Lion Dance and Fireworks. These are the two things
that would excite anyone, no matter how old one may be. From the back of my in-laws house, at the open kitchen on the second floor of a two-storey shophouse, I saw major display of fireworks at the dawn of Chinese New Year. It was great fun! No one could get any sleep right till 3 in the morning that very first day. On this very first day of Chinese New Year in this small town called Sungai Petani, Kedah, my two boys announced to their grandfather that they wanted to go see Lion Dance. So, we packed them in the car and drove around this quiet town, in search of our noisy dancing lions but to no avail. Maybe because it was already close to noon and all lion dances in town had finished their rounds performing for the day. The next day, a vague but familiar sound lured us downstairs and 
there it was, a troupe of Lion Dance performers was getting ready to perform for our neighbour. What luck we had! So, there was the usual dancing, waving of the lion's head and wagging of the tail, the fetching of the greens, receiving angpows (red packets) and whole loads of firecrackers and loud music. I believed Ryan had fun "feeding" one of the Lions mandarin orange and I think it was an extraordinary experience for our half "gui low" cousin, Michelle from Australia, staying in Malaysia for a short holiday,
to have witnessed a true lion dance, right in front of her eyes, at such close proximity. I had to really salute my mother-in-law for her great ability and skills in preparing so many chinese new year dishes at one go, for so many relatives and friends whom they have invited over to the house to makan (eat), and yet, all dishes were of great quality and tasted that good. Suddenly, it made me missed my own mum's cooking all over again...well, it was, after all, an interesting chinese new year, away from home, this year around.
that would excite anyone, no matter how old one may be. From the back of my in-laws house, at the open kitchen on the second floor of a two-storey shophouse, I saw major display of fireworks at the dawn of Chinese New Year. It was great fun! No one could get any sleep right till 3 in the morning that very first day. On this very first day of Chinese New Year in this small town called Sungai Petani, Kedah, my two boys announced to their grandfather that they wanted to go see Lion Dance. So, we packed them in the car and drove around this quiet town, in search of our noisy dancing lions but to no avail. Maybe because it was already close to noon and all lion dances in town had finished their rounds performing for the day. The next day, a vague but familiar sound lured us downstairs and 
there it was, a troupe of Lion Dance performers was getting ready to perform for our neighbour. What luck we had! So, there was the usual dancing, waving of the lion's head and wagging of the tail, the fetching of the greens, receiving angpows (red packets) and whole loads of firecrackers and loud music. I believed Ryan had fun "feeding" one of the Lions mandarin orange and I think it was an extraordinary experience for our half "gui low" cousin, Michelle from Australia, staying in Malaysia for a short holiday,
to have witnessed a true lion dance, right in front of her eyes, at such close proximity. I had to really salute my mother-in-law for her great ability and skills in preparing so many chinese new year dishes at one go, for so many relatives and friends whom they have invited over to the house to makan (eat), and yet, all dishes were of great quality and tasted that good. Suddenly, it made me missed my own mum's cooking all over again...well, it was, after all, an interesting chinese new year, away from home, this year around. 
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