Home for Chinese New Year 2009 :)

23rd January 2009, going back home for Chinese New Year for the first time after 3 years spending these auspicious and exciting festivals in United Kingdom. Chinese new year is very much celebrated by Chinese around the globe and it's often regarded as the most important celebration by the Chinese regardless of Chinese from mainland China or Chinese from southeast Asia or even the minority Chinese in America or other parts of the world. People from foreign country hardly understood and nor being explained the meaning of it. In simple words, it's similar to Christmas celebrated by them yearly where family members gathered around on this day to share the sweets and bitter moments of the years and to start a new year with hope that tomorrow or rather next year would be a better day or year.

Woke up at 0700 in the morning and getting ready to get to the bus station is unusual for me, because normally I wake up at 0840 for a 0900 day in to work. It really proved that how much it meant me to be able to catch the bus to make sure that I reach home on time for this important celebration, even Raymond, my housemate was surprise to find me awake making breakfast (normally I just skip breakfast or a simple and quick one). Then I started my long journey home starting with a kind lift from CP to the bus station. Then travelling with the 'best' bus service provider, National Express to airport. Met a HongKy tourist on the bus and chatted with him the whole journey. Arrived at Heathrow Airport Central Bus Station and not surprisingly, it was still as busy as usual, travellers wheeling their trolley making the noisiest and most annoying rumbling sound. Always thinking that if someone is going to invent something to get rid of that noise. But today, I was not too bothered with the noise because there was something for me to look forward to…

It was my first time travelling with KLM (Royal Dutch Airline) purely because it was the cheapest way to get home when I booked my flight back in October. Heard so much bad reviews about the airline, so I did not have high expectation at all before taking the flight… but actually it's not that bad after all… well guess I should write an entry just about KLM in the future. Terminal 4, an unfamiliar terminal to me, rather disappointing one as it's undergoing some major renovation. Nothing much to talk about the terminal… so let's skip to the flight which was more eventful… Had bad feelings about the flight before… like some Chinese saying, muscle twitching at the eyelid could mean something bad… especially travelling one week after the successful landing of the American airways at Hudson River… and after watching Snake on the plane starring Samuel L Jackson (a rather ridiculous and disturbing but entertaining film) thanks to Matt who recorded in the Digibox he has. I just couldn't help to think about all sort of possibilities there… Not the snakes part I hope…

Arriving at the gate 30 minutes before departure and not being able to see the plane outside at the aerobridge just make me wonder… is my flight going to be delayed because the plane is not here yet? But later it proved that it just me being paranoid as my plane is actually at the other side of the wall… guess other than the price to pay for using the aerobridge, there must be a price to pay as well to park the plane at visible sight for the passengers. Another cost cutting measures I suppose which I think Dato Fernandes or other budget airlines' CEO would be able to explain a lot more… Was glad that we were called to board the plane on time and felt rather sure that catching the connecting flight from Amsterdam to KL one hour after arriving at Schipol Airport Amsterdam should not be very much a problem. Had a short telephone chat with the customer service operator of KLM one week before the flight about the short connecting time but he convinced me in a Dutch accent that Schipol Airport is the world best airport ever with the best infrastructure and system that would ensure a connecting time of 50 minutes is more than enough.

Everything went so well until the minute after they closed the cabin door. The captain announced that due to adverse weather condition in Europe, we were to be stranded at Heathrow airport until further notice… we were also told that we could expect a 50 minutes delay…!@#$%^&* A Malaysian lady next to me who was travelling to KL with the same connecting flight as mine started to panic and made so much noise and demanded the person in charge to talk to her… I can still remember what she said until today not words by words but she was not able to put out a argument point at all… "I have always travel with MAS airline before this and I did not have such problem before, why is it the first time I travel with KLM, this happen, this is not acceptable, can I have a complaint form to fill in please" I was like WTF, it's not KLM fault that the weather decided to get bad before we depart… sometime people can be so ridiculous isn't it… for goodness sack at least a better point next time… I was worried about the connecting flight too because if I miss the flight to KL, it would mean missing the flight to Kuching too…
Waiting patiently and finally we departed Heathrow airport 45 minutes late. Landed at Schipol Airport 45 minutes later, prior to disembarking, the captain announced that all connecting flight passengers should make our way to the boarding gate for immediate boarding… Schipol airport is indeed a huge airport, running from gate D to gate B require 25 minutes of brisk walking… -_-" but with heavy hand luggage, maybe slightly longer… In short, I made it at the end, they even delay the flight to KL for almost an hour just to accommodate the 50 passengers including myself from my earlier flight. Thank God!!

As the plane descended, and as we are approaching sea level, the gradual increase in outside temperature make me feel so warm both physically and emotionally. Here I am back in my home land. The feeling is indescribable… Nasi Lemak, Char Kuey Teoh and most importantly my family :-) As we landed and the captain announced Welcome to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, I was so relieved and glad and nearly wanted to give him a standing applause… Although without the "To all Malaysians, Welcome Home! " announcement which was usually made by MAS airline pilot, I've already felt home sweet home…

But wait… my journey home did not just ended here… I still need to make my way to Kuching!!! At the conveyor belt, waiting patiently for my checked in luggage, the authority suddenly announced that some luggage were stranded at Schipol Airport because of the short connecting time.. I was like… NO WAY!!! That's another shot of adrenaline to complete my day… but I was not the unlucky one… my luggage was one of the first luggage to emerge from the conveyor belt… Stepping out to the arrival hall, where there are many anxious looking faces waiting for their love ones arriving. This scene, I would unsuitably describe as anxious and eager parents waiting for the delivering of their baby in the delivery room… in this case… the exit to the arrival hall would be the… :p

KLIA was decorated with some simple Chinese New Year themed banners and lanterns and miniature Chinese Garden. Simple yet meaningful. They even got someone dressed as the Fortune Wealth God with two sweet looking girls and four Indian Boys with billboards on their body making out GONG XI FA CHAI distributing sweets and mandarin oranges and fortune cookies to visitors in KLIA. Mutiracial eh…

Well… the journey to Kuching is not as exciting, as in it's just another normal flight to Kuching but just that the flight is actually packed with passengers.. And MAS seem to have new colours for their chairs on the Boeing 737. It is now consist of different colour according to the theme colour of MAS logo… kind of unique… but I felt it's rather looking a lot messy… but hey… it's special :P On the flight home, was sat next to a group of IMU students (I believe so after eavesdrop them talking about IMU and metabolic disorders during the flight… how boring medical students are nowadays… talking about medical conditions on the flight… my God… Touching down to Kuching International Airport… so glad and exciting for 2 reasons. First, thank God for sending me home safely and to get back to my family for this yearly event and secondly, no one was ill on the whole journey on the plane that require a medical assistant (something that I dunno what I will do if it really happens … Good Samaritan or not :P )

Kuching is still great… no one burst out in tears when seeing me or what… not as dramatic as some of the scene which you can only see in operas or movies… (hmmm… is that why DRAMATIC is created to describe such scene)…well I did just saw them in July 2008 anyway… Home sweet home finally!!! Leong, my younger brother who I have not seen since ages ago… Ong's Family Reunion again after so long!! And Angpows !!! Hooray :P Mom and dad who looks older again everytime I got back but still as healthy as ever… glad that they remain healthy but it's does make me feel kind of sour inside me when I realised that time flies really… wish I can spend more time just to be near to them… Brothers and sister who grown up so much that make me feel what I have been missing here since leaving home…

Reunion dinner the next day make me realised that how much I missed my mom's cooking… and just spending times decorating the house to welcome the event… cleaning up and washing the cars… getting ready for the new year… it's amazing how simple chores like these could make me feel how much I actually miss home… Fireworks and firecrackers were amazing creation by human being to lit up the dark skies when it's approaching 12 am on the 26 January 2009 GMT +8… :)

So… what did I do for Chinese New Year Celebration this year after missing them for 3 years consecutively… Other than reunion with family… I also met up with some friends from University, High schools and even primary schools… Some are still doing their bachelor degree and some even PhD and some are already stepping into the realistic and cruel society as working adults… In summary ex teachers turtle Su Choo (exported) and blur Ming Ying (importing someone from Sibu) doing great saving lives as pharmacist in Sarawak General Hospital, brainy Roy (gossip king) who decided that getting a bachelor degree is not great enough for him so decided to go for Phd… the amazing 'mandarin improved so much' Felix as usual smart and doing so well while finishing his last few months as med student , Min Chen who is so busy the whole time during CNY have settled down in managing peoples IT problems in finance in KL, Paul the lawyer who is going to rock Aussie land, Joel who is still so fond of Jap finishing his degree in NUS, Sim who still remains the same after 5 years always looking at things from a totally different perspective, joshua who claimed his "Bakting Soup" is best in town and the mysterious eng tao Richard constantly having unreadable thoughts in his mind… Great Bunch I have to say!!! \(*0*)/

And through Facebook (the amazing portal to keep in touch with long lost friends), Kevin Wong, long lost primary school buddy found me… even though I used James Ong as my name on facebook… a name which I have not started using until college… Dunno how did he find me… but yeah… he found me… !! And through him, we found so many ex primary school mates that I lost contact for more than 14 years!!!!! The little autograph book not covering in dust that I kept since primary school finally came out from the closet and seriously brought back memories from back then… Although the reunion night on 30th January 2009 was not as overwhelming as we wanted it to be because only 10 ppl out of 56 people turned out… Well, in short… Kevin doing so well his million dollar business in oil and gas, Winston who was so quiet the whole night, Chai Jing who got married taking over Teacher Chai's can as the next Teacher Chai (her husband's surname's Chai too…), Sin Hui who none of us recognise at the start working as interior designer who promised to give me discount the next time I see her, Xiao Zhen who looks the same after 14 years working as drafter in the company who build Boulevard, Yuen yuen who is now the lucky one getting married sometime this year as the next 'tai tai', Su Fen who only came at the last 5 minutes before the reunion gathering ended, Benjamin who was in Leeds before with Kwong Kok in ING taking care of your retirement plan, Jia Mei teaching product design in world renowned Lim Kwok Wing Institute, Edmund Kho big tauke analyzing ppl since we were all primary school kid and ching ting who's taking over the million dollar business from daddy (so guys out there watch out man) ...

Wish i can talk more .... but seem like this post is getting a bit too long winded... i will have to write some other day about the chinese new year celebration... so much mixed feeling now back in UK... and the same question that have been hitting me hit me again when i return... well... if you know me well... u know wat is bothering me... so... i have to make a decision real soon... GOd... help me here please... at the mean time... i got life to save!!! hehe... and life goes on~!!