Tossing for LOVE

Mom, typical Chinese lady from Ipoh, small town, big family. I spoke to her recently about the hype of this Ba Chang festival. I went to two Chinese restaurants and ba changs were all sold out. She told me ladies who throw ba chang out into the sea are those seeking for love, a husband perhaps. Mom, lady with so many made-up theories, you can never quote her on it. I may not agree with mom but I have to say I like the idea of it. There are a number of theories about the origin of this Ba Chang Festival. But before we get into that, let me describe the perfect ba chang filling that would make my day. It has got to be in a pyramidal shape, I don’t like those in rectangular form. It has to have half a salted egg or duck egg. There must be no peanuts! No chestnuts! Mushroom is a must and pork is mandatory. That’s how I like it. Now back to my very limited knowledge of Chinese folklore, Raymond whom I had lunch with told me tossing ba chang into the sea is to ward off disease or evil. It made perfect sense to me as I tried to sense a collective nostalgia of what my Popo or Kung Kung would have said to me as a form of their folklore. But really after a lot of googling, the reason why we toss ba chang out into the sea is because of this ONE MAN! He must be someone really special innit to have people all over the world do that. Here is one of the many theories of the origin. It is meant to honor Qu Yuan (340-278 BC.), the pioneer poet of ancient China. Qu Yuan was a famous poet who was also concerned about the fate of his government. Unfortunately his stature aroused the jealousy of the king, who banished him to a remote area. The poet despaired of the government and its policies. When the state's capital was captured by enemies, he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River (on May 5th according to the Chinese lunar calendar). The Chinese people felt this loss deeply, as he was a much beloved poet. Local folk searched for him in the river, meanwhile dropping dumplings of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves into the river in order to keep the fishes from attacking Qu Yuan's body.

Another story I heard had something to do with the king’s mistress. The King’s interests were in wine, women and songs. And this man who cared for the kingdom delivered his advice to the king but it fell on deaf ears. He drowned himself as a way of proving to the king that the intention of the King’s mistress was not genuine and to create bad blood in the kingdom. There are so many different takes on it but I have to say mom’s story really hit the roof. All my friends laughed as I told my family’s version of the story. It was a good day nonetheless; we had fun, watched the sunset, made a wish and toss our ba chang into the sea. Raymond challenged me in a game of making an egg sit. It is one of the many other traditional activities that are still practiced in this festival.

The future of Sarawak's Penan

Last week’s charity skip along took us past rows of bright, glossy, firm Asian cucumber-like gourd known to me today as Angled Luffas. I met some of the farmers working on their crops and it was sun down. Never have I seen such dedicated farmers in my years of living. The walk along the beach shores had a gorgeous view but it made us clamped our nose. I can bring to mind the smell that drifted through the air. It smelt like salty dead fish, seaweed and Joey’s cologne drenched in sweat. What really hit me hard in that week’s skip along was the slide show projected in the woods of the Rapier Range. The commitment of two expat English teachers in Brunei that I had newly acquainted with spoke to me about the Penan children of Sarawak, part of their Borneo Project. The Penans have one of the lowest rates of education in Malaysia with 40% never attended primary school and 90% never made it to secondary school. L&M had dedicated their off-hours offering assistance to the Penan of Sarawak. The stories made my heart weep and I sponsored a Penan child for a year that night, this would help in his/her medical and educational needs. I was amazed with L’s accomplishments. She has written a set of story books in native Penan language and had distributed them to indigenous preschools. This would help the children to slowly make a transition to public schools taught in English and Malay, languages they are unfamiliar with.
The Penan are the last surviving hunter-gatherer tribe in South-East Asia, they have received more international attention than the other tribes of Sarawak. There are about 10,000 Penan in all, around 350-500 are nomadic but due to the impact of logging on their lands, less than sixty families are now able to continue the traditional way of life . The rest are either semi-nomadic or live in settlements. Life for the Penan is now extremely difficult because of the destruction of their forests.

An escape to AmiriCA

I did an escape to the border today. Drove my way past 30 hectares of burnt land that supposedly happened over the last two weeks. The sight of the post bush fire somewhat looked like it was caused by man. With the vast land, illegal farming activity is suspected and ignition risk is predicted. But really, I like to rewind the story and take you into my border experience. With the AH1N1 at loose, both the Malaysia and Brunei borders stationed health officers at location. The Brunei border carried out verbal Q & A on where did you come from, are you feeling well and were you from the airport check. The Malaysian border however distributed yellow A4 sized paper with two sections, one of which was about identity and the other was a health related check. I did section A easily but just as I got to section B, I tuned out. It was written in the Malay language and no translation were given. Its not because the language used was complex but the real problem is that the questions were lengthy and required a lot more comprehensible input. Essay type questions for a health check? Really it should have been easy straight to the point questions or maybe, just maybe, this virus is deadlier than I thought. I guess the sold out hand sanitizers might have added up to the hype.

So now its 202

Yes, I have not been blogging. I have got 101 + another 101 reasons to why I have been MIA. Its not easy being me that's for sure and I don't just say this because its a line used by most people these days but I genuinely mean it. The issue with my blog and I is that we would like to share so much but an ounce of peace was what we opted for. It seemed to us that the kick start to type was like an enemy we had to gun down. Funny that because I have written numerous essays months before and months to come. Essays? Yes like 1500 word write ups and books as high as Shahbandar Hill to put my nose on. The ICELT is currently what I'm busy waging wars on. Fortunately, the fight will end in September just in time for my natal silver jubilee anniversary. This is however depressing because through my adolescent years, my aim was to get hitched at 25. Time is chasing up on me and suitors are low in supply. How can we overcome my demand? When equilibrium is not met? Let me put this into another context, just as Obama celebrated his first 100th days, swine flu affair sets in and the principal obstacle is the lack of vaccines. Which is equitable to: I am the swine and the lack of vaccines are my suitors. Politically romantic implicated much?! The deprivation bubble I bum in is taking a toll on me. I will stop here for some ounce of peace to charm in again. Till my next post, bless me with some love and disco sticks.