Roaring Forties

There is a Chinatown in most cities in the world and Kuala Lumpur is no exception. It was a place which was familiar to all who grew up in the capital city.

Petaling Street, the Malaysian Chinatown was always known for its great food and bargain buys. It was a kaleidoscope of colours and a meeting point for the locals, where the Chinese, the Malays, the Indians and Punjabis gathered. It was also a place where the Mat Salleh (Caucasian) tourists dared to venture out to experience the local lifestyle.

With fond memories of Petaling Street or Chee Cheong Kai as the locals call it, May & I ventured out to check out the place last weekend. Our main aim was to savour our favorite Assam Laksa stall which was located right in the middle of Petaling Street at the mouth of Madras Lane. Knowing that the area was notorious for its lack of parking spaces, we decided to park at Jalan Raja Chulan and take a short walk there. As we headed towards Petaling Street, we decided to walk the lane behind Kota Raya where we were faced an ocean of people. There were people everywhere. But they were all foreigners. There were Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Vietnameses, Filipinos, Indians, Nepalis and Myanmaris. There were hundreds of them and I just couldn’t find any locals.

When we finally got to Petaling Street, it was different. The locals are gone. It was no longer where the locals go to for bargains. At least 90% of the crowd were tourists. The outstation tourists form the bulk of the visitors, followed by tourists from mainland China, Hong Kong, Thais, Middle Easterns, Indonesians and lastly the Caucasians. The crowd was there, the colours and the lights were there. But it was different. It was definitely not the Chinatown, I knew.

What most shocking was that at least 50% of the vendors were foreigners? You will find Bangladehis trying to promote the fake Rolex watches and Indonesians haggling with the tourists over the price of a Calvin Klein T-Shirt. It was a cultural shock for us. Chinatown? What Chinatown? It was nothing more than a tourist trap now.  There foreigners and outstation visitors far outnumbered the locals.   

We could not find our favourite Assam Laksa stall. It was closed. But to our relief, some of the old establishments were still there.

The best Longan in town still ply their trade at the corner of the crossroad. It tasted just as good and they are definitely the best Longan in town and I would also rate them as one of the best in Malaysia.

Across the street the famous Hokkein Mee are working their mean stuff. Arguably the best in town, the best time to savour the delicious black stuff is midnight after the crowd has gone. You could really relax and enjoy the noodles with tea.  

Along the street, Sei Ngan Chai (four eyed boy) still sell his famous roast ducks but he has a full head of white hair and he is probably pushing sixties.  

(Uncle Sei Ngan in the background)

Two stalls away is our regular pancake seller. He makes the best thick peanut pancake in two. We naturally bought four pieces for ourselves and we were not dissappointed. The taste was exactly as it was 20 years ago. Unfortunately the next generation would rather sell doughnuts in a Starbucks than to be caught selling pancakes in Chinatown. I guess it is only a matter of time before Uncle Duck Man and Uncle Pancake Man bid their farewell and take their recipes with them. 

Sadly, Chinatown isn’t a real Chinatown anymore. Petaling Street is no longer the place I knew but I will still go back there periodically as long as I can still get my Longan, my Hokkien mee, my roast duck and my pancake there.

15 Feb – Another Chinese New Year passed but I do not feel the festivities of the Chinese New Year anymore. Maybe it is because I have outgrown the innocence of youth like a kid outgrowing Christmas. Maybe it is because I have stopped practising the Taoist traditional prayers ever since I believed in Christ. Maybe it is because I have grown skeptical and neurotic over the years. Maybe it is not me.

Maybe it is time. Time changes things. Time changes everything.

So exactly what do I miss most about the Chinese New Year?

Read the rest of this entry »

Nov 30 – In Mentakab without Astro, when May told me excitedly that “The Eye” was showing on NTV7.

Heard of some good reviews about “The Eye”. It was also the movie that made Kedah born actress, Lee Sin Jie a star and made the Pang brothers famous. Missed the movie back in 2002 as I wasn’t a fan of horror movies but I enjoyed Oxide Pang’s “The Detective” recently so I didn’t need much persuasion from May to check out the movie.

Angelica Lee Sin Jie starred as Wong Kar Mun who was born blind but underwent an eye transplant which restored her sight. The first person she befriended in the hospital while recuperating was a little girl called Ying-Ying (Yut Lai So). Her joy was short-lived when she discovered that she could see more than the ordinary folks. She started seeing dead people everywhere she went. Whenever someone died, she can see the dead being taken away by a figure in black. Kar Mun was totally freaked and her sympathetic Dr. Wah (Lawrence Chou) tried to help. When Ying-Ying died, she visited Kar Mun to bid her farewell. By then Kar Mun was calm and seemed to have accepted her gift.

The movie seemed to have headed for an early ending except that at Ying-Ying’s funeral, Dr Wah presented Kar Mun with a card from Ying-Ying. Inside the card was a picture of Ying-Ying with Kar Mun. Kar Mun could not recognize the woman in the picture as she did not look like her in the mirror. This was an absolute classic twist to movie and for me it was the highlight.

Dr Wah and Kar Mun then traveled to Thailand to find out about the history of the donor of her eyes. The adventure took them to a tiny village where they managed to locate the grieving mother of the donor. The donor Ling (Chutcha Rujinanon) was a child with a gift of being able to see the dead or the dying. Ling saw that a tragedy will fall on her village and tried to warn the people but no one would listen. The village was engulfed in a large inferno where many perished. Ling could not live with the guilt and committed suicide. Kar Mun managed to get Ling’s mother to forgive Ling and brought about a closure to both Ling’s and her mother’s grief.

Kar Mun has managed put her problems to rest so she and Dr Wah prepared to return to Hong Kong. They were caught in a stand still traffic jam in Thai traffic when Kar Mun sees many dark figures appearing. Something was wrong! Kar Mun alighted from her bus and saw that the traffic was caused by an overturned gas tanker. Sensing something going to happen, Kar Mun ran about frantically trying to warn people to run. Everyone looked at her as a demented woman just like the villagers looked at Ling. Then the gas tanker blew up sending gigantic sheets of fire to envelope the vehicles stuck in the traffic.

“The Eye” was quite a good movie. Well, directed. Nothing gory about it and no cheap thrill scares.

As a matter of fact, there have been two sequels named “The Eye 2” and “The Eye 10”.
A remake is coming up soon in 2008 starring Jessica Alba.

Nov 15 – Had a ’simple’ lunch today in a little Teo Chew porridge shop in Mentakab. There were 9 of us and we shared the food which included chicken, fish, eggs, tow foo, salted vegetables, pickled vegetables, foo chok, mushrooms, pork, long beans, spinach and 3 other vegetables which I had trouble naming. In total, there were 12 dishes for the 9 of us, not to mention 2 types of fruits for dessert!

It was a simple lunch for the Chinese who always had the fascinating obsession with food. Only the French could match the Chinese in terms of uniqueness in the cuisine but they lose out in the sheer amount consumed. The Saudis probably will pack their tables with more food but they will never match the variety that the Chinese has. This fascination for food is what makes the Chinese unique.

You will be able to find 24 hours eateries in all Chinatowns and in all Chinese cities, the emphasis is nothing but food. The Chinese often greet themselves “Have you eaten?” instead of the customary “hello”. It is likely that food was hard to come by in ancient China and when you have the opportunity to consume, you feast. But in today’s modern times, food scarcity could hardly be an excuse. Maybe old habits die hard. The only real explanation for such gluttony is perhaps it is the real secret to happiness. ”Eat, Drink and Be Merry”.

Sometimes, this simple pleasure that the Chinese enjoys put them in a very bad light in the eyes of other cultures especially where you have wealth disparity. A meal like the lunch I had, would looked like a month’s supply of food for the deprived and the famished.  Others would think that the Chinese are such greedy people or show offs.

It is difficult to break away from one of the oldest culture in the world but sometimes we would need to scale down on such excessive traits. I did not really enjoy the food but lunch was more of an opportunity to enhance the social ties.

Well, it was a good lunch and I consoled myself that at least it is not game meat or meat of an endangered species.

Imagine Andy Lau, Miu Kiu Wai, Tong Chun Yip and Wong Yat Wah together in a movie? Would make an interesting combination but it appeared impossible since only Andy Lau was active in the movie scene.  Well, the impossible moment happened in Oct 2007 as all four appeared in a triad movie named “Brothers”. The producers even managed to rope in highly rated Eason Chan to join the veterans.

The “Brothers” would be a movie which I will not miss being someone who grew up in the 80s so I arm-twisted May to watch it at GSC on 24 Oct. After a great recent experience with “The Detective“, our expectation were high but these hopes totally crashed landed in the first 15 minutes of the movie.

The story line was pretty shallow like all Hong Kong movies about the triad. The acting was horrendous and this unforgivable since the cast consisted of real weterans. Eason Chan was hopeless in his role. The cinematography was mediocre and the editing was bad. It was a movie that you would wished to end fast and when it did, you cursed yourself for wasting your time.

 The only thing positive about the movie was that Miu Kiu Wai and Wong Yat Wah actually looked good (these guys must be in their fifties now) but I can’t say that for their acting.

The creme of the movie was definitely Crystal Huang. Then again it was for her looks and not her acting.

 ”Brothers” was a real bomb. For those who are considering to watch the movie,  don’t waste your dough.