The shortest CNY trip ever!

It was suppose to be a 5 day 4 night trip to Ipoh but turned out to be a 3 day 2 night event in Ipoh. How was everyone else's holidays back in the Home town? Firstly - there are sacrifices to be made during CNY break:

1. No Hawker food in Ipoh no matter how desperate cos the price is sky high
   
2. Bad shows on Wah Lah Toi and other channels... i forgot to bring my dvds back :(
3. Putting on weight :P
4. Terrible CNY smses.... repeats and repeats
   

But there were good stuff as well, like ang pows and sitting down and spending time with my grandma. This is my second year of CNY without gramps who passed away in 2005, so new year is more of spending time with grandma. Time really zoomed pass us.

We went back to ipoh on the eve - started out around 6+ ended up in Ipoh only around 12pm. I was by that time 1) tired 2) really in need of the loo 3) very very hungry 4) Jitterish. Bro was pissed and cranky in the car as usual. Traffic was bad due to some malaysians who feel that the use of emergency lanes are justifiable. Hey. Everyone wants to get home ok, so Q like the rest of the people. I observed that:

• Alot of singaporean numbered cars used the Emergency lanes along with an equal amount of malaysian cars following suit
  
• Terrible drivers... slowing when not supposed to, too fast when not required.
• Too many motorbikes zig zagging in and out of traffic.
  

All along the north/south express ways the R&R were jammed-people stopped their cars along the roads to rush to the bushes to take a leak. Bet you the whole high way stanked!

Bored Neko taking photos in the car

******Reunion Dinner******

Well- all ended well, we reached and then the preparation for dinner started. One thing about Ipoh- i am ever so hungry there. I tend to munch munch munch. When Fren comes back, he is going to say i am plumper again! Anyways, eat while i can :). Since gramps is not around anymore, Aunt is less into cooking heavy meat stuff which suits neko fine. The usual duck and chicken is there. It is customary we have Pangkor Cai's Roast duck. The restaurant is in 61 Jalan Lee Kwee Foh, Canning Garden. He's not the best duck place in Ipoh- the other one is at Tuck Kee at Ipoh town but he's the closest and quite good as well. You preorder your ducky a few days before and collect it on New Year's Eve. The shop guy will Chop and Cut the duck. Oh... please bring your own plate as well :P. Btw, anyone interested in eating in that restaurant- it serves halal food. There is no siew yoke here. If you want siew yoke, duck and the works- go to Tuck Kee in Ipoh town.

Succilent duck... Comes with the sweet sauce as well as Chilli sauce. This is a bad angle i took from. Mom and Aunt were going on behind me so i got a bit harried....

Neko Aunty and Neko Grandma at dining table. We had duck, veg, chook and another veg plus soup. Grandma is saying grace and Neko is er.. taking pictures??

Dinner was good- helped clean up and the evening ended up in
1) Reading silly SMSes from everyone 2) Watching TV and "chui sui" as Fren says with the relatives.


All in all a quiet and pleasant new year's eve.

****** 1st day of New Year ******

Yay!! First day of new year- we had Roti Canai for breakky!! Dad had a sudden craving a nd we went to Ipoh Garden to get our roti. Good curry but Roti in KL is slightly crunchier.

No great feasting today- 1st day, my family is not vegetarian. Grandma is a christian so we still have meat. We have chai, chicken, fish and Lap Mei! Only thing i dread most on 1st day of visiting new year is visiting my relatives. It's not the usual getting married but then my relatives have since fallen out about 8 years plus and it seemed very fake to visit people i do not really care too much about. Anyway- being a good girl, i trotted along. h eck... can drink more soft drinks lah......

That night...............sigh My aunty 4 calls up in KL ( at close to midnite ) that the eletricity in my house tripped. She had no keys to my house and my house was in darkness.. I was like ..*hah* ( imagine that slow voice as a result of just waking up). Hmm... after that Neko Okasan was not able to sleep as all she could think about is the food in the fridge, our precious 3 fat goldfish etc.... sigh................ long nite liao.

****** 2nd day of New Year ******

So it was decided we need to go back home...so we prepared to buzz of after lunch. Pretty sad though, i wanted to buy more food stuff. Anyway- i got tracy's "Sat Kei Mah" that was about it. 2nd day of new year is usually prawn day, Bro bought prawns from his trip to sabah and look at them! Juicy and large.Some pics of the prawns prior to cooking.

Once you tasted this- prawns you buy in KL seems not as good as this.













Anyway- these are the last few shots :) for the second day - mostly of biscuit shots. Mom made most of this except the flat brown one that looks like kai chai peng. All the biscuits are home made. We never buy biscuits except for love letters, all are home made. Orders anyone?

Walnut Biscuits.
Almond Flakes biscuit

Chicken Biscuit.
More Chicken Biscuit Shots

That's the end of the new year pics man... almost a week already since new year. Time flies fast. Have a good piggie year everyone :)