A New Year to remember

I was a little apprehensive about going to Sibu to celebrate my first "real" Chinese New Year in five years because of the lack of modern conveniences at my grandparents' house -- no air-cond, no sitting-down toilet (I can't squat properly) and only ONE bathroom in a seven-bedroom house. I could never figure that out -- whoever designed the house was obviously not very bright.

My feeble attempts to weasel my way out of going was met by utter refusal on my dad's part. So I resigned myself to it, and braced myself for six days of sweaty discomfort.

But, to my surprise, it didn't turn out to be so bad after all. I adjusted after a few days there, and it was hard to not love being in the midst of nature. My grandparents' house is in the countryside, about 30 minutes away and across the river from Sibu town. The acres of land in the area consists of a few orchards and pepper plantations.

I felt so refreshed and rested there, a decidedly pleasant change from the hustle and bustle of city life. There's just something about being surrounded by greenery that does one's body, soul and spirit a load of good. The air was so deliciously fresh as it rained almost everyday, which helped to keep the temperatures cool, too, thank goodness. I loved falling asleep to the sound of crickets, but being rudely awaken by the jarring crow of a rooster way before dawn everyday was not fun. After the first night, my sisters and I were ready to slaughter the darn chicken!

One evening after dinner, we took a walk down the lane from the house. My older sister, Winnie, who's always had a childlike fascination for tadpoles (and frogs, for that matter -- I caught her dissecting one that she caught in our kitchen as a kid once, to my utter horror), led the rest of the kids in catching these tiny, slimy creatures in muddy puddles of water along the road. My youngest sister, Carina, had never done this before, and it was a delight to watch her light up with excitement and glee after finally catching one. There were beautiful, dainty purplish-blue and white wild orchids growing along the road, and we picked a bouquet for the house. Oh, the simple pleasures of life!

Another highlight of the trip was picking wild edible ferns one morning with my mom, Winnie and the two younger kids. Wild ferns are one of our all-time favourite "veges," which are stir-fried with garlic, ginger, salt and a dash of homemade rice wine. We hiked up the hill behind the house and spent a glorious hour picking out the edible ferns from the many other species of ferns and vegetation. At the end of the hunt, we had picked enough to feed everyone. We had it for lunch that day, and it was as good as I had anticipated, except I think my mom forgot to add salt, LOL!

Other than that, we did the usual -- visiting and catching up with relatives and friends, eating lots of mee sua in chicken soup (a Foo Chow staple), and of course, collecting ang pows.

I was a little sad to leave. You can be sure that I won't be putting up a fight about going to Sibu the next time round. Till next year!