We got back from Klang early Thursday morning. It had been really good spending time with family there, sharing meals and conversations and just participating in their activities – lives – over the few days we were there.
Ban Long has assumed main or important responsibilities in the local church as well as the family business, Chin Kheen has stepped up to look after the ageing folks, Victor has bought a new home in a beautiful green location in Shah Alam and life is generally chugging along rather well for everyone at home.
My mum too, appears to be well and happy generally and my brother behaved in the most sprightly fashion. We had a couple of nights sipping tea in a mamak stall and he was chirpy and positive and did a lot more talking than I remember him to have done in the past. In fact on the second of those nights when a few other family members (uncles, cousins) came along, I was perhaps the most subdued one (other than a cousin’s fiancée). But that was good to see. In spite of everything everyone looked, sounded and behaved as though life is really good.
I guess for me, the best part of the trip was that this was the first time in many years, when all 3 of us – Tress, Kiddo and I – were there together with everyone else. Kiddo missed a flight but made it later on Sat arvo and left a day earlier than us but still had 3 days with us, which was great.
On our last couple of days there, we started to form the idea of a return visit before too long, possibly in early Jan. I guess the satisfaction and pleasure of spending time with family, as much as wanting to make the most of what remaining time there is with elderly folks, made the idea compelling. Yet like many things these days, the vicissitudes of life requires caveats. Early Jan is a peak period for air travel so costs and availability of tickets may require closer consideration. We’ll see.
Land travel on the other hand may cost less money, but it is often a hair-raising experience. I drove a fair bit and after a couple of initial trips, I adopted the when-in-Rome mentality and fared better. It was ok for a short term burst only however and if we lived there I’d freak out every time. Drivers would drive as they please and my mantra that there are only 2 rules continues to hold. The 2-rule principle is simple: don’t hit and don’t get hit. Stick to this principle and you can run a red-light, weave in and out without prior indication/warning, drive into/past intersections without waiting/looking, turn right/left in a left/right turn only lane, drift along the dividing line of two lanes, and pretty much anything you feel like doing. There by the grace of God go I and we survived the adventure.
The family time has been great, the feeds have been good and the break has been fab.
Ante 