Unlike the previous years this year's Chinese New Year celebration was a very sombre one with hardly any sound of fire crackers fired even in the Chinese majority areas in Klang . This was perhaps due to the discovery of a go-down filled with illegally imported fire crackers and subsequently lead to the confisctaion of the item which are most sought by the Chinese community . The boarders of Malaysia-Thailand incidentally are tightly monitored to prevent the smuggling to Thailand of government subsidised goods by unscruplous get rich quick businessmen . The sound of fire crackers could only be heard sparingly whenever there is a Lion Dance in attendance . I personally feel that the firing of fire crackers is unnecessary .It would only lead to negative things such as fire , disturbance of the peace and wastage . After all fire crackers are banned in Singapore and China . Why should there be any exception for Malaysia ?
On the first day of Chinese New Year accompanied by daughter Farin ( who was back from UTM for the Chinese New Year Holiday ), grand daughter Alisya and wife I went to my old friend's house , Mr. Tan Poh Sim in Batu Belah , Klang . It has been the host's practice for many years to serve us with KFC . Mr Tan is a close friend for over 20 years and every year we would visit him and vice versa ( he and his wife would visit us on Hari Raya ) . This friend of mine has lost a considerable amount of weight . He too looked elderly than before . However he commented that I have put on weight and advised me to do some exercises . He is not a rich man but he is very careful in his spendings and that's what made him to be successful property owner today . I do not have many Chinese friends now a days especially after my retirement , but Mr Tan Poh Sim remained to be truly genuine friend after all these years .
At about 2.00 pm we went to another long time friend's house at Kg. Teluk Gong . Mr. Oh Tow has remained close to me despite the fact that I am now retired . I have not gone to Teluk Gong for many years and I was surprised to see the development going on there . I almost could not find my way to the place due to the rapid development around the area . Mr. Oh Tow is rearing birds ( pigeon ) for it's nest ( consists of salivas of the bird ) which is a very expensive food item of medicinal value to the Chinese . He told me he had already invested almost RM 200,000 on the project . I had tasted the bird's nest ( actually bird's salivas ) when I visited Thailand ( it was damn cheap there ) many years ago . I did not find anything beneficial consuming the bird's salivas . It is just the belief by the Chinese community that anyone consuming bird's salivas would cool their body temperature and subsequently enjoy good health . I do not know whether this belief is supported by scientific findings which I very much doubt . I also do not know whether there is any ' fatwa ' by Islamic religious authorities on the consumption of the bird's salivas -whether it is haram or halal ( permissible or non permissible according to Islam ).
On the second day of Chinese New Year I did not go any where .
On the third days of Chinese New Year I ( alone ) went to Kg. Bagan Hailam , Port Klang to visit another long time friend , Mr. Loo . Bagan Hailam is a Chinese village built on stilts on mangroves land facing the Straits of Malacca . Almost 99 % of the people there are Chinese with very few Indonesian /Bangladeshi immigrants who rented houses / rooms there .The majority of them are fishermen . As I could not walk for long distance ( due to my knee problem ) Mr. Loo picked me up at the car park area on his motor cycle and I was transported right to the door steps of his house . Sitting on the verenda of the houses there would make us feel very soothing with the fresh air coming from the sea . After that we went to a seafood restaurant not far away from the house where we had a sumptious lunch of prawns and steamed fish . The restaurant was a new one owned by Mr.Peter Tan who happened to hail from Bagan Datok , Perak , the place where I was borned . I was told the total cost of building the restaurant was about RM 2,000,000/- . It is much bigger in size than the ikan bakar restaurant ( owned by a Malay ) which we used to frequent not far away . Because the roof is high above , it is much airy there . The food are chinese style cooking and it is ' halal ' . Frankly , I still prefer the usual ikan bakar restaurant whose cooking style fits my taste and I beleive of my family too .
All in all , I only went to 3 houses during this year's Chinese New Year - Year of the rat .
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