(Z)ero #atozchallenge

During one of the many Chinese wedding banquets I attended in my younger days, I was sat at a table with folks from among other countries, Hong Kong. We went around introducing ourselves, including how we knew the bride or groom, and then it came to the lady next to me. She said her name was Zero and she knew the bride from their university days in England. Most of us didn’t hear the last part of her introduction because we were still stuck at her name wondering if we’d misheard. I was about to clarify when someone else at the table beat me to it.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name. You’re…?”

“Zero.”

“Like the number? Z-E-R-O?”

“Yes, Zero.”

Over the years, I’ve come across many unexpected names, Zero was one of them. The other unexpected name I came across happened when I was on a hash run in one of Malaysia’s national parks. Normally, after a hash run where we run through the jungle frightening every wildlife in sight, there would be beer and a noisy concert. I recall the makeshift stage had dance poles and briefly wondered “What the heck?” before the singing group pranced on stage. I was still wondering what kind of performance we were going to be treated to when the singing group announced themselves with the lead singer (presumably) stating “MY NAME IS APPLE!” and then they began to twirl around the poles.

(Y)ong Tau Foo #atozchallenge

Yong Tau Foo is another one of my go-to brunch/ light lunch meal of choice mainly because it’s affordable, delicious (depending on where you buy it) and you don’t have to buy much for it to be a filling meal. Basically, yong tau foo consists of various types of tofu or a fried vegetable like okra, chillies or aubergine, stuffed with fish paste.

The yong tau foo stall is a fascinating sight. All the various items are displayed out front, organized according to if it’s a stuffed tofu or stuffed chillies or stuffed okra, etc… Customers pick up a small plate and tongs and then peruse the choices. I’d always go for a stuffed chilli or two (or three), with maybe another stuffed fried tofu and possibly another fish cake. Then I’ll give my plate to the stall owner. You have the choice of having the yong tau foo dry or in a soup, I normally have mine dry. This means they’ll give my choices a quick fry to “reinvigorate” the items and serve it together with a chilli sauce and a dark sweet sauce. As a chilli head, I gravitate towards the chilli sauce and for me, I feel that the chilli sauce is what makes or breaks a yong tau foo stall. I sometimes just have 4 or 5 different items and I’d be stuffed already! Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I had a good plate of yong tau foo.

E(x)otic Malaysian Facts #atozchallenge

#1. Malls/ shops open till late – By late here, I mean till 9pm or 10pm. I really appreciate this fact especially when I travel and malls/ shops close at 6pm or even 7pm, and I would be scrambling to get what I needed in the store. Here, if it’s 830pm and I see that I’m out of milk, there’s still time for me to go to the nearest convenience store to get it, or anything else and don’t feel like I’m being harried.

#2. No durians allowed in hotels – Though we love durians, the smell is strong and can linger. I’ve driven past a roadside stall selling durians, and even then, with the windows up and AC blasting, I can still smell the durians outside. This is why hotels have signs banning bringing durians onto their premises. Also, because the strong smell of durian is unmistakable, there’s no point trying to sneak it past concierge.

#3. Not every building has a 4th floor – In Malaysia, the digit “4” is considered unlucky because it sounds similar to the word for “death” in Chinese. As a result, some buildings skip the fourth floor, instead numbering that floor 3A.  

#4. When we want to settle the bill at an eatery, we call for the “Boss” – This is common at mamak/ roadside stalls. When you’re done eating, you put your hand up and say “Boss! Kira!” which translates to “Boss! Count!” Of course, when you call out “Boss”, it isn’t really the owner of the establishment that you’re asking for, it could be anyone who works there who’s authorized to tabulate the bill. So, in one establishment, all the workers could be “Boss”

#5. We use an umbrella when it’s not raining – It’s quite common here to see folks whip out an umbrella when it’s hot. I think it’s because we’re not really hat people because it can get quite muggy under one’s hat which would leave your hair matted down, so the alternative protection against the sun rays is an umbrella.

(W)eddings #atozchallenge

Starting from my mid-20s, it was typical for me to attend at least two weddings a year, as friend after friend, settled into matrimonial bliss. The beauty of attending weddings in Malaysia is that since we live in a multicultural country, it’s not unusual to be invited to either a traditional Chinese wedding banquet, or a church wedding, or even a traditional Malay wedding ceremony.

One of the more memorable weddings I’ve been a part of was the wedding of my college roommate. She’d asked me to be a part of her wedding party, as a chi mui or one of her bridesmaids. So, I was involved from the morning tea ceremony, to the church wedding and eventually the wedding banquet in the evening. That was a whirlwind of a day which I wrote about here and here.

Then there was that one time when I attended a traditional Indian wedding of one of my ex-colleagues from an NGO I interned at. I was nearly late but made it just in time. As I sat down to catch my breath, I vaguely recalled that there were some introductions and then the traditional music began led by a man playing the shehnai. I expected the music to just last mere minutes but it seemed like it went on and on and on, and my friends and I were raising eyebrows at one another the whole time wondering if this was normal. The music lasted so long, it almost lulled me to sleep.

Of course, since this is about weddings, I mustn’t forget my sister’s, which I chronicled during the 2013 April A to Z Blogging Challenge starting with the post Aftermath. That entire experience was…well…unforgettable, although at times I wish it was forgettable actually.

During one of the last weddings I attended, I realised I was the only single woman among my friends there. This fact was put into extreme focus, when the bride, instead of throwing the bouquet, walked up to me and just handed it over. Yep, I felt pretty special then. Not.

The past few years though, it’s been quiet on the wedding front, much to my relief.

Sarawak Cultural (V)illage #atozchallenge

Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) is well-known as a living museum and features traditional houses from a variety of races and indigenous groups. The traditional houses are either actual houses, broken down into their parts, transported from its original site and then carefully rebuilt at the cultural village, or replicas built on-site. Of course, one of the first traditional houses I explored when I went there previously was the Rumah Bidayuh or Bidayuh House. It’s known as a Barok, a round head-house which is the central common area of a typical Bidayuh village. My mum’s village is pretty modern and doesn’t have a Barok, so it was nice to explore a traditional head-house.

Definitely the highlight of the visit to SCV is catching the live dance shows which if I recall, are held twice a day. The live performance features indigenous dances like the ngajat, which is the Iban traditional dance. Towards the end of the performance, they’ll invite attendees to dance on stage with them. Naturally, I shy away from this.

(U)TP #atozchallenge

UTP refers to my alma mater Universiti Teknologi Petronas. I attended 20 years ago when it was a fledgling university and I was among the first batch to graduate. My graduating class had about 200 students from various faculties and I knew most of them.

Ending up in UTP was never the plan, in fact, the route to reach there was circuitous and deflating. Long story short, my friends and I were government scholars with a path towards the UK to further our studies. However, due to the Asian financial crisis that hit at the exact moment we were to leave, the government changed the terms of our scholarship and we had to continue our studies locally. UTP became the destination for those of us majoring in engineering.

Though I hated it at first (it was a 3-4 hour drive one way and it was literally located in the boondocks because the university chose an undeveloped area to set up the campus), the 3 or so years I spent there gifted me with precious and long-lasting memories, among them:

• On weekends when I didn’t make the long drive back home, I had a chance to explore the surrounding sites especially Gua Tempurung or the Tempurung Caves, limestone caves which is estimated to be about 400 million years old. The last time my friends and I toured the cave, we decided to do the Grand Tour which took almost 4 hours! By the time we emerged, we looked like wet rats because we had to wade through some pools.
• I learnt to play gamelan as it was the only extra-curricular activity that I was even slightly drawn to. Though it wasn’t mandatory to sign up for any extra-curricular activity, the time after classes would sometimes drag on. To break the monotony of just going for lectures than back to the dorms for homework and studies, I thought it was a good idea to learn a new instrument. I’m glad I did and our troupe worked so well together, we even performed in several concerts on-campus.
• I made a forever friend. We knew each other since our A-level days but we had other friends serving as buffers so I knew her superficially. When the both of us ended up in UTP and had to choose a roommate, we sort of reluctantly chose each other because better the strangers we knew, then the ones we didn’t. The first few months of being roommates were not rosy because we were opposites in character and we fought a lot. By some miracle, we figured each other out eventually and are still fairly close now, 20-something years later.

A super-grainy photo of me playing the bonang barong, one of the instruments in a gamelan ensemble. I’m the one in peach, on the left. The girl on the right was a self-confessed super-achiever and always tried to steal the show LOL

(T)ekuyung #atozchallenge

I reach into the bowl, the scent of ginger, chillies and lemongrass wafting towards me, pick a snail and proceed to suck the heck out of it until its flesh is vacuumed out from its enclosure with a “plop” and end up in my mouth. I crunch on the flesh and then remove the cap that protects the flesh and place the cap onto my plate. I do this umpteen more times for the rest of the night. I’m eating kiung (kee-yoong), and I’m in heaven.

Kiung, as my family refers to these delicacies, or tekuyung, are edible river snails that I believe are only found in Sarawak rivers. I say this because though I’ve seen edible snails sold in restaurants here in the peninsular, it’s not the same type of snails.

This is one of those ingredients that I’ll always ask my parents to bring whenever they visit me, if it’s in season, which means I get to eat these snails maybe twice a year at most. It’s definitely a delicacy that you need to get used to, no one else in my family likes these snails as much as I do.

Harvesting them is not easy, bait is required and only unpolluted rivers would be able to produce these snails. Due to the state of our world today, unpolluted rivers are rare but I hope someone, somewhere will be able to cultivate these snails, otherwise, I’ll just enjoy the moments I have with them, no matter how rare those moments are.

(S)lippers #atozchallenge

Flip flops, thongs, jandals or slippers – this footwear is so common here and with our tropical climate, is worn year-round. I practically live in my slippers. Well, not inside the house, but when I go out I just slip them on and go. So convenient. I even mow the garden in my slippers!

I’m sure I’ve owned hundreds pairs of slippers in my lifetime, and even now, there are about 10 pairs of slippers of varying sizes around the house. The varying sizes is because my brother will come over with his sneakers and slip off his shoes and put on slippers to walk around the garden. I recall also when I was in college, I had two pairs of slippers, one pair was my “bathroom slippers” because you DO NOT want to be barefoot in the common toilets/ bathroom and another pair was my going out slippers. Everyone had two pairs of slippers in the dorm then.

Slippers are also sold pretty much everywhere – you can get them in 7 Eleven, the hardware store, local grocery stores – which is great for emergencies. For example, a while ago, on my way to the supermarket, my slippers broke and I was practically dragging it along, almost just giving up and going barefoot pretending I was in Australia, until I found a convenience store and they had slippers. Day was saved because I threw out the old slippers and continued grocery shopping.

(R)amly Burger #atozchallenge

A typical roadside stall selling Ramly burger with the Ramly logo plastered everywhere

Ramly burger is such a part and parcel of my late teen years when I was in college in KL that I’d have it once a week (at least), and my go-to order was Ramly burger special daging (beef). Before I go on though, I suppose I’ll have to explain that Ramly burger is a Malaysian street burger and Ramly refers to the brand of patty that’s commonly used in this burger.

My go-to order of Ramly burger special daging means that the beef patty is wrapped in an egg before it’s sandwiched between two buns that was previously toasted with margarine. Yes, the patty is wrapped in an egg, and yes, there’s copious amounts of margarine. And the best thing about a Ramly burger is that it’s always so saucy – the minute you bite into one, it’s just a mess, with the chilli sauce, mayo just oozing out. It’s definitely NOT date night food. I prefer Ramly burger more than any other burgers I could get from a chain restaurant like McDonald’s or Burger King. Unfortunately though, most stalls selling Ramly burgers only open at night (either 6pm or 7pm) and at that time, I’m just too lazy to go out to get it. Although, once in a while, I will drag my butt out just to get one when I’m in the mood. I like Ramly burger so much that one year, when a friend asked what I’d like to eat for my birthday, I told him Ramly burger. So, he brought me out to some godforsaken place and we had Ramly burger for dinner, and another one to go. Yum.

And here’s a video of an American burger specialist attempting to make Ramly burger!

(Q)ueens in Iban Culture #atozchallenge

The Queen of Spirits or Indai Billai is a figure present during the Gawai Antu festival, otherwise known as the Festival of Ghosts. I’ve heard about Gawai Antu before but have never participated in it as it’s a festival that doesn’t occur annually, not even biannually. Apparently, most Iban folks have never experienced it in their lifetime, not even my dad. According to this post that has further details about Gawai Antu, Indai Billai will turn the tuak (rice wine) made during the feast sour if the proper offerings are not made.

The Worm Queen by Awang Garudeyamantra

Another interesting queen I came across while researching for this post is the Worm Queen or Bunsu Belut. The Worm Queen is a serpentine guardian of the door between our world and the land of the dead. She is the only one who can open this door to allow the deceased on his or her journey to the land of the dead. Apparently, she’s also always busy weaving so it would be difficult to convince her to open the door.

Note: The alphabet Q has always been a difficult post every time I do this challenge. I was about to give up or skip the letter altogether but got some inspiration from a friend and then married that inspiration to my heritage. Now, I’m glad I persisted.