First day of Chinese New Year

This morning, woke up and got changed for the new year. I did not buy any new clothes as I still have quite a lot..so I just grabbed whatever comfortable clothes I had and donned it. Initially, I chose a pants and a blouse. But when we were leaving and went into the lift, I was swarmed with people who were dressed so nicely..and all of a sudden, I remembered the 'standard of dressing' for Chinese New Year.

So, I told CT that I better go up and change to something nicer, rather than pants. CT agreed and added that I dressed as if going to market. CT then helped me to pick out clothes to wear for the long day.. It is a struggle trying to choose clothes that is nice but yet comfortable so that I can last the whole day.

Anyway, in the end, I chose a long skirt and blouse. To match a skirt, I had to put on my high heels..sigh..what to do-got to sacrifice the comfortability to look nice.

Couldnt grab a taxi..was quite pissed as I was dressed nicely and had to stand in sun with my high heels waiting for a cab. In the end, I just found a bench near my house carpark and just sat down doing nothing. I was tired even before the visiting started. My legs were already sore and aching..sigh. Not used to wearing high heels.

Anyway, I decided to call my mum to come rescue us and she did. We went first to my parent's place to visit them and give them ang bao. Then, I took their car for the rest of the day as my mum is not going out. I would be going all over Singapore today with CT and his family as they do that every year. So, CT's mum needed the car. She wanted to rent one at first, but I knew there would be a way out without having to spend much money.

First went CT's mum's place for lunch and then got a quick picture as a family...

From left to right: Sister's husband; Feng Jiao (Linda); Mum; Feng Ping (Ally); Me; CT

You would never see CT wearing such shirt. His mum bought for him for his birthday and I thought at least he has something different in his wardrobe. Not bad..

After lunch, we went over to CT's grandma's place to meet up with his mum's side relatives who all gather there as well. They went to grandma's place for lunch while we just went to visit and sit around. After a while, we went back to CT's mum place to wait for CT's dad's side relatives to come over. His dad's sides gather from house to house once a year and for the rest of the year, they do not see one another.

So, the first stop was at CT's mum's place. They came at about 230pm, sat for awhile and then, next stop is Pasir ris. So the family's house which we would be visiting next would leave 5 mins earlier to go back to their house to open the door and get ready. So, I found it rather interesting.. After Pasir Ris, they all wanted to come my place. So, we left earlier a little to get our place ready and buy drinks! I was not prepared for guests to come over to my place, so I did not have any drinks ready. Thank God my supermarket just outside my block opens throughout the Chinese New Year.

I showed them pictures of my wedding as they did not attend. It is a complicated story but the short version is that we did not invite CT's dad's side to our wedding because CT's dad did not turn up. They all thought my house was interesting. I guess it is to them because they come from a traditional chinese hokkien family and their house has lots of chinese stuff and altars..etc..But when they come over to my place, it is clutter-free, no altars, no chinese ornaments, all modern! haha..

Anyway, after our place,we all went to Choa Chu Kang private house which had to drive through a railway track. I have never driven across a railway track in Singapore. Yup, very sensitive to train tracks now. It is a 3 storey terrace house and we only ate and talk. I was talking to CT's cousin who would be going to University of Melbourne to study dentistry. I had a good time talking to her and finding more about her. Instead, CT and his mum was quietly sitting at one corner eating, given their quiet and shy nature.

The last house we all visited was in Yio Chu Kang. It is a corner semi detached house. What stands out was the very huge koi pond with waterfall. They have 20 over huge koi fishes and about 10 'vacuum sucking' fish. I call them that because they stay on the ground eating dirt. Haha..

I was intrigued by the fishes that I spent some time in the garden just admiring and feeding them. Here is a picture of it..

We spent the longest time at the last house as we had dinner there. The famous dishes that I have been eating repeatedly was ngor hiang and pig stomach soup. I conclude it might be a hokkien tradition. It is all home made and so yummy. Dinner was great and the pig stomach soup has been in high demand every year..so I had to try their house specialty. It was so good, it made me cry as the soup was so spicy from the pepper! Very shiok. The pig stomach was so tender and clean..melts in my mouth. Oooo..

Oh by the way, the house in Pasir Ris and this house has lots of Karaoke Trophies. It seemed that they all love to sing Karaoke and would compete in them. They were also going to sing tonight as they invited all their karaoke friends to their house to get ready to sing. But before they sang, we left as it was about 930pm already. We were exhausted.

What a day...sent CT's family home at Simei before heading back to my own home.