Tien Hau, an old Temple on a Hill

After breakfast this morning we visited the Tien Hau Temple on the top of a hill. At night we can see from our apartment, the bright red lights of the thousands of lanterns at the temple site glowing like a ruby in the dark sky.


Many tourists and locals were already there, with devotees offering prayers & fruit. The smell of incense from the joss sticks filled the air as we drew near the temple. Just within the entrance of the temple grounds is a large statue of Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.


Across the other side are statues of the 18 immortals.


Sculptures of the 12 zodiac animals are placed strategically in the grounds so that visitors can take photographs.

Each of us took photos with the zodiac animal under which we were born. My grandson Stephen was born in the year of the Tiger so here we have a picture of him with the Tiger.


There is also a large paper Dragon on the lower ground of the temple.


At one end of the temple is a cluster of tigers with one leaping towards the sky.


Inside the temple are deities to whom devotees pay obeisance.

A pair of lions were on the floor in front of a large drum and cymbals.


A short while later, the dancers came up and donning the lion heads, they began to dance. They pranced into the temple to pay their respects to the deities within.


When they emerged, they danced
and then allowed the visitors to “feed” them (with red ang pows) after which they gave the visitors an orange each, in return. The orange will bring luck to the recipient.

I also fed the lion an ang pow and I got an orange in return which we later shared among us.


It was a very interesting morning as this is the first time my grandchildren visited this temple and saw the lions close up. Old as I am, I never fail to be thrilled by the lions dancing to the rhythm of the thunderous drum and clashing cymbals. Old and young alike, are usually enthralled by the lion dance, a distinctive feature in the celebration of the Lunar New Year.



This temple also solemnises Chinese marriages and my daughter told me that even the Indians hold their wedding celebrations in a hall at the temple. One of her Indian friends had her wedding celebration there. I thought this was most interesting indeed.

First Day of the Lunar New Year

Day 1 is when my siblings come to visit throughout the day. The last visitors left at 9:30 pm.


Visitors usually come with gifts which include the mandatory mandarin oranges. When they leave, they also leave with a bag of gifts including mandarins. This exchange of gifts is the norm for the Lunar New Year.




There is a lot of catching up and happy talk among the youngsters and the older generation, amid the munching and drinking.


Some of us will definitely add on the kilos especially when there are other house visits on the agenda.

Over the next few days there will be more food at my siblings' homes. I'm looking forward to that! Perish the thought of extra kilos!

Eve of the Lunar New Year: Prayers & Reunion Feast

It’s the prelude to the Reunion feast. Offerings are made to our beloved departed family members before we sit down to our reunion dinner.

In the main part of my brother’s house is the paternal family ancestral tablet. Here a table is set up with assorted food and fruit, including tiny cups of brandy.



In the back portion of the house a smaller table is set up to offer prayers to our late maternal grandparents.




Joss paper is folded into fans and gold ingots and sets of paper clothing, shoes and monetary notes of large denominations are readied to be burnt as offerings at the end of the prayers.






The oldest male in the family, i.e. my younger brother, has to invite the deity guarding the main door to bring in the spirits of our departed family members to enjoy the feast that has been laid out for them. Then every member in the family will pray and welcome them and also ask for blessings for our families for the incoming Year of the Tiger.

The same is done at the back portion of the house where our deceased maternal grandparents are invited to partake of the feast laid out for them and we offer our prayers and ask for blessings. Here a couple of lighted cigarettes are also offered as our grandpa was a smoker.

After an appropriate lapse of time, my brother would then say a prayer and toss two coins into the air. If they land with one coin showing heads and the other tails, this indicates that our dearly departed are done and we can burn the joss papers and paper offerings.

For this purpose a large wok or basin is brought into the garden where we will burn these things.



When all have been burnt, my brother will pour all the cups of brandy , circling the wok as he pours. This is to ensure that the offerings will not be hijacked by other spirits who may be hovering around who have not been accorded the respects and prayers



According to our elders, the higher the ashes fly, the better it will be for us as this signifies that the departed are happy and will bless us.



There is a short respite before we sit down to our dinner. There is the "yee sang" where we use chopsticks to lift the contents of the dish which consists of different finely grated vegetables, crackers, raw salmon, dressings, peanut, sesame seeds, etc. This is the dish of prosperity.



The higher you lift the ingredients,to utterances of "lo hei", the better your luck will be for the new year.



Since the younger generation like sushi we added it in this year.






The young children had a good time playing and it was a great joy to see them growing.
The youngest who is a few month old baby has also grown and his bright eyes were moving everywhere taking in the activities. After wishing each other gong xi fa cai we returned to our respective homes.

Tomorrow my siblings and their families will visit me to pay their respects to the eldest in the family and I look forward to this. The children and the singles will receive their ang pows and there will be an exchange of gifts.

Last Minute Rush before the Lunar New Year

Today is the eve of the Chinese or Lunar New Year. I checked out the morning market in Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur to see if all the stalls were still open. The majority of them were there, to do the last bit of business before closing for the Lunar New Year.
The Chinese vendors will not open their stalls before the fourth day after the New Year.
The fruit stalls are doing good business especially with pineapples as they are symbolic heralds of good luck.


Here the fish vendor is busy chopping up the fish according to the customer's request. Fish prices escalate during the festive season and many people have decided not to buy the more expensive fish as the price can be exorbitant.


The soya bean vendor has many orders to fulfil. He has filled many bottles of soya bean milk all put into plastic bags for his customers to collect later. In the picture are two containers of sweet soya bean custard. He really makes it very well as it is very smooth and slides down your throat.

Many Chinese stalls will open only on the sixth day. As with previous years, business comes to a standstill during the celebrations. Now, with the advent of hypermarkets which are open throughout the festive season, shopping for the daily necessities is no longer an issue, not like in the past when you really had to stock up as Chinese shops and stalls were closed for at least four days, some even longer. They would open only on even days, never on odd.

Kumquat plants sell like hot cakes especially if there are lots of golden fruits which symbolise wealth.

The Indian kacang putih vendor now packs his assorted products in plastic bags instead of the paper cones used many years ago. I still think paper cones are much betrer and more pleasing to the eye.


The jasmine vendors are busy at work threading the blooms into long strings. These are used for prayers. Some ladies wear them in their hair.



Roadside stalls selling clothes and household items are not to be sneezed at. Sometimes you can get pretty blouses, pants and skirts of reasonable quality at a very affordable price.



The market place is also where you chance upon friends, relatives and even siblings!! My spouse encountered his cousin while my younger brother who had just bought morning papers had a chat with us before rushing home to do some last minute house cleaning!!!! Tomorrow the place will be quiet and empty, except for the Malay lady selling nasi lemak and the Indian man selling Indian pancakes. There won't be any Chinese vendors at all and no Chinese customers as all will be busy celebrating the Lunar New Year.

This afternoon my younger sister and I will be very busy preparing for the ancestral worship. More on that in the next blog.

Coming soon, Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year falls on Valentine’s Day this year, i.e. Feb 14.

Every Chinese family is now very busy preparing for the New Year. Spring-cleaning is a must as it denotes that we are getting rid of the old stuff to make way for the new. A clean and sparkling house augurs well for the inhabitants.

Some families will hang new curtains on their windows and new year decorations in their living rooms. The red packets come in handy as we can make lanterns, balls and fans from them. One common decoration is the fish fashioned from the red packet.

Fish is a symbol of prosperity so some people like to hang these fish on their ang pow tree. ( red packet tree ) The ang pow tree is just like the Christmas tree except that the red packets are hung on the twigs amid the artificial peach blossoms. I like to hang the red fish on my little tree.


Most families will have the pussy willow in their homes too. The buds drop off very easily. They have now coloured the flowers yellow and red too..
However I prefer the original white. Because their stems are very long, it can be a problem transporting them home.

I also bought two plants that had their stems entwined to resemble pineapples.
Pineapples are said to bring luck so I’ve placed them at my front door. This pair will bring us luck.

Then there are the red packets to be filled! Children love receiving these red packets as they contain money. How much you put in depends on the depth of your pockets. I remember when I was young, my grandparents used to put RM1.10 inside while the Cantonese put RM0.40 (two 20sen coins ) inside their red packets. However no one gives these amounts anymore. The minimum is RM2.00. The red packets are new and the banknotes new & crisp too!

Whoever comes to visit your house on the first day of the Chinese New Year (meaning the children and the unmarried people) will receive a red packet or ang pow. Those who are married will have to give out ang pows.

What is served when people come to visit you?

Mandarin oranges are a must. Then you can have the usual variety of cookies such as almond cookies,

tapioca flour cookies ( kuih bangkit), pineapple tarts, love letters, arrowhead crisps, bah kwa ( barbecued chicken or pork slices), ground nuts, cakes, kua chee ( melon seeds, sunflower seeds ). Some families also offer the traditional nien kao ( a sticky cake made from glutinous flour & caramelized ).
One way of serving it is to fry it in egg while the other way is to steam it and roll it in fresh grated coconut. Either way is delicious.

If you have a housemaid, you can offer more substantial food like noodles, chicken, etc.

It is common for people to set up tables to gamble and try their luck with the cards. Even the children gamble too!

Chinese New Year used to be a noisy affair in the past as everyone would light fire crackers. The din added to the merriment and it is a must when the lion dance is performed in your house premises. Fire crackers are not allowed now as there have been fires in the past. However, some houses still burn fire crackers when they have a lion dance performance.

This is by invitation only. You would invite a troupe to perform at your place to chase away the negative vibes and to bring in good luck. The dancers would put up a performance lasting about half an hour. The finale would be the lion climbing up to catch the ang pow which you have tied to a high pole together with some lettuce. In return, the troupe leader will give you a small banner. You can also give the performers smaller ang pows for their efforts and offer the team food and drinks.

When my children were young, we would invite the lion dance team from a school ( they usually raise funds this way) every year to perform at our ‘open house’. Now that they have grown up we do not do this anymore.

The first day of the Chinese New Year begins with visits to your elders to wish them a happy year, longetivity and good health and you go with gifts of oranges etc, as well as ang pows for the children and the singles. Once that is done, you are free to visit your friends.

All Chinese families will make their way home to their parents’ for the reunion dinner which is on the eve of the New Year. So the highways will be clogged with traffic going from north to south and east to west and vice-versa. All flights will be fully booked as those working away from home will also be returning.

However, there has been a trend of late, to go away for short holidays during the Chinese New Year, thus breaking with tradition. This, I feel, is a shame because traditions ought to be preserved and handed down to the younger generations.

Traditions are an integral part of our culture and something of value will be lost if the parents do not follow the traditions and take the easy way out by flying their children off to a holiday destination.

Some have rationalized that it is a time they can spend with their children but there is always the school vacation to do that.

If the truth be known, they do it because they do not want to have “open house” saying it is a hassle and they also can avoid giving ang pows!!

Chinese New Year is a time of reunion, re-connecting with kith and kin, bonding and nurturing friendships. If everyone were to go away instead, the new year celebrations will lose meaning and it will simply become another opportunity for a holiday away from kith and kin and friends. Children need to be exposed to the rich culture of the Chinese and the traditions so that they in turn can pass them down to the future generations.

We shall soon be joining the hordes of folks rushing home for the reunion

Cherry Blossoms Blooming for the Tiger

It is not just Bintang Walk in Kuala Lumpur that has the fake cherry blossoms. Singapore's Chinatown is blooming with them too!


The fake trees actually look very pretty and the large peach blossoms strung across the street are lit at night so it adds to the festive atmosphere,
especially with the throngs of people milling around, shopping for goodies and treats.



Red is THE colour everywhere in the shops as decorative items of all varieties vy for customers' attention.

We headed for Vivocity to take a look at the latest developments on Sentosa Island. There is a good view from the upper deck of Vivocity as it looks across to the island.

To our surprise, there has been a lot of progress. The last time we visited was four months ago and there were no buildings to be seen then. However today, buildings are up and I presume those are the hotels.



I guess in a couple of months' time, there will be even more changes to the skyline in Sentosa.