We woke up early in the morning at 5am. Hwei min and I were the first to wake up, very gan cheong, I think we were both too excited in anticipation of the trip.
Checked the webcam for the traffic condition, found Tuas to be relatively lighter. Anyway, that was nearer to 8U’s (8th Uncle, dad’s younger brother) place. So we waited for his car and left in convoy. It is the same usual group this time, 8U, 8A, their daughters Wan Ying and Wan Mei, my 2A(2nd Aunt, dad’s elder sister) and my own family of five. We would be joined by my 1A(1st Aunt, dad’s eldest sister) and 1AU(1st Uncle, Aunt’s husband) when we reach their place later.
The first place we aimed for was Yong Peng. A quick stop here, mainly for breakfast. Ah…. if you have never tried, must try sai doh (Chinese literal translation : West Sword, don’t ask me why…) fish balls. Fish balls made from fresh sai doh fish. Their fish cakes are delicious too.
The trip did not start well for me actually. I had a bad digestion problem throughout the trip. Felt bloated. Had to clear my bowels, but I could not release unless I was very comfortable with the toilet. Thankfully the toilet at the said oh place was clean…
I ran into the toilet the moment I stepped into my 1A’s place. This might sound strange, but though it was a different physical place from the one I visited two years ago (they moved to a new home), the place smelled familiar. Strange hor? To think that I remember how places smell, and my body automatically feels comfortable.
It’s scary how fast we … Grow. My little nephew, Ken Li, grew up. Last time we spent hours playing toy cars with Ken, now we spent hours playing toy cars with his little sis, Rou Ting, no doubt influenced by her brother.
My dear aunts are visibly aging as well. More wrinkles… They were the happy kind of wrinkles near their eyes and their mouths because they laugh a lot.
Funny how its acceptable socially to tell someone :-
‘Oh, boy boy has grown taller hor?’ when they are from 0 to 18, then …
‘Oh, ah girl so pretty’ or ‘ah boy so handsome’ till they are about 25,
Then … silence from the years on.
Never ‘Oh, auntie has new wrinkles just above your eyes now, ooh… you look very wise lei.’ Or in my case, ‘Auntie, you have happy wrinkles. You are aging gracefully, and I want to be like you when I grow old.’
I mean it. And I have told Hwei Min as well… If we can live our golden years half as happy as my aunts are, we will be so fortunate.
What else had changed? There is one additional new member of the family since I last visited, a friendly and handsome Doberman pup. He’s a friendly puppy almost as tall as an adult when walking on hind legs. Very powerful dog that takes my uncle for a walk rather than the other way around.
I can no longer get away with sleeping in the living room like I used to anymore… Like some ancient rite of passage, I get the honour of having a room all to ourselves together with Hwei Min.
Predictably, my 1AU brought us out a grand tze char dinner, offering the best that KL can offer, and we spent the rest of the night, the younger kids playing Uno, the older kids playing gin rummy, a recent Tham family vacation tradition. That was what the trip was about, a fine predictable vacation, with family.
