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My Chinese New Year in Malaysia - Feb 2005 |
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Malaysians
are invariably friendly to foreigners and that is just one reason for
Malaysia being a popular tourist destination. I was lucky to experience
the Chinese New Year celebrations in Malaysia and also meet and interact
with lot of Chinese and Indian families. Day 1 My
first day in Malaysia was with Sunil and his family in Malacca. Malacca
is a historic place with rich cultural heritage and traditions. Sunil took
me around Malacca and we spent some time at the shopping malls and stopped
by for some local food.. ¡®laksa¡¯-spicy noodle with ¡®lemak¡¯=coconut
milk. Later that evening, I joined Sunil¡¯s family to go for prayers at the Sai Baba temple. I was amused to see that Hindu & Chinese Gods being worshipped in the same temple¡ and Chinese New year was celebrated along with ¡®Bhajans¡¯ ¨CHindu prayers. I could see how all religions and nationalities are respected and practiced and that is what makes Malaysia unique in its own way.
Day 2 The next day Pei Ling came down from Kuala Lumpur (KL) and joins us in Malacca. We went out for sightseeing & saw the A¡¯Famosa fort, Portuguese settlements and other historical places in Malacca. We went to a Chinese temple and were lucky to see the lion dance¡ the drums the dance and the entire atmosphere was amazing and it was more exciting for me as I always wanted to see it, ever since I was a child. On the same street there were temples and mosques and could hear the Muslim prayers and Chinese drums at the same time. It was a different cultural combination that I never got to see before.
We met Thana and her friends over lunch. Then Pei Ling took me several places like mini Malaysia-where they have wooden houses of different states in Malaysia, the crocodile farm, honeybee farm and a cultural programme showing the different dances in different states of Malaysia.
Day 3 We were feeling so tired in the morning.. no sleep and still lot of traveling to be done today. Pei Ling was taking me to her friends home towns in Talung Intan and Penang. After a heavy reunion lunch, a round of gambling, a short nap and some more food¡ we left for Penang. We reached late and were staying at Pei ling¡¯s friend-Cha Yee's home.
Day 4 Penang is a small island city connected to mainland Malaysia by a bridge and is the Tsunami affected area in 2004. The people in Penang are very happy-go-luck kind and live a very relaxed life¡ that is what I feel. They are passionate about their food and have so many huge food courts. There is so much choice of food in the food courts and they are also very choosy about what they eat. I had a great time in Penang as I like the Chinese food and we were eating and drinking at different food courts¡ all the time.
I met lot of Pei Ling¡¯s classmates in Penang¡ they are such good people and one by one all of them took me out in different directions to show me their home town.
Some Chinese are very religious and pray¡ mostly for money and good fortune. Most of Chinese superstitions and traditions are associated with money and getting rich. Penang is also famous for the Kek Lok Si temple which has the biggest statue of the goddess of mercy. I also got to see a Chinese cultural celebration in Penang.
Day 5 We left Penang at 3.00 am early morning to drive to KL to avoid traffic as everyone would be heading to KL after their New Year vacation. We were so tired but Pei Ling had to go to work while I was resting throughout the day. After work Pei Ling took me to the KL Twin Towers¡ and there is nothing much to see inside only huge shopping malls, but there were lot of couples outside ¡®celebrating¡¯ Valentines Day. But the rain played a spoilt sport and disturbed their celebrations heavily.
Later
that evening we met Irfan and he drove us out of the city very far¡ in
heavy rains to have dinner at one of his favorite joints¡ a local Malay
restaurant. All the while I was wondering¡ why come so far when there
are so many restaurants in the city¡ but I realised the
Malaysian¡¯s passion for food and their choice of restaurants. We met
Brahma over dinner and talked about their experiences in Mumbai. After
dinner I felt that it was really worth the drive and appreciate Irfan¡¯s
choice of place to have dinner. Day 6 Irfan took me to a place where he would have his breakfast since his school days. He says the place has changed so much but the food still the same¡ after breakfast he took me around old KL and saw the old railway station, post office, mosques traditional houses and some very old shops. It was so different to the modern KL that I had seen¡ difficult to believe that its just the other side of the same city.
I met Brahma and Kavita over lunch and they took me to the new government administration region-Putrajaya. After seeing the swanky government office buildings, the roads and the huge mosque I felt that the Malaysian government is richer that even the European countries.
For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant, as I wouldn¡¯t have Indian meal for 6 months in China. We had nasi (rice) with fish and chicken served on banana leaves. I also met Wai Leng Wong over dinner¡the dinner was special to me for two obvious reasons.
I had
to take a night train to Singapore but we were so busy chatting after
dinner that we lost track of time and I managed to reach the station
barely 5 mins before departure. I also met Shyam at the station but
couldn¡¯t talk much¡ no time¡ a quick good-bye¡ everything had to
be done so fast¡ and I didn¡¯t want to go. I
missed Malaysia right from the time the train left the station. I
always wanted to meet people and see the way of life of the Malaysians and
study the deep culture and history of Malaysia. I didn¡¯t want to stay in
Malaysia like a tourist but as a local. I didn¡¯t want to see big cities
but preferred to visit the smaller home-towns. I
thank Sunil and family, Irfan and family, Brahma, Kavita, Wai Leng Wong,
Shyam and all of Pei Ling¡¯s friends for all that they have done for me
and to make my vacation so memorable. Special
thanks to Pei Ling for always being there and arranging my vacation the
way I wanted it to be. Shrinidhi
Takle
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