A Little Bit of Hokkien and Penang

I am so not feeling well today. After PJ this morning, I didn’t drink enough water and my body just got really hot by the time BM starts. Gosh, getting a fever is the last thing I would want right now. The entire day had been pretty messed up. I would rather not get into detail about every thing that I’ve been through ’cause right now, it seems like I could fall flat anytime on the floor and be pronounced: He faint of a heat stroke.

Geez, did you really think I would use the D-word. It’s bad enough to hear the F-word (some of you guys might know the other meaning for F-word) during the long exams that I had with all my classmates. The exams had been darn long and I am just glad that it was over. However, Pn.Y had told me to come see her during my free period tomorrow because she wants to teach me my documents. Oh great, I guess things will continue to be bad tomorrow.

My holiday had been pretty avarage. While some of my peers had gone to work with their white-crisp uniform at some big departmental store situated in one of PJ’s fabulous shopping mall, I had went back to the one place that I can call a personal heaven. Penang. I don’t know why but the trip this time had been a pretty boring one. I hardly did anything there except going to the mall, going to the mall and more going-to-the-malls. One thing that is for sure is that I had spent a heck of a lot of money at Penang during this trip. I had bought stuff from Body Glove and Giordano to Popular and MPH.

Well, those of you in KL might hear a similarity when you read out the name of the store. Oh, of course those stores can be found at One Utama! It’s not like those stores can only be found in Penang. OK, I know you might sense something is wrong right now. Why would someone who lives in a big cosmopolitan city like Kuala Lumpur would buy stuff from commercial stores in a small island like Penang? To be frank: I haven’t the faintest idea!! I know it sounds pretty stupid, but I enjoy shopping in Penang more than I do in KL.

I mean the whole familiarity of the people here is just great. Say, I’ll enter Parkson and instead of speaking in my so-called Highstreet English (there is a certain accent that I use when I am with complete strangers that I won’t see again like say…forever), I will be conversing in old, humble Hokkien. So, instead of hearing me say "Hi! Could you please get me that Polo shirt in white? Thank you." , you will hear me say some like this: "Hi! Lu eh sai tolong wah gia ha lei phek eh Polo eh sar o? Thank you.".

And instead of going to Arena or Kluang Station Coffee Shop after I have done my shopping, I will have my meal at Swatow Lane or maybe Bangkok Lane. By the way, the mee goreng mamak at a shop situated at Bangkok Lane is to die for!! If you do go to Penang, you have to try out the mee goreng there. Oh, just ask me for the address and directions to the shop if you really want to try out the best mee goreng mamak that you ever had in you life!! No kidding! Oh, by the way, instead of hearing me say this to the person who fry the mee goreng: " Anei, kasi saya satu mee goreng", you will hear me say this: "Anei, ho wah chi leh mee goreng". That guy can speak Hokkien. Honestly. What? You don’t believe me? That is how diverse Penang is.

Shopping and eating wasn’t my only agenda there of course. I arrived on Friday afternoon and my nephew’s birthday was on that evening. So, as usual, during all this family gathering, tales and gossips were passed among relatives. Lolx. Pheh, don’t tell me your relatives don’t gossip? By the way, Joel had become oh-so-cute!! I just wanna cubit his smooth cheek right now. Lolx. Then, on Monday ( the eve of Raya), my cousin, W.A. had her birthday. After dinner at Bali Hai, all of us went to Penang Swimming Club for karaoke. Oh, did I sing any Gavin DeGraw songs? Ahaha +.+’…did you really expect me to be that social-ful? Of course not! I just sat quitely and sang to the lyrics of Abba’s ‘Mama Mia!’ in my little corner between one of my aunts and Joel who was sleeping during that time (I wonder how could he had slept all throughout the karaoke session despite the pandemonium). By the time we stepped out from the building, it was already Raya. Selamat Hari Raya by the way to all you guys who celebrate out there. Oh, and also Happy Deepavali!!

I hang out at my aunt’s house in Irawady Road too. There I watched Jeepers Creepers 1 and Jeepers Creepers 2 on DVD. Was it original? What do you take me for? An oh-so-original-I-don’t-support-piracy kind of guy? Of course it was fa-ke (try to pronounce the word using the suku kata, that’s what my bro and I always do but the -ke you must as ‘kay’…I am so-called innocent aren’t I? =_=’ To hell with that thought!!

That was pretty much my holiday at Penang during this trip. Since I’ve written all about it…my trip to Penang this time hadn’t been oh-so-boring-and-I-think-I-might-die-of-boredom kinda thing. In fact, when I come to think of it, this trip had been pretty exciting…in a slow paced kind of way. But then again, when was my trip to Penang ever boring?

P.S: Call me "Ches" if you think you know me.