‘What greater blessing to give thanks for at a family gathering than the family and the gathering.’
–American opera singer, Robert Breault.
This Chinese New Year is the most enjoyable for me since I lost both parents to old age and all the nephews and nieces left my house to set up their own homes or look for jobs in other towns and countries.
I had expected a quiet celebration after the reunion dinner at my son’s house on Feb 9. The day after, I was looking forward to ‘jalan-jalan, cari makan’ (stroll around, look for something to eat) with my younger sister. I thought maybe during the long Chinese New Year holidays, we could drop by at one of the cinemas to enjoy the latest blockbuster or movie.
The reunion dinner was good. My son, Patrick, picked me up in his car before collecting his mother-in-law and his father-in-law. The dinner reminded me of a potluck event, with his mother-in-law and I bringing dishes to the meal.
His mother-in-law cooked many delicious dishes including her famous kacangma chicken (Motherwort chicken) and braised soya bean pork. Kacangma chicken, a Hakka confinement dish, is very popular in Sarawak and my son’s mother-in-law used Foochow sweet wine.
I brought along my pak loh duck (braised duck) cooked according to my late Hainanese father’s recipe and fried mee. I knew that my son loved the Liong family pak loh duck and mee.
Amelia, my daughter-in-law, prepared many fantastic dishes for the reunion dinner and they included butter prawns, mixed vegetables, homemade Yee Sang and a cold jelly drink.
I loved her creative version of the Yee Sang, a refreshing salad tossed during Chinese New Year and filled with colourful fresh vegetables, cracker and a yummy sauce.
After the dinner, there was the mandatory reunion picture taking with Amelia’s parents on one side and me on the other side. In between were Amelia, Patrick and my grandson.
At home that night, I had a surprise invitation from my nephew, Kiong. I thought he would not be having any open house on the first day of the Chinese New Year.
“Come over to my house ya … make sure after 12 pm la. Ha, ha, ha,” he WhatsApped me.
I understood why his open house was in the afternoon. This was because everyone stayed up late until the wee hours of the morning to welcome the Year of the Wood Dragon and to play with the firecrackers and fireworks.
This year, Chinese New Year celebrants in the neighbourhood shot firecrackers into the sky for a relatively long time compared to previous years. With the Chinese Horoscope 2024 predicting a prosperous year for the dragon, which represents authority, prosperity and good fortune, there is apparent much hope in invoking the dragon’s powers.
When the Year of the Dragon arrives, birth rates are expected to boom not only in China but also elsewhere in the world including Sarawak. Many parents also believe a child born this year is a lucky dragon baby destined for success.
At Kiong’s house on the first day of the Chinese New Year, my son, daughter-in-law and their son and one of my younger sisters had the chance to catch up with his children, his wife’s family as well as their friends.
We took many photos together for remembrance and had a good time enjoying the tidbits and food he served us. I enjoyed particularly his keropok (fish crackers) and acar (pickled cucumber) and kuih sepit (love letter biscuits).
The Liong family gathering continued the next day at my son’s house. Kiong came with his wife, children, son-in-law and grandson.
My late stepbrother’s wife and daughter also came to the gathering, bringing with them a surprise – – a two-month old baby girl.
Unknown to most of us, the daughter had married and delivered the baby girl. At the gathering, the attention was on the two-month old baby and Kiong’s seven-month old grandson. Many of the younger women in the group, single or married, went gaga over the cute babies. And there were jokes about trying for the dragon babies this year. Older and wiser ladies like yours truly just kept quiet and smiled. We know, we human beings, can make our plans but God has the last word.
While the women were going gaga over the babies, the toddlers played with building blocks and other toys which were aplenty in house.
As the only journalist in the family, I persuaded everyone to pose for photos in different poses. When I shared the photos with Lan, my younger sister, who worked in a restaurant in Johor Bahru, she commented,” Nice family baby. Baby boom.”
The Liong family gathering continued the next evening with a dinner at a restaurant at Mile 4. Hong, Lan’s daughter, who works in Singapore, sponsored the dinner.
Since it was the eve of Valentine’s Day, Kiong’s wife, Terisa, came with a red rose for all the ladies present. Earlier on, Hong had bought some of us chocolate bouquets while we walked the streets of Kuching with her. She was looking for some kek lapis (layer cakes) for her colleagues in Singapore.
The next day, Hong, her boyfriend, my son, his wife and son, my stepbrother’s wife and I went to Roxy Tasik Biru Resort City for an excursion. Hong and her boyfriend tried the pedal boat while the rest of us went on a boat ride round the lake. Then we all used the floating bridge to get to the opposite bank. Along the way, we fed the fish with the pellets we had bought near the ticketing kiosks.
Because it was a public holiday, all the food and drink outlets were not open. So we could not buy any snacks or drinks.
There and then, my son and his wife suggested we should try the Miner’s Walk, about 600 metres from where we landed. We could either walk up the cemented road or climb the 800 steps to reach a Chinese temple at the end of the walk.
I opted not to attempt the walk but no one would take no for an answer. In the end, I had no choice but to trudge up the hilly road. That hot afternoon, I was like a tortoise. Even my three-year-old grandson walked faster than me.
The view from the temple was fantastic. There was even a suspended glass hanging bridge limited to 20 persons at a time.
Luckily, there was a vending machine near the temple and we each enjoyed a cold can of drink before descending down the mountain. This time, the younger Liongs opted to use the stairs.
My son held my hands as we walked down some of the steeper stairs. I asked aloud why some ropes were missing along the way. “Don’t complain,” said my son. “There are worse hiking trails than this.”
Needless to say, I was the second last to complete the journey down the stairs. My son was last because he had to watch over me.
My little grandson was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a piece of stick and shouting “Jiayou, jiayou, Jiayou!” (a Chinese expression of encouragement and support).
He handed me the stick as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Immensely surprised by his words of encouragement and thoughtful behaviour, I promptly kissed him on the cheek. I was proud my daughter-in-law had taught him to love this grandmother.
My friends, that was how I happily welcomed the Year of the Wood Dragon with my family members and relatives recently.
I am thankful to the younger Liongs, particularly Kiong and Patrick, and Hong, who is a Low, for valuing and priotising family ties and making this year’s Chinese New Year particularly interesting and exciting for me and the rest of the Liongs.
I hope they will, like me, treasure the times we spent together and the photos we took together.
I pray that the Year of the Dragon will bless all of us including followers of my column with strength, courage and good fortune!
