Ipoh Trip

We were at Ipoh attending 1 of my cousin's wedding last Sat. Counting back, it has been 8 years since i went back to Ipoh..it was to celebrate my grandma's 70th birthday then...

Ipoh & Family
Ipoh, Perak is the place where my dear dad is born and grew up before he came to Singapore alone, at the age of 18 to make a living..

My dad has 9 sibling - 3 brothers and 6 sisters.. All staying in the different parts of Malaysia except for my San Gu who is also in Singapore. So u see, it's only when there is some special occasions that all the brothers and sisters will gather together to catch up with one another... the number of family members expand year by year.. My uncles and aunties have about 2 to 4 kids each and some of the kids are now married with children...So can you imagine how many people there will be when all gather together...Really need to take some time to sit down and count the total number ;)

The Changes
Kind of excited and happy to be back there once again and see how things have changed over the years and to meet the new members of this big family...

The last time i saw our youngest uncle, he was single...now he is married with 4 boys.. Oh gosh! cannot believe it lor...so fast! And those cousins who i carried around when they were babies are all grown up (some are even taller than me).. and now it's their turns to carry the other baby cousins around like what i have done 8 years ago... wow.. cannot help feeling old...

This was also the first time i had a good interaction with some of my cousins... we were only teenagers then and it's really different when you grow older... age really makes a different in the level of interaction and understanding..and i guess we can appreciate the kinship that we share more..

Da Gu (mum of the cousin getting married) & family have juz moved into a much much bigger house.. and you wun believe it ..the house cost ONLY about 90k sing dollars..cannot even get a 3-rm flat in singapore! damn cheap lor...haha..there is a small vegetable farm where my grandma grow all her vegetables and fruits... the land initially was juz a patch of wild grass with lots of high bushes and trees...my grandma actually chopped the tress, cleared the bushes all by herself! at the age of 78! she's really strong lor...

Kampong Tawas
Also visited Kampong Tawas where my dad grew up... his kampong... this may be our last visit there coz the place is very old and soon it will be dangerous for anyone to stay there..after my oldest uncle move out next year, it will be deserted... this house is so called the ancestor house (zhu wu) so it will be there till someone has the ability to rebuild it again...this is the place my family usually will stay when we go back to ipoh when we were young...
i had some fond memories there too....
i remembered there was a well at the back of the living room ...i always like to soak myself in a big basin with the well water (very cooling!), very shiok and was hoping to see it again...But sadly, the well has been filled up.
i also remembered playing firecrackers during 1 of the chinese new year... i burnt my fingers once but that did not stop me..hee..very fun! but now it has been banned..

The Wedding
Oh ya, how can i not mention the wedding..the main goal in going back.. it's rather different in m'sia, i guess maybe because of the distance of the couple's houses are quite far away... last sat was the dinner for the girl's family and the sun morning is the tea ceremony for the girl's family..today, my cousin will chu jia fr KL where the guy's family is, go thru the customary and have another dinner for the guy's side...another interesting custom is that the nite before the dinner, ie Friday nite, all the guests invited to the dinner will gather at the bride's place to feast...nt sure wat's the significant..maybe to chuo ren nao ba? BTW, the banquet there is v cheap and portion of the food is super big lor! We are full after the third dish! hahaha...

Though it's a short trip, it's good to be back... i guess the next opportunity for eveyone to gather again will be my grandma's 80th birthday celebration ba, to celebrate and take a family photo (hope the camara can take ALL of us..hahaha)..

Till the time we all meet again....