It is a yearly tradition, the celebration of the Chinese New Year in Parit Baru, Aric’s hometown. Often I wrote a blog post about it: CNY 2024, CNY 2022, CNY 2020, CNY 2017, CNY 2016, to name a few.

This time we arrived one day before CNY, so Aric had time to decorate the family house. Here he is considering what to do.

Many weeks ago he had bought decorative material. In the past many of his relatives already arrived for the traditional Reunion Dinner, so he had helpers, but fewer people are following this tradition nowadays.

Here is the result.

Three families lived in the big kampung house, there were still many cousins, nephews, and nieces around, so two sessions of the traditional steamboat dinner were needed.

The common living room was also decorated and the next morning there was a praying session for the ancestors.

IIn the Chinese tradition, it is the start of the year of the Snake, one of the twelve Zodiac signs. More accurately it is the year of the Wood Snake , click here for an informative YouTube video.

Although there is nothing bad about any of the Zodiac signs, many people are instinctively afraid of snakes, probably because of our evolutionary past. That may be a reason that many CNY decorations and cards don’t show an image of a snake. Here are the two CNY cards we created, the left one by Aric and the right one by me 😉 .

For dinner we went out to the Parit Baru fishing village on the banks of the Bernam River.

Many family members of Aric had not yet arrived. From left to right Aric’s older brother, the two kids of Aei Ling, Aei Ling and me. Picture taken by Aric. Nice local, fresh food.

The second day of CNY more people arrived. Here I have lunch with Aric’s nephews and nieces. From left to right, Teng Wei, Zhen Ee, Zhi Le, Zhi Ee, Zhi Ying, Chun Yee and me. Chinese names! Two are still missing

Part of the CNY tradition is receiving/giving ang pow. Red envelopes with money inside. Adults give it to younger ones (it is actually a bit more complicated). I give it and I also receive some. “Uncle” Aric gives it to his nieces and nephews in a special way, as a kind of game. Just a few photos without further comments

Another steamboat dinner.

During the first dayss of CNY almost all shops are closed , but on day 3 many reopen, and are very crowded. Ong, Aric’s brother-in-law took me to a popular shop in Parit Baru, for roti canai. It was so crowded that we shared a table with two friendly locals. They offered me a cigarette and told Ong about a “chips” factory nearby, inviting us to visit it.

So we went there (Ong riding a motorbike and me on the buddy seat)

Interesting experience. They make cassava (tapioca) chips, mixing them with spices, then frying them and finally packaging them for wholesale. I gave a helping hand, haha.

Back in the kampong, an ice cream seller arrived and I could not resist the temptation to have an ice cream with bread! Quite popular in Malaysia 😉

A group photo is always a part of the day 3 activities. Can you spot me in the crowd? One Kwai Loh and ~ 50 Chinese.

Another tradition, Yee Sang this time the salad dishes were prepared by family members. Vegetarian, one even showing a snake 😉

I took a short video of the tossing.

Of course there were the usual deafening firecrackers

And nice fireworks

It was a nice evening, there was food and lots of beer.

The younger family members performed a dance.

For me it was sometimes a bit too much, so I found a quiet corner, where I could play a game and read a book.

On day 4 we returned home, but in the morning Ong went for a a walk with two kids to the nearby Datok Kong shrine and asked me to join. Nice countryside, palm oil plantations and fruit trees (the fruits protected by old clothes) .

As there was another prayer session, we stayed until dinner, in the same restaurant where we had gone on day 1. Here is Aric, relaxing and chatting with his favourite nephew.

It was a big dinner.

From top left, counterclockwise: Catfish, Sotong, Golden Pomfret, Prawns, Mini-octopus, Crab.

Nice evening view. THen it was time to go home. A 5D4N visit, I needed a few days to recover 😉 .