psychobabble

I made some time in my busy (liar!liar!) schedule to return to my beloved hometown for a couple of days. Flew by AirAsia on Thursday around noon and got back Saturday afternoon (which reminds me of a story I want to share with you).

The purpose of my trip this time round?

These two bubs!

The last time they were in Penang was last year circa Sept and I only got to see them for a couple of days. Usually, my Unclen’AuntJ (and the bubs) will make a trip somewhere during the second half of the year. But this year, duty calls for my careersuccessful Aunt and destination Asia this time around? Land of the MerLion. So they thought why not make an early trip?

If I thought my last trip was short – this was shorter. I saw them only for a total of two days and spent as much time as humanly possible with them. To my pleasant surprise, the both of them had near perfect recollection of me and did not really need to warm up to me (thankfully!). Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I did not manage to capture the usual impossibleamountofphotos I normally would’ve. Previously I could take them to the park, pool, beach and snap away at them playin but this time around I could only make do with photographing them when we went for a temple visit on Friday afternoon.

Thursday afternoon within an hour of my reaching Penang, I joined my mum, the bubs and my Unclen’AuntJ for lunch along Gottlieb Rd. and had fantastic braised beef horfun in blackbean sauce and not so fantastic claypot chicken rice. After our late lunch, me and the bubs went for a quick beaching and swimming session in their hotel before they were dropped off at my place for some good ol’ babysitting. The rest of the day was spent running after chattyandhyperactive Joel and tutoring the more demure Julianne in Math and Piano. Julianne stayed over and Joel wanted to too so he kicked up a huge fuss over being uninvited – or rather not allowed attendance – to our ‘slumberparty’.

The next morning, to my utmost horror, when I woke, I was voiceless. I attempted to wish Jul g’morning when all I could do was croak.

{Jul: Why do you sound funny?}

Multiple attempts to clear my throat were to no avail. Eventually, I swung by a clinic in PrimaTanjung after heading to the CIMB Branch there and was duly diagnosed with laryngitis. Larynwhateveritis could not stop me from indulging in ThoYuen! HongTouMeen, MunMeen, KohnHorFun, YauChoy and their scrumptious fried rice lined my tummy after the Chung-Chin family had their very filling twohour eating session. For Penangites, Tho Yuen is an ancient coffeeshop run by equally ancient staff along Campbell St. It’s the only place I know of in Penang that has that delish hongtoumeen. To my horror (and definitely to my relatives’ horror as well), my mum and her sister EE Mei Lin were not full after that feast! No, they weren’t. So together with my poor grandma who had to tagalong, they headed to Padang for pohpiah and charkoayteow and sorts while I joined the Unclen’AuntJ, the bubs, and AuntJ’s doctor guest Dr. Owamura (I think) sightseeing.

We went to the Burmese temples (sleeping+standing Buddha) in between Kelawei Rd. and P. Tikus before stopping by Mt. Erskine’s hawker stalls for delish muarchee on the way to Teluk Bahang’s ButterFlyFarm (which to the bubs’ disappointment, was closed).

Following that, I went home for some muchneeded rest before dinner in YellowLight. YellowLight is a Thai restaurant cleverly hidden in a little house where Mt. Erskine meets Vale of Tempe’s notorious winding road. It’s very noticable from a distance and quickly identified by a tall pillar on top of which sits a once-yellow-but-now-white lamp. Delish Thai food followed and home.

I came back to KL the next day but tales of my travels can be postponed.

Jul and Joel have grown so much in less than a year, it kinda makes me nostalgic to think that in no time, they’ll be taller than me and physical distance won’t be the only thing separating us cousins. Quite different from Alexis and Rachel (who were both born on Malaysian soil and spent many childhood years with us playing), Jul and Joel are more Americans than Asians and in a few years, coming back to their father’s homecountry will no longer be the luxury it is now. It pains me to think that our generation of cousins, compared to my mother’s generation, will soon be more foreigners to each other. With distance separating most of us, it’ll only be me, my brother and Su Yin.. and maybe Alexis, who will keep in contact. That saddens me greatly. My mother has a large network of cousins, both local and abroad, and they are a rowdy crowd in search of good fun. They’re friends and family and care for each other. That would also be thanks to the number of children my GreatGrandPa had in total – 3 sons and 5 daughters with my GreatGrandMa and another 3 with my StepGreatGrandMa. My grandparents had 4 children. I doubt when I’m my mother’s age, I will have that same network.