We're back! We spent a week in Malaysia visiting family and friends and celebrating the Chinese New Year. It was a week of good company, good food, lots of love and lots of cheer.
Our holiday started last Tuesday night when we drove up to PJ/KL. There wasn't much traffic on the highway so we made it in about two hours. Ryan slept most of the way. When we got into our condo in PJ, we went straight to bed.
The next day, Wednesday, was the eve of Chinese New Year. The reunion dinner for the husband's side of the family is traditionally held on this day. In our case, it is a small affair because Richard is the only son. His married sister, Margaret, and her family go over to her husband's parents' house for their reunion dinner. So for our reunion dinner, it's just our little family, Richard's parents and Richard's second sister, Mary.
We had the whole day to ourselves before the dinner. We drove into KL in the morning to check in on our condominium unit in KL, which is presently vacant. We plan to carry out some minor renovations there and lease it out.
After a short look about, we went for lunch at Yut Kee. This is a pretty well-known restaurant which has been around for as long as I can remember. The place is always packed and, if you are in a small party, you usually end up sharing a table with another party.
Richard usually orders the pork chops while I usually get something Chinese. The restaurant serves both Chinese and western fare. They also sell cakes and other stuff, and during Chinese New Year, many people order roast pork from here.
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| The set up on every table. |
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| I had pork ginger rice - good stuff |
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| Richard's favourite - pork chops |
After lunch, we went back to PJ. Ryan did some art and craft work and then we went swimming in the condo pool. The water was ICY cold!
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| The water was so cold, it was like ice! |
So there was only one way to get into the water - with a big SPLASH!
Then it was off to the reunion dinner!
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| This is getting to be a standard pose - Ryan has been refusing the high chair lately |
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| Our first yee sang - what's left of it. |
After dinner, we all drove over to Richard's parents' place to wait for the new year to come in at midnight. This tradition is supposed to give your parents long life. We got there first so we hung out in the garage while waiting for Mary (with Richard's parents) to arrive at the house. Ryan had the chance to check out my brother-in-law's super duper motorbike.
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| Doesn't he look so tiny here? |
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| Vroom, Vroom! |
Mary took a while because her car got into a minor accident - a car collided with hers from behind at a traffic light. There was some damage to the bumper and the number plate was completely ruined. Not a great way to start the new year (having to put your car in the workshop) but I suppose another way of looking at it is that she got all the bad luck out of the way in time for the new year!
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| Playing with his aunty Mary |
At midnight, the new year came in with a bang as usual - lots of fireworks around the neighbourhood. After they died down, we took our leave and went home.
For the next day, the first day of Chinese New Year, the big event was the visit to Richard's uncle's house in Ampang. The highlight of the visit is the amazing spread that they serve us. This year, there was soup, chicken, duck, pork, fish, fried prawn dumplings, two different vegetable dishes and yee sang. Dessert was fresh mango from their garden. It was literally a ten-course lunch. Everything was homecooked and homemade, including the yee sang, and even the chicken was reared at home. Everything was delicious.
These are not fancy people and their house is a very simple place. Nevertheless, their house is WAY bigger than my home in Singapore. There is a generous outdoor compound all around with enough space for all sorts of plants, including fruit trees and vegetables, a huge storage shed, space for dogs and chickens to run around, a swing, plus enough space to park four to five cars. We took the chance to show Ryan around.
The rest of the day was spent just lazing about at home. The next day, we drove up to Ipoh where we stayed till Sunday. I'll share more about that in the next post!
