CHINESE NEW YEAR IS A BLAST!

Here in Kuching and all around Malaysia, Chinese New year is very much about color and noise, lots of it, with trucks going around loaded with martial art troops dedicated to performing the lion dance to bless homes and their kitchens and be literally fired by loud crackers. Yes Chinese New year is always a blast I simply love to be part of.    

We... as in we, small branch of the Teos, do not celebrate at home. Our family is ridiculously too small for us to have fun, instead we visit our friends and traditionally set up camp on Helen’s terrace which operates as a card games and mah-jong den for the whole two weeks the celebrations last. Gambling which is “mostly” illegal in Malaysia is so much part of the Chinese tradition around that time that it is actually aloud in the homes. Because our group is a family and we wouldn’t want to rip each other off, so we play small. Others may not be so cautious though and the new moon is well known for bringing dramatic changes of fortune, make some rich and bring other to ruin who lose hundreds of thousands of ringgits and even their homes. As for me, I must confess that I have just lost again but only MYR50 lah!

"Helen’s terrace which operates as a card games and mah-jong den"

Mah Jong anyone?