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29 Mar 2010 – What a weekend!

ChingMing, held on the day of the Third Moon and for this year, 4/5 Apr. This day is also known as the Grave-Sweeping or Spring Remembrance Day, literally means ‘clear and bright’ and is the time of the year when Chinese families visit the graves of their ancestors to clean the gravesite and pay their respects. It’s common for families to make offerings of rice, fruit and wine to ensure their loved ones have enough food and drink in the afterlife. Some families burn incense and paper money by the graveside, believing that the smoke rises to the after-world and can be used by their ancestors.

Sat: out of the house by 0600hrs to the grave of Mabel’s parents. As some of her family members could only be here this weekend, ChingMing for them is a week earlier. In my childhood days, we would carry wine and a whole sucking-pig up to my paternal grandfather LAM Song Kee’s grave in SIN when burial was still the norm. Today, due to lack of land in SIN, cremation is the usual way is go and grandfather’s remains have been cremated and kept in an urn.

By lunch I was giving another AT Thru-Hike talk to the Rotary International/Rotary Club of KCH Central, Sarawak, Malaysia/District 3310. Thank you for the a lovely lunch. Appreciations to the ONG family for including me for their ChingMing dinner, another sumptuous spread with two sucking-pigs.

Sun: app 55km from KCH is the border town Serikin/Bau, not known to the tourists. There are over 200 stalls of both fresh produce and stuff where the traders cross into Sarawak from Indonesia to sell their goods. One can get good bargains… the cane furniture were tempting me! The grandchildren would have loved the rocking horse and the chairs but shipping them would have cost much more than the goods!

Dinner at the Bla bla bla Restaurant**** for the charming ambiance located a shop-house where you need to stay sober to get thru’ two waterways 🙂 for the fusion food*** The lamb-shank was OK and I have had better midin=fiddlehead, a local fern which is one of my favourite KCH greens and can only be found here.