying. This year, I has a long holiday and I get a chance to visit this super happenings, crowded, fun cultural festival in George Town, Penang.

庙会, Miao Hui is a Chinese New Year cultural event and festival that happens in Penang yearly. This introduces the Chinese culture to everyone, Chinese, non-Chinese, tourist, anybody. It’s fun because that you can find good food, have many opportunity to try out your photography skill, learn some Chinese culture that you don’t know, play games, see performance, join the crowds and more. It’s like a big carnival, at the same time can explore the old city of George Town. Most of the Chinese clan houses are open for free during that day.

I have been there for a few years before during my high school time, but it still doesn’t feel bored to me. Hueisean, as a Penangite haven’t see the Miao Hui before, how can that be? So I brought her to check it out and she was excited.

The zodiac for this year is Dragon and so the Miao Hui were dragon themed all over the place. The crowds were huge, newspaper reported there’s more than 100,000 visitors to the Miao Hui. That’s really a lot! I armed myself with Lumix LX5, Canon 60D + Sigma 30mm f1.4 + Sigma 8-16mm and a tripod, then I started shooting around at there.

I went there at about 6.30pm, found a parking spot and started exploring around with Hueisean. Met some friends too. Although it’s almost the same every year, I felt it has become better, with more food, more games and better decorations too. We walked until about 9pm until our leg were tired, then we went back home. We didn’t really explore the whole Miao Hui as there’s too many activities and we were tired. There were a firework showcase at 12am too, but we missed it. Overall, that day was fun and tired. Good job to the organizer and Penang State Government.

Entrance to the central performance stage, a “red carpet” for VIP too. (Pitt Street / Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling)

Kids looking at Penang’s Chingay performance. Chingay is an activity that involve balancing a huge flag with hand, and head. (Pitt Street / Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling)

Chingay in action. (Pitt Street / Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling)

The entrance to the main stage with red carpet. (Pitt Street / Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling)

High school student dressed in traditional clothing leaded by VIP at the back to the main stage. (Pitt Street / Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling)

Look at the crowds! Hueisean and I were following the VIP on the red carpet. =D

Look at the amount of camera!

Tiger, the zodiac for 2010.

Hueisean biting on Taiwanese sausage.

Entrance of Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi.

Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi Clan House.

Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi Clan House.

“One for one dolar.”

Students dressed in traditional clothing, selling food like herbal eggs, my favourite!

Chinese-style alcohol container.

Chinese-style alcohol container. The word read as Jiu, which means alcohol.

With the Chinese traditional funny face clown.

Entrance to Cheah Kongsi.

There’s a stand-up comedy talk show by Penang’s stand-up comedian Kim Sir at Cheah Kongsi.

Girl checking out the “wishing-CD”. It’s just plain CD where you can write your wish, then stick on the dragon. It’s a way of decorating with recycle item. (Cheah Kongsi)

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng arrived and lousang.

Very funny. There’s a section which introduces you about Chinese festival. At the Cheng Beng section, there’s a Chinese grave, writing “someone’s grave”. Cheng Beng is a Chinese festival where people pay respect to their ancestor.

A gift shop at Armenian Street.

An antique bike shop on Armenian Street.

The uncle was playing on a Shanghai’s guitar which need to strum and press on the key.

Yummilicious deep fried street food. There’s my favourite fried siu mai.

Entrance of Tua Pek Kong Temple, Armenian Street.

Tua Pek Kong Temple, Armenian Street.

Exhibition of Baba Nyonya culture at Hock Teik Seah Tua Pek Kong temple.

Playing congkak, a traditional Malay/Baba Nyonya game.

Showcase on how a Baba Nyonya wedding is like.

If you haven’t check out the Miao Hui before, come back next year during Chinese New Year season, it’s something that must not be missed in Penang. =)

February 29, 2012
Pai Ti Gong / Hokkien New Year At Chew Jetty 拜天公

Pai Ti Gong / Hokkien New Year At Chew Jetty 拜天公 – Pai Ti Kong literally means “pray sky god” is a very happenings festival during Chinese New Year in Malaysia, especially in Penang. It is also known as the Hokkien’s Chinese New Year where this day is celebrated by most Hokkien Chinese. It falls on the 8th day of Chinese New Year during the night throughout the midnight, where you can hear the sound of firecrackers and fireworks all over Penang, and place where people celebrate it.

On this night, Hokkien Chinese set up a table full of food which are to serve to the “Sky God”. Although fireworks and firecrackers are prohibited in Malaysia, but then people still playing with them because it’s one of the Chinese culture.

Penang is has the most people celebrated this day and it’s the most happenings place for Pai Ti Kong in Malaysia, especially at Chew Jetty.

I am a Cantonese Chinese, so I don’t really celebrate the day, but then I do go to Chew Jetty every year to see people celebrating it and also to pray too. Last year, I didn’t get a chance but this year I have it. Chew Jetty was even more crowded this year. About 1km stretch of road were close for the Pai Ti Kong festival. As usual, a long table is set up on the road where people put food on the table which to be served to the god. Rich people will buy roasted pig to be dedicated to the god, of course, they will take back the roasted pig and eat with their family and friends after the praying ceremony at midnight.

Chew Jetty was so happenings and crowded. Something different then last time is there’s a stage set up with performance and some performers hail all the way from China. Mini stalls selling gift and collectible product are set up in Chew Jetty too.

The number of people that went into Chew Jetty was really a lot, a lot until that RELA had to restrict the number of people to go in as afraid that too many people will make the place collapse. Luckily, everything went nice, as they arrange people to go in batch by batch. Well, this is another must see in Penang, it’s something very different, very special, during Chinese New Year.

Traffic jam at Weld Quay.

Chinese lantern.

Miku bread for the god.

A girl putting food on the long table.

Roasted pork!

Big dragon joss stick.

Interview by RTM Malaysia TV station.

Performance stage.

Tarrot card fortune telling.

RELA member arranging people to go in Chew Jetty batch by batch. Good job.

Have you been there before? Check out my post about Pai Ti Kong in 2010, 2009, 2008.

February 28, 2012

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