where did all the good times go?

each generation always look back on the past and thinks that it is better than the present.

that's what i am doing now.

maybe not better. different.

i remember the thrills of wearing new clothes for the chinese new year.

i remember being told off by my mother for using unsuitable vocab and playing with the broom on the first day of the new year.

i remember opening the angpows with excitement to count how much i have received for that year.

i remember dipping my hand into the ice-cold water of the cooler to look for my favourite soft drink....and it was in a glass bottle.

i remember constantly refilling the goodies container so that our visitors will always have something to nibble on.

i remember the laughters, the kuachi, the children running around and the angpows.

i remember groups huddling in their own corners, playing with whatever strikes their fancy.

i remember the horrible chinese new year songs playing in the background.

of course, new year was never complete without the groanings at the man who brought along his entire extended clan (and probably the neighbour of his wife's brother's girlfriend)

in its place is quietness. solemness.

a desire to hide from it all by leaving the country.

nobody will be around.

nobody visits anymore.

who is there to see the decorations that they have hung up?



where's my chinese new year?