JOTR – Chinese New Year 2009 in Brissie (Jan26)

 

My 1^st time away from home for Chinese New Year left me quite homesick. Cannot hear “Gong xi Gong Xi” song without tearing. Keeping to tradition, I decided to pay a visit to Brisbane Chung Tian Temple (http://www.chungtian.org.au/) for midnight prayers. 

 

 

Their big “Blessing Bell” in the center court is believed to be the heaviest and the biggest bell in Brisbane (I think it’s the one & only bell in Brisbane).

On the 1^st day of CNY, my true love gave to me….just felt like singing. A must to drop by Chinatown, just to soak in the atmosphere. Whole day’s worth of performances such as Chinese opera, martial arts performances, puppet show etc. All the restaurants were packed with people all the ways to the streets.

Oh, coincidentally, it was also Australia Day. Something like Independence Day kua. So we were lucky coz it’s a public holiday for everyone. The other side of Chinatown, Valley Transmission was having their share of musical performances as well with Aussie rock band. So u can have the best of both worlds.

 

Having missed so much of Chinese New Year flair, I decided to at least perform a “low sang” session with my chinese colleagues. You can purchase a box of yu sang from the supermarket for only $15 a box.

 

 

 

Yusheng is Chaozhou-style raw fish salad. It usually consists of strips of raw fish (most commonly salmon), mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng literally means “raw fish” but since “fish” is commonly conflated with its homophone “abundance”, Yúshēng is interpreted as a homophone for Yúshēng meaning an increase in abundance. Therefore, yusheng is considered a symbol of abundance, prosperity and vigor.-www.wikipedia.com- -www.wikipedia.com-

 

So we had a mixture of Malaysian, Taiwanese & Aussie (special invite) on our table. Kinda found out that this delicacy is mainly Cantonese coz my other Malaysian colleagues from a different dialect had never “low” before. Heh??!!! Oh and my mom’s ngaku crispy crackers, that I brought from home was a major hit. Yummy!!!

 

Cantonese dialect words

Chinese : low  = English : mix

Chinese : sang = English : raw

Chinese : Yu-sang = English : fish-raw(direct translation)

 

BUT NO ANGPAU!!!!