Going Home

In five days time I'll join thousands of others in the annual CNY exodus to go back to my hometown. Sibu was the place I lived for 8 years before I left for further studies and subsequently, work. I've stayed in Klang Valley longer than that, but Sibu is still the place I prefer to call my hometown. There's an official website that looks suspiciously like a BN propaganda site.

When back home, I love to wander around the old market area near the harbour, where most of the shops have remained unchanged for the last 30 years. Here, you can still see people selling homemade baked goods (of which the kompia baked biscuit is the most famous), spices and various jungle produce. And of course I still love to wander by the riverbank and take in the evening breeze.

Chinese New Year in Sibu is a raucous affair with people competing with each other in letting off firecrackers and fireworks, and lion dances at the neighbours' houses. Every year I get reintroduced to my ever growing legion of nephews and nieces (whose names I promptly forgot again after 2 days), but they're fun to have around with their innocent antics.

Can't wait.