Tuesday - Day 6

5:30 AM: ,
I am reading my Chinese novel on my laptop. Mom came by a couple of times to peer into the screen. I know she is checking to see if I am Skypeing with Sarah. She likes to skype. I told her "they are not online".

p.s. The first picture is me, kong chan, and kar hwa. the next one is Kar Hwa and his wife. The pictures appear to be a little dark, because my camera is running out of battery, and the flash will not flash. sorry.

Tuesday June 16.

At 9AM promptly, Kar Haw pulled up in front of the gate. Out poured Kar Hwa, his wife, and Kong Chan. I ran out to greet them, and asked them to come in. Mom told me later, Kong Chan went to the kitchen and asked Mom how the medical checkup went yesterday. That was very nice of him to remember Mom had a doctor's visit yesterday.
Mom was going to make tea for everyone, but Kar Hwa said no, we are going out to eat.

Kong Chan and Kar Hwa are my classmates from Form 4 (fourth year of high school, similar to Junior High in the States), and we have been friends since. We all went to different universities: Kong Chan to University of malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Kar Hwa to Universiti Sains (Science University) in Penang, and I went to Nanyang University in Singapore. Throughout the years, we remained friends, and wrote to each other.
During Form 4 and Form 5, Kong Chan and I used to go to the movies.
The three of us were amongst a very small group of students (13 out of 200) who went on to the Lower Form 6 class in the school (Chung Ling High School).
During the Form 6 years, we had a Boys' Club, which is also Aw Bah's room upstairs in a shop house near Penang Road. We would congregate there after school. We play music (on phonograms, or records), or go to the movies, or go out for snacks. it was quite lame, actually, as far as Boys' Club goes. Nothing of the sort you may have in mind. In fact, we do most of our homework there. The group of us who were in the Club formed a friendship that lasted till this day.
When I was in Singapore, I used to see Aw Bah often. He was a dental student in Singapore University, and he would come up to Nanyang University to visit me on his Honda motorbike. Aw Bah fell in love with a fellow dental student who rejected him. This caused him to withdraw from school, utimately dropping out of dental school after the second year, and eventually dropping out of society. Poor friend!

We went to Sri Nibong Cafe, near where Seng used to live in Sungai Nibong. There are supposed to have the best Kuay Teow soup. I must say I did not remember to bring my camera to the cafe. i left it in the car and I felt bad asking Kar Hwa to go out to retrieve it, so no pictures.
we also ordered some "Yon Tow Foo", or stuffed tofu. This is one of Becky's favorites, and this version is very good. The tofu is very fresh, and soft. The bean sticks Kong chan ordered are very tasty. The broth is fresh, so it is not as tasty as it would be later in the day. I wish I had a picture of this.
The Kuay Teow soup is very good. The broth is clear. It is cooked with group pork, of which there were plenty on top of the kuay teow (white noodles). The flavor is so good I drank the entire bowl in a couple of minutes, and was smacking my lips, but I decided not to order a second bowl.

After breakfast, we drove around a bit, and the conversation turned to urban development. Kar Hwa said we should see how much Butterworth (the town across the water from the Penang Island) has changed. We took the Penang Bridge, and crossed over to Butterworth. Kar Hwa showed us the penang Library, and some other government offices. Apparently, there is no land on the island for Penang to build more government buildings. Lately, all the gov buildings has been built in Butterworth.
We also had a chance to see Chung Ling High School in Butterworth. it is very similar to the old alma mater. three stories high, and quite deep. We drove around to the back of the school There are some new houses in the back. Kar Hwa said this used to be a plantation. When he was working there as the principal, he had advised the PTA to buy the plantation land, so there would be space to expand the school. The PTA rejected the plea, so now the land has been converted to a housing estate. There will never be a chance to extend the high school.

By 11:30AM, Kar Hwa decided we should have lunch in Bukit Metajam. This usd to be a very small town. The center of the town is still pretty much the same, small, narrow, dirty. On the outskirts, there have been a lot of developments. new shop fronts, new housing estates. It is not the Bukit Metajam I used to know.
Along the way, we stopped at the Temple of the Nineth King. This is a new temple. The sone work in the temple is beautiful.

Lunch at an outdoor cafe is simple. There is a steamed fish. Both Kar Hwa and Kong Chan thought the fish was too tough, because it was a big fish, about 2 kilos in weight. The said it might have been better, had we order two fishes of 1 kilo each. The big fish tends to be tougher than the tender young fish. We had a plate of port spare ribs, and a plate of tofu with shrimps. All very good. I ran out of battery in the camera, so no pictures again.

Kong chan had tuition classes today at 3 PM, so we had to say good bye for now. K C said we will meet up again on Friday.

Dinner:

At dinner, we had curry fish (sting ray), stir fried green vegetables (shio bai chai - small white bak choy), steamed lady's fingers, and steamed fish. The curry fish is of the dry variety, meaning the curry is not juicy. Rather, it is a thick, viscous thick coating of sweet curry (not too spicy) that covered the fish. The sting ray is very common for curry. It is a good tasting fish, but you have to watch out for the big bone cartilages.
While we were eating, the door bell rang. We rushed over the window to see who is so bold as to dare to interrupt our dinner. It was Sui Fun and Peter. We opened the gate, and I rush out to meet them. I yelled back to the house "Mom, quick, hide the chicken. Sui Fun is here." It is a running joke that mom hides the chicken from Sui Fun when she shows up.
Sui Fun came bearing gifts. She brought fried chicken (not KFC type, but the Chinese type), Belachan (shrimp paste) fried tofu, Apong (for dessert), and a nice ripe Papaya. She is very sweet. No wonder she is my favorite sister.

The Belachan fried tofu is made of firm tofu, cut into small inch squares, coated with the Belachan paste, and deep fried. It is accompanied with sweet chili sauce, and the combination of crispy tofu and sweet and spicy flavour is heavenly.

I was so absorbed by the food, I forgot to take pictures of them. sorry.