Short Trip Back To Malaysia

Finally I left Palembang (the place that I used to call home for the past 3 years) and headed back to Malaysia for a short trip before leaving for Brisbane.

My wife was a bit upset when she got to know that I had my "holiday" in Malaysia while she had to manage my active toddler son at home. Anyway, I got to meet up with many childhood friends (up to 25 years of friendship) and former colleagues.

I spent most of the time with my dad as I stayed with him. We had almost every meal at Penang's famous hawker food stalls nearby my place. I managed to slot in afternoon tea and supper with friends while major meal sessions were "reserved" for my dad and my relatives.

"Brisbane" will be the beginning of my new chapter in life where I shall become a dad for the 2nd time and go back to school to further my studies. I am still anxious to be unemployed and had to stay with my in-laws (not that I've never done it before but this time is for a longer period of time). Will I be able to turn on my "study brain" after so many years? Will I be able to cope with studying, take care of a toddler, take care of a newborn and manage a good family relationship at the same time? It looks as if I have too many balls to juggle at the same time.... Nevertheless, I am still positive about my new life in Brisbane and what lies ahead of 2010.

90 & Still Dancing

I was back in Ipoh to attend my wife's grand father's 90th birthday celebration on May 22. We address her grandpa as Gong2 (cantoneses). Majority of our relatives from all over the world (Holland, US & Australia) made it for the event.

On that day after lunch, we had a brief tea ceremony at home where all of Gong2's children, grand-children and great-grand-children were there to offer him tea and get some ang pows (red packets with money) in return. We also attended a church ceremony followed by a dinner/dance reception later that night.

Gong2 is 90 years old but he still goes line dancing and play mahjong everyday. He had a heart operation last year but recovered very well. He was still trying to re-arrange the seating plans for the event on the night before. I had to learn up some line dancing steps from "Tango with the Sheriff" so that I could join in. Look at the sheriff in RED below:












The dinner/dance party was thrown by Gong2's daughters. Many of his friends, neighbours and fellow line dancers were invited to the dinner. It was fun because besides line dancing, we also had some partner dances and swing music.

You can see in the photo below that my 2.5 year old son dancing with me to the Chubby Checker's "Let's Do The Twist" song and he really enjoyed it. Maybe when he is 18 he would no longer want to dance with his father anymore?!!









Many of Gong2's line dancing "girl-friends" are 20-30 years younger than him. I can't believe there are still so many ladies being attracted to a 90 year old man. See what he got for his 90th birthday??









His wife Poh2 was a bit jealous and decided to take photos with 2 handsome "men" instead....ha ha ha!












Besides the party, we also had a good time eating all the delicious Ipoh food like Ipoh Hor Fun (flat noodles), char koay teow (fried noodles), white coffee (cappucino) and curry noodles. As shown in the photo below, some of our relatives were REALLY HUNGRY!












Family gatherings are always a blast!