As mentioned previously, I visited my Malaysian relatives yesterday. We were stuck in a traffic jam for about 2 hrs in the morning at the Causeway!

I can really feel a sense of festivities yesterday. Why?

4 of my Malaysian cousins are now working/ studying in Kuala Lumpur and we hardly get to meet up, maybe at most twice a year, which hardly compares with our bi-monthly gatherings when we were younger. So, this is definitely a rare occasion where the whole family gathers and perhaps therein lies the greatest meaning of Chinese New Year (CNY). A season of reunion.

Of course, there was the requisite CNY entertainment, card games. It’s not about the money, but more about the loud voices, the excitement, egging on each other and amidst that, the feeling of family. Knowing that some things don’t change. (I’m still the only rose among 7 thorns, hehe.)

The 2 eldest cousins, both successful eligible bachelors, are hitting their 40s and still have no intention of getting married. 3rd cousin Jie, however, now has a Thai wife, Om, but is still our big brother, caring towards his younger brothers and cousins. The obese 5th cousin, Yao is still as miserly as ever, taking ages to decide whether to follow the bet, inducing exasperation in us.

And for the elder generation. My grandmother is now in her 90s. She can no longer recognize us and is so thin she only has a layer of skin covering her bones. It upsets me to see her this way but thankfully, she has my uncle’s wife taking good care of her, tending to her everyday needs.

We ended the night with a sumptuous 8-course dinner at the New Hong Kong restaurant. Unfortunately, the place was short-staffed and there was an unusually big crowd. We ended up having to wait nearly an hour for the first 2 courses to be served and the whole dinner took about 3 hours to complete.

Would love to continue catching up with my cousins but it’s back to work for all of us on Monday.

# posted by Shopaholic : 3:13 PM