My First Celebration with Relatives in Singapore!

 

Esther with Samuel's four lovely daughters, getting ready for a swim.

 

Jacelyn with Daniel and Esther at the beach

 

A lion dancer ushering in great wishes at the Cafe Terrace

 

Bowling is great fun!

I have been living in Singapore for the past two and a half decades but hardly spent the lunar New Year here! Most of the times I was back in my hometown in Penang. The only time that my second brother Kee Seng takes his leave - it is the first ten days of Chinese New Year. Hence, it made sense that I should go back around this time, so that I could see more of him.

This year, I decided to stay in Singapore instead for I had spent Christmas with brother and family in Penang. I had actually intended to take eldest sister Lee Lee with me to Korea for a visit as she has yearned to see snow. However, this time, the weather is quite bad and we decided to postpone the trip to end of this year or early January next year.

My nephews and nieces together with their children visited Singapore on the first day. We went to the Raffles Town Club to have high tea. After that everyone went to have a dip at the pool, while I went to the gym. Due to my chronic ear problems, I cannot submerge my head in the pool.

Samuel and his family left Singapore in the evening, while Daniel and his wife and Esther stayed for another day. I decided to take them to the East Coast in the morning before having the Oriental buffet lunch at the Raffles Town Club.
We had a pleasant surprise when a lion dance troupe entered the restaurant and it was fun collecting chocolates wrapped in gold papers which were thrown by the "lion".

We decided to try our hands at bowling at the club. Daniel was the champion, while I came in second for the first two rounds and Esther came in second for the third round. For some strange reasons, I could not throw the ball in the proper way with my palms facing the pins. If I did that, I felt a loss of balance.! Hence, I could only throw the ball
with my palm facing my right leg! Despite that I managed to knock down all ten pins at times! Sheer luck? We wanted to have a fourth game, but had to vacate the bowling area because the whole place had been booked for a birthday party!
I learnt that it cost $31 per head for food and bowling for three hours. Quite a creative idea to have a birthday party with bowling as the main game.

As it was still early, my relatives decided to visit the new mall at City Square so that they could also drop in at Mustapha Shopping Centre. I waited at City Square and read my papers and book while the young ones went shopping. We
decided to try the fruits and ice cream chocolate fondue at the mall. Esther, my energetic niece, took over the wheels as Daniel looked visibly exhausted. It is always a good idea to have more than one person who could drive, when travelling long distance.

Gan Cao