CNY Celebration in Penang.

One word. SHORT.

The day before CNY.
We had reunion dinner as we always do, every year. And like every year, we have guests.
This year, Bro is home with my future Sis-in-law. ^^ Hehe. Along with them is her lil' nephew, Daniel.
Cute lil' fella, but when he cries... =.=
Then there's my 5th Uncle, paternal side. 4th Uncle couldn't join because he was too 'busy' with the shop. [Bah.]
Then there's the Bong family, excluding Chin Hoong. He is also 'busy' with his shop at the New World Park.

Just like 'tradition' in my home, everything happens like a routine. A yearly routine.
Mom and I would be busy cleaning and preparing all the ingredients. Sis would be busy arranging everything nicely on beautiful plates. Dad would be busy cleaning this and that.
Bro? Lazying larh.

First off, we 'lou sang'. The 'yee sang' was prepared by my Sis, bought from the supermarket. [No salmon added this year, because Mom isn't a fan of raw food.]
Then, we all sat down and enjoy our steamboat dinner. It is steamboat every year alright. ;) The reason is simple, it is the easiest to prepare.
As a lesson from past years, Mom cut down the quantity of each kind of the ingredients. We certainly do not want to end up eating steamboat till 'chor sam' and beyond.
A must have ala carte every year are steamed fish and 'chu tou tong' [pork stomach's soup, direct translation].
Surely never to forget the dessert.

I did the silliest mistake to the red bean soup. There was 2 reasons why I was so dumb.
1. I was really busy helping with the table setting and all.
2. I forgot we were using the slow cooker.

Good God. I added some 'tang yuen' straight into the red bean soup in the slow cooker!
Even more interesting is that I did not realize about the mistake until it was too late.
Until the 'tang yuen' was bloated and bursting and the peanut fillings inside the 'tang yuen' spills out, blending into the red bean soup. *wargh*
The whole pot of dessert tasted so bad, it was wasted. Nobody could ever ever finish the whole thing. =(


First day of CNY
At midnight, we went to worship Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, at Beach Street.
All the 7 of us. Hehe. Nice.

The odometer [I think that's what it's called] on the Hyundai Sonata that Dad drove displayed all 6s on its meter. At first glance, I thought I saw wrongly as I was not wearing my glasses.
Then Dad confirmed that it indeed displays 66666. Mmm. Beautiful number.
Mom said, it's an auspicious number as 6 in Hokkien sounded to be "Luck". Haha. Even more beautiful the number. ^^

The Kuan Yin Temple in Beach Street is one famous temple in Penang.
Even at the first hour of the new Lunar year, it was already full-packed that it is so hard to even move.
Joss-sticks were practically poking at all directions. *fuh* Dangerous.


Second day of CNY
Today's the day for family gathering in the ancestor home, house of my late Grandfather. In Balik Pulau.
This year, only my Eldest Aunt's and 2nd Aunt's families came. Never quite expected all to be gathered together on this day anyway.
The heat inside the house is especially annoying. So, my Sis and I were practically urging my parents to leave. I never liked to stay long anyway.

Right after, we went to 'tip tai sui' [a Chinese tradition] but we couldn't do it that day as the service will only be provided starting on the 4th day of CNY. Dad was abit annoyed with 5th Uncle, as he was supposed to have find out whether the service is available or not, but he told my Dad another thing.
So anyway, since we were already there, we prayed in the temple, and another Kuan Yin temple few metres away.

Then at night, Bro left for KL. He's going to Bangkok the night after.


Third day of CNY
I had a gathering with my friends at 9.30am, but I only woke up at 10am when ET called. Oh God!
By the time I got ready, they had already finished 'dim sum'. Haha.
Glad to know I was not alone though. Hehe. Pei Pei did not wake up in time as well.

We all then headed to the Weld Quay, to the Hainan Cafe.
Actually, the main reason we were there was so that See Mei can take some photos for assignment. XD
And so, we took quite a number of photos together.

As you see, only the 7 of us were there. Others were either busy or going to the temple.
Abit saddening the gathering. =P


Fourth day of CNY
Time to go back to Cyberjaya. *sigh*

I had lab session on Monday, that's why we were practically forced to come back today.
Good God! The highway was so jammed that it took us 8 hours [plus plus] to travel from Penang to Kuala Lumpur.
What a 'fun' journey. ><