That's Happy New Year to all of you who don't speak Hokkien. Well, if you did as I instructed in my last post and assumed I was propped up in a chaise lounge on the beach, laying in the sunshine with an ice cold beer, good book and delicious seafood, you can save me the trouble of writing about the ten days immediately following that post. I just couldn't leave Pangkor. I loved it. It was relaxing, the locals were really great and the beach was nice. I originally booked for three nights, then I extended it two nights, then two more, then three more. The next thing you know I had been there for ten nights! Thank God I was meeting Justin in Penang or I would still probably be there. After I tore myself away from Pangkor I took the ferry back to Lumut, the bus to Butterworth (mainland Penang) and then a quick ferry over to Pulau Penang. I checked into Hutton Lodge and met up with Tracy for beers and dinner. Tracy is a friend I met on Pangkor who is originally from Australia but is now teaching in China. That morning I got up and took a tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion. He lived from 1840 to 1916 and was a Hakka who basically became the Rockefeller of the east. I planned to stay at Hutton for three nights but I got a call from Justin saying his sister Phyllis who lives south of KL had rented a three bedroom apartment that they were staying in with her and I should move over there and join them, so I did. We were one big happy family...Phyllis, her husband Tony, son Juan-Matthew (pronounced John-Matthew but called John Boy), daughter Jomanda, Kamal and Justin. That night the whole family came over to "our" house for reunion dinner. Reunion dinner happens on Chinese New Year eve and everyone in the family, who is able, is expected to attend. Justin's sisters Catherine and Pat came along with numerous cousins, spouses and their children. Let's see if I can remember everyone...Justin, Kamal, Phyllis, Tony, Jomanda, John Boy, Pat, Catherine, Helen (Justin's Mom), Joanne, Dino, Dilia, Kyle, Pam, Johnny, Byron, Timmy, Edward, Wai Lee, Sally and Lily (wonder how I did). Before dinner you have Yee Sang; a really delicious salad with veggies, peanuts, raw fish, etc. It's crunchy, sweet, salty, spicy and yummy. The entire family (and me) grab chops sticks and stir the salad together to stir up good fortune in the new year, the higher the salad is tossed (no jokes some of you) the more prosperous you will be in the new year. For dinner we had steamboat, a big vat of boiling water spiced to perfection and filled with multitudes of processed fish products, veggies, tofu, chicken, etc. My new Chinese family were even kind enough to make one of the steamboats without chicken so I could eat everything in it. You fill your bowl with the seasoned broth from the steamboat and then "go fishing" in the vat with a little wire scoop and pull out all your favorite items and then spice it up with chili sauce. It was really delicious. We stayed up that night waiting for the midnight fireworks but they barely materialized so we went to bed around 1:00 am. The next morning we were up bright and early to head over to "Mommie's" (Justin's moms house) for Phang Teh (the traditional tea ceremony). The tea ceremony is for the young to pay respect to their elders and wish them longevity and for the elders to give blessings to the children. The ceremony starts with Justin's mom being served a small portion of tea by her oldest child, they wish her happy new year and then she gives them ang pow (a red packet with money) for good fortune in the new year. The tea ceremony proceeds with the rest of her children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren (and me) wishing Mommie happy new year. You aren't allowed to wish anyone else happy new year until you have had the ceremony and wished your parents happy new year first. It actually pays to be a spinster during Chinese New Year because everyone (older than you I think) gives you ang pow if you're not married. I may not get a tax break or shower gifts but I do get ang pow! After Justin's mother has been wished happy new year by everyone the rest of the family follows the same routine where each of her children are served tea by their children, grandchildren, etc. After the ceremony it's time to go visit the open houses (I think we did five) of your aunties, godmothers, etc., where you get more ang pow! You sit, chat, eat, repeat. Justin's mom stays home and receives visitors while we are out. Then after all the visiting is done, you go back to Mommie's and...you eat again. We hung around and relaxed till it was time for Boo Lan Sai, the lion dance. The lion comes to your home (you hire a troupe) and he blesses your house and brings you good fortune for the new year. He is accompanied by a troupe of musicians who loudly beat drums while he dances around. You hang lettuce and ang pow in your doorway for the lion to jump up and take; he spits out the lettuce but keeps the money. You also leave him a beer to drink (which he does) but I'm not sure what the beer signifies. There is also a bowl full of water and coins, the lion fills his mouth with the coins and spits them into the crowd and everyone gathers eighty cents and puts it in a ang pow envelope and carries it in their wallet throughout the year for good fortune. When he is finished dancing you light a really loud and really long firecracker; the noise chases away evil spirits. After the Boo Lan Sai we went back to our house to rest before everyone came over for leftover steamboat dinner; if you're me you "rest" for three hours and Jomanda has to wake you up at 9:00 so you don't miss dinner. So it was more steamboat, a couple beers and then it's time to play "in between" or Kaliao as Justin's family calls it. It's a card game where each player has two cards laid down in front of them and you bet (yes, real money, goodbye ang pow) if the next card will fall in between those two. You have to put in 1 ringet at the beginning to join the game and the pot builds as people (like me) begin to lose. The minimum bet is 10 cents, there were times that Justin was betting 50 ringet! If you think the chances are good that your card will fall in between you say "kaliao" which means "all" in Hokkien and you match whatever is in the pot. You either win the entire pot or if you lose pay that amount back into the pot. If you are unlucky like me you "kaliao" and have the misfortune of having to pay double the pot because your card is equal to one of the existing cards. I lost all but 13 ringet of my ang pow money, oh well, easy come easy go. The next day Kamal, Justin and I went to Justin's cousin Edward's apartment to hang around the pool and swim all afternoon (guess who wanted to do that). Edward was having his open house and lion dance that night so we chilled at the pool all day and then went to Edward's for dinner. Everyone brought fireworks so we headed to a dead end street by Edward's apartment and "played" fireworks. They really get some serious stuff, I'm not talking sparklers, these are REAL fireworks. I have a video of the biggest one but I'm not sure I can post it to my blog, I may have to upload it onto YouTube. Justin and Kamal brought lanterns from KL with them for each member of their family to light and send into the air with a new years wish so we did that after the fireworks; they were really beautiful. When that was done Justin, Kamal and I walked from Edward's apartment to the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia, Kek Lok Si "temple of supreme bliss". It was excellent, part religious monument, part Disney light parade. By then it was after midnight and we headed back home for bed. Oops, I forgot, we ordered McDonald's and had it delivered to the apartment, snarfed it down and then went to bed. It's really weird, the only places that deliver here are fast food restaurants. The next morning we all had to pack up and move out of the apartment. Phyllis and her family were headed back home and Justin, Kamal and I had to go find a place for me to stay. We dropped our stuff at Mommie's and then met up with all our housemates and had breakfast. I of course had my new favorite beverage teh ice. It's iced Indian "pulled" tea, which has condensed milk; so sweet and delicious. Joanne, Dino, Dilia and Kyle met us there too. After that we headed downtown and searched for a place for me to stay but everything was booked because of Chinese New Year. I had called my favorite place Hutton Lodge a bunch of times to check to see if there were any cancellations or check outs. I had resigned to staying in the dorm rooms but we arrived to find out even the dorms were full. Suddenly my savior who recognized me from my previous stay found an available room for me so I was home again and in a private room. After that we headed out to Batu Ferringhi to go to Sunset Bistro for dinner and cocktails on the beach before Justin and Kamal had to fly back to KL. It was great, it was the kind of place where if you lived here you would head out to on the weekends with all your friends and spend all afternoon drinking, playing games and chillin by the beach. At 8:00 pm we headed back to Mommie's to pick up our luggage and say goodbye. I want to give a big thanks to everyone for including me and making me feel so welcome. So here I am now at the Hutton Lodge writing this post. Yesterday I went to the Penang Museum and to some small temples and mosques. Last night I had dinner at the apparently famous Nasi Kandar Line Clear where I had rice with fish curry and of course two teh ices. I was so proud of myself, I was sitting there eating with my hand like a local and ordering a second teh ice and someone asked me if I lived in Penang...I was so authentic they thought I was a local! Today I bought a ferry ticket to Pulau Langkawi (yes another island) and went to see Mr. Ng, the Chinese seal engraver, to have him make me my very own Chinese seal with my last name in Chinese characters. I'm really excited, I get to pick it up this afternoon and will try to post pictures of it and him next time. So that's it for now. I don't know how long I'll be on Langkawi but I'll try to post from there. Peace out...Jan
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