I invited a friend of mine, Chong, for lunch. He had worked for me as a part time cook when I was running the Italian Restaurant, Rialto.
Knowing that Chong has a good appetite, I invited him for buffet lunch at Pu Tien
Restaurant at City Square.
Chong always has many interesting yet bizzare stories to share. He used to be a monk and even spent a few years in the monastery in Taiwan until he met with the Lord in a dramatic way and changed his faith. Sometime later I will share his testimonies in my blog.
Chong told me that once a Malay man in Johore gave him a facial treatment.
"Guess what he used, Choo?"
"Fresh cucumbers, or other types of vegetables?" I made a guess.
"No, try again."
"Maybe be pounded some rice, barley, wheat or nuts?" I volunteered.
"No....I think you'll never be able to guess".
"He pounded live cockroaches which he reared!"
"Yucks!" I almost screamed, forgetting that I was in a restaurant. I felt goosebumps on my arms.
"He would then paste the pounded cockroaches onto the face. After 5 minutes, my face was very itchy. The man then put a piece of paper on the table, and with my head slightly bent, I could see little maggots dropping off from my face. When the
itch stopped, then I knew that my face was clean and rinsed it off with water."
It is indeed true that the world is full of germs and parasites which we cannot see with our naked eyes. The least we can do is to try to keep things clean to the best of our ability. Even if the cockroach treatment were free, I would rather not go for it. No thanks.......yucks!
Gan Cao
