Xiamen, A Trip Down Memory Lane. Part 4: The Legacy

Historically, the Chinese have been trading in the Indomalayan region for centuries. Today, Malaysia maintains very strong bilateral relations with the People's Republic of China. In times of conflict and war in olden China, many Chinese escaped the conflict by sailing elsewhere looking for greener pastures. Throughout the whole Southeast Asia, these Chinese migrants settled and built up communities that last till today. It is no different in Malaysia, where the ethnic Chinese Malaysians represent one of the three major races in Malaysia.

Above: Plaque commemorating my grandfather's contribution to the building of the village school. 

Today, we all identify ourselves as citizens of the country. However, I couldn't say that my great grandfather felt the same way. I feel very strongly that he treated Malaya/Malaysia as a temporary refuge, waiting for peace to come upon China and the right time to return. Along with him, many from the same generation held similar thoughts. One could not blame them as China was where they were born and where they felt they had a stronger sense of belonging. As such, when China was going through a very difficult period of conflict and war, many of the overseas Chinese sent their newfound wealth back to the motherland to aid in the pursuit of a better future.

Xiamen, A Trip Down Memory Lane. Part 3: The Lineage

Traditionally, the Chinese people have an infamous way of naming their offspring. Every same generation is to have the same character as the middle name as a way to identify which clan one came from and which generation of such a clan one belonged to. The naming system was extremely complex and it differs across the different subgroups of Han Chinese.

While the tradition is still largely kept intact in Malaysia, Singapore and other places with ethnic Chinese populations, many families have lost touch of the exact sequence of names that one suppose to follow across the generations. The modern way of maintaining such a tradition is for a family to use the same middle name of their eldest child for every following child, nephews and nieces included. Fortunately, within my family itself, the original naming sequence is still kept intact. This way, I can easily know if I were to bump into someone of the sap6me lineage as I am just through their surnames and middle names. In fact, it would not be strange to find people with the same middle name, supposedly from the same generation, that are much much older than I personally am.

Above: "蔡氏家府" engraved plaque on top of entrance to ancestral hall.

I have always been very curious how we manage to keep in touch of the whole naming sequence and finally, on my third visit to the village have I only realised that the answer lied within an old ancestral shrine dedicated to the whole family. I have no impression of visiting such a place prior to my third trip. Of course, back then I was only interested in the seemingly infinite amount of fireworks I could play with.

Xiamen, A Trip Down Memory Lane. Part 2: The House

History had always been one of my favourite subjects back in my schooling days. I was always mesmerized by stories of war, heroism, discovery and so on. Hence, I was always very interested to know more about my family history. In my younger days, I would always enjoy the trips to my grandfather's office, situated right along the banks of the Malacca river. Standing by the bank of the river, I always imagined how life used to be back in the olden days, trying to relive the past. I have heard so much from the elders of how children used to jump from the top of the bridge that connected the two opposing banks into the river for a swim, how fishermen used to unload their bowels right into the river from a hut by the bank, how there used to be rice stacked up high until the ceiling during the rice trading days, watched upon by pythons and monitor lizards that kept rodents away. That was a small part of my family history, I yearned to know more. As such, being privileged enough to be able to travel to the village where my ancestors lived for many generations had given me a small glimpse into my family history.

Xiamen, A Trip Down Memory Lane. Part 1: The Village

Many years ago, back in Mao Lin village in Xiamen, China, a fight erupted amongst a few villagers at a communal well. In the dispute, one of the villagers, a gangster, was struck in the head with a bucket and later died of his injuries.  Fearing of being being a victim of rataliation, one of the men present at the scene decided to leave and sail to a foreign land. Along he brought his family and on he sailed far far away, on a vessel, bound south. The vessel will then enter the Straits of Malacca, dock at the ports along the Malacca river and the passengers disembarked onto land, in a small port city along the west coast of the Malay peninsula.

My Denim Adventure - APCs

Above: Front of APCs, from day 1 of wear to day 205.

Above: Back of APCs, from day 1 of wear to day 205.

Back in the year 2011, My Daily Roti purchased a pair of APC Petite Standards from his trip to NYC. Since then, it became MDR's staple choice of bottoms when he decides to wear something to cover up those pale legs of his. Since then, they have been through some heavy wear, including being stained with paintball filling after a hot afternoon's paintball match.

My Daily Roti is back on the plate! ....Hopefully

It has been a long hiatus at My Daily Roti. As with most blogs, MDR is operated by a human being who experiences the ups and downs in life. MDR simply lost the oomph for blogging halfway through it. It has been a long time coming and MDR is officially toasted, hot and ready for the kaya spread (For non-Malaysians out there, coconut jam). Officially, MDR has been inactive for 2 years, 2 months and 10 days since the last post. 

In his 2 years of absence, MDR had been on a roller coaster ride, savouring and enduring the ups and downs in life. In that period, MDR had lost someone so dear to himself, travelled back to the motherland (Xiamen in Fujian Province, PRC), Went on a student exchange programme to Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and travelled around a few places down under. Furthermore, MDR had broken into his pair of APC so much that they needed a few patchings. Continued with the obsession on breaking into and properly fading pairs of solid dyed jeans with the purchase of a pair of Naked & Famous(es). Gone on another up and down journey to lose the unwanted roti crumbs on his body. Travelled again to Beijing, Thailand and back to Hong Kong (yet again).....and finally, graduate from university.

There is too much to blog about. An exciting journey ahead, time to catch up.

My Little HK Food Guide - Part 3 + Macau Bonus

Of Noodles and Other Carby Goodnus

Finally my third and final installment of my three part HK food guide. On this installment, I shall focus on my other favourite part of the food triangle - carbohydrates. Carbs are considered the most important part of a balanced diet, providing energy for daily usage but sadly also accumulates as layers of blubber under our skin. Carbs are, for me, a sinful indulgence. However, it is actually a sin to not indulge yourself with the best sources of carbohydrates, possibly in the world. Noodles!!

My Little HK Food Guide - Part 2

A Carnivore's Paradise

Above: RM 17 for the above, FRESH. Where to get in Malaysia??

HK is a carnivore's paradise, if you are a vegetarian, stray far far away from this meat loving city. Believe it or not, the dim sum in HK does little to move me. It is the meat dishes that actually get me craving for more. While a typical dim sum meal cost quite a bit, the dishes that I am going to blog about below are mostly averagely priced. Forget about the pricing, because everything you see here is worth paying the price for. Some are incredibly cheap compared to what we have to pay for the equivalent dish in Malaysia.

My Little HK Food Guide - Part 1

Dim Sum

HK is of course famous for its dim sum. After all, it is the place where the dim sum dishes are perfected . Back in Malaysia, it is a common affair to have dim sum for breakfast. However, despite having such a large Chinese community in Malaysia, I have to admit that our dim sum is among the lousiest in the world. Dim sum houses in Malaysia try too hard to invent new varieties, cheese siu mai and the like, which suck! Good dim sum can be easily found in New York or London or Melbourne, it is a shame that it is so difficult to find good dim sum anywhere here (Malaysia). It all boils down to the freshness of the ingredients I believe, and HK is just the right place to find fresh ingredients.

My Daily Roti was in Hong Kong.....again

Many do not know but my mum has her roots in HK even though she was born a Penangite. Those days everybody wanted a part of Malaya. Seeing the potential of this newfound "promise land", my maternal grandmother went to Penang and my mum was born there. It's amazing how things turned out the opposite after 50 years...lol. Anyway, mum only moved back to HK at about 13. Point is, due to her roots there, we get to visit HK quite often. In fact, once every year for the past three years. Still, HK never turns out to be boring for me. Especially with the shopping and of course the amazing food there. The variety of stuff on sale there is just massive compared to what we get here. From the affordable to the ultra luxurious. Its also rather nice to visit the aunties and uncles once in a while, good food, good wine, great bargains. I love HK.

    My next two blog post will be my little food guide to HK. A collection of the food I never fail to miss every time I'm there and also some newfound eateries. Dim Sum included of course, also roast goose, beef hor fun and many more. HK is food heaven. It's not a surprise that most food outlets in HK serve at least decent food. Rent is crazily high in HK and to survive you are forced to do your very best. Even around my hotel area, I've seen some restaurants being replaced after just a year. More to come soon, stay tuned!

My Daily Roti Movie Reviews - Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Above: "Aiyo!" - Captain Jack Sparrow

I guess piracy is trending lately with so many countries in the world sailing to the east coast of Africa combating Somali pirates. The story is no different in Hollywood as yet another sequel to the Pirates of the Carribean had arrived. The first movie, The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was a success not only in terms of box office reception but also gained a fair bit of positive reception from the film critics. Then came the second, Dead Man's Chest (2006) and the third, At World's End (2007). Along with the sequels came confusion for me, I never completely understood what the plot of the movies were about. Usually after watching a Pirates of the Carribean movie I had to resort to Wikipedia to completely understand what the movie was all about, and then download and watch it again on my computer to catch everything. Perhaps it's the continuous use of riddles and biblical language that I cannot seem to fathom. By the third movie I felt like I just went into the cinema watching a Kung Fu movie with odd piraty music and weird costumes. Was it just me? Not really because the second and third movie gained pretty bad response from the geeky, overly serious movie fanatics, also known as film critics. 


    They said it was all over, Will was captain of Flying Dutchman, or the Black Pearl??? Or was it the...forget it. Anyway the end credit scene was that Will returned to his wife and son and happily ever after. Until 4 years later came another sequel. Bloom and Knightley are no longer a part of the crew. I have to be honest I haven't been paying attention to Hollywood thanks to the barrage of assignments. I only knew about this movie like last month?? It felt as if there was a Pirates of the Carribean movie launched every year.

    Anyway, again there were more action scenes. This time, it was as if the movie was all about flying here and there atop the masts of ships. Even Blackbeard (he is...or was a real pirate in the late 1700s) is keen on joining in the fun. Yes, again the effects were wonderful but the plot just wasn't right. It wasn't quite as confusing as the second and the third installment but perhaps the simplicity of the plot made it lose it's piraty charm. Perhaps it's time for the Disney crew to visit the Fountain of Youth themselves and create a proper plot before filming the movie. Another "Aiyo" for Captain Jack Sparrow and mates..."Aye??"

My Roti Rating: 5/10 (like Roti Hawaii, looks nice but confusing taste)

My Denim Adventure - The First Wash

Finally after weeks of thinking through, I have finally decided to wash my Dr Denims for the very first time. Washing is extremely important in the realm of raw denim as it removes the dirt accumulated due to months of wear and tear without washing. It also removes the smell attributed to the long hours of wear. Most importantly, washing allows the pair of jeans to display the fruits of your own labour.

Finally MyDailyRoti is back!....with a vengeance

This past 7 weeks have been torturous. Tons and tons of assignments done last minute took its toll on me. I didn't have time to wash my Dr Denims for the first time, my cicak eggs were thrown away by mum after they failed to hatch. I was completely exhausted and the urge to laze overcame the urge to blog. Hence, the blog had been left stagnant.......until now. And I am back with a vengeance, armed with a pair of scissors and clippers, I decided to take out my fury on my dirty, smelly Shih Tzu, Becky.

    Due to my hectic schedule, my dogs were pretty neglected. Dirty and smelly. Hair all sticky and matted up, I could take no more and I took matters into my own hands. I'm gonna give my dog a haircut...myself.

Above: My weapon of choice.

BEFORE

Above: Smells like dead rat and looks like a mat.

    A cheap, lousy pet clipper, a pair of scissors, hair all over me, some vacuuming, some getting wet and about 2 hours later. Walaa.....it's done and she's still alive. "After" pics after the jump =P

Look what I found...cicak eggs

While lazing around on a hot and stuffy Saturday evening at home, my sister suddenly called me to get my ass up and go to the kitchen to see something interesting. Peeked into the hole at the door frame and what greeted me was the presence of house gecko, or rather cicak eggs in the hole. A few were already cracked due to the door lock closing on them.

    Took two for use in my random secret experiments and another lucky two I decide to incubate. Placed them in a container, poked some holes and the wait begins. Another adventure begins for me, reminds me of the old days when we used to catch many different bugs and placed them in containers with holes, so much cooler than playing computer games like what kids nowadays do. More pics after jump

Got stitched up for the first time...=O - Part IV

Ahh...after a tedious time tending to my gangrenous wounds, they are healing very well and no longer oozing yellowish liquid turning medical cream ala thousand island sauce-like. A week or more and it should look like nothing happened. =)

Pictures after the jump, no longer disgusting but still not beautiful.

My Denim Adventure - Week 25

It's been 25 weeks since I got my first pair of raw denims, just a week past 6 months. Over the half year period, I have got them soaked in sweat, beer and other alcoholic beverages, juices, ice cream, oil and not to mention a variety of sauces, maybe even traces of liquid excretion at the crotch area??

    In that period of time I have got them dry cleaned once to get rid of the unbearable smell, raw denim lesson learnt was that every pair of raw denims are better off being hung inside out after a day of wear under the sun or fan to get rid of bad smells. Anyway, I'm rather dissatisfied by the fades produced in this 6 months of wear. Of course, the effective wearing of my Dr Denims is less than 6 months, halted by my travels and injuries. Anyhow, because of the dissatisfaction, I'm going to extend my wearing of my jeans further for another 6 months before washing them, but I shall get them dry cleaned first. =) Can't wait to get into my APCs though.

Pics of progress below.

Above: Coin pocket before (left)/after (right).

Above: Front/rear weekly progress.

Above: Visible fading on the thighs. Lighter blue lines on dark indigo.

Back to studies again...

No more partying, being a hooligan and driving around town at wee hours and worse of all updating my blog regularly. The long long summer break is over and I am officially stressing up. It's back to reading at wee hours and shit like that. Not nice. Will try to update my blog more often.

Got stitched up for the first time...=O - Part III

Well, today is the official day where I had to have my stitches removed so I went to the nearby clinic and had the doctor remove the stitches. Unfortunately, it was not all good news. Apparently, the doctor who stitched up my wounds got the stitches too tight and thus, they have gone a little bit infected. It's all red around the area where I was stitched up. Some bacteria though my wound looked like a great meal and so feasted upon them. So frustrating, another week of medication and feeding what looks like whipped cream to my wound.

Again, you can view the pictures after the jump. Do be warned though if you have just eaten or your food might end up on your screen.

My Daily Roti Movie Reviews - The Green Hornet (2011)

I never really got the idea of the Green Hornet until I watched the movie itself. I've always thought that it's just another superhero movie where the hero can magically throw flames or lasers out of his palms. All I knew all this while about the Green Hornet is that it was originally a tv series and the legendary Bruce Lee acted in it. In fact it was one of the very first English show that Bruce Lee acted in, it was actually his stepping stone into Hollywood.

    However, when I first found out who was to be playing the role of Kato, the driver who was played by Bruce Lee I thought to myself, "Oh God! What a screwup this would turn out to be!". It was Jay Chou. No, not Jackie Chan or Jet Li but Jay Chou. I'm not a hater of Jay. In fact I think he is wonderfully talented in the music field, being able to sing well and play many instruments faultlessly but acting is one thing he's not really being viewed as....talented. *Flashback* Initial D, Jay, a Taiwanese who speaks Hokkien tries to speak Cantonese. Now though, he's trying to speak English. I think of the producers' decision to include Jay in the cast is merely to attract Asians to watch the movie rather than believing firmly in his acting skills. Bad move. Jay was obviously the weak link in this movie, struggling to twist and turn his tongue to make proper pronounciations of English terms and some of his expressions are just plain odd. Seth Rogen did alright in the movie though.

Above: Bruce Lee as the original Kato.

    Moving on to the plot, I felt that it was weakly thought out as if they wrote the script in a matter of weeks. It was just trying to be a funny version of Batman(which is brilliant) where Kato would be Robin and the Hornet would be Batman obviously. Some parts were funny but some were just corny. There were way too many scenes repeated, fight scenes especially. It was worse when they did the stupid slow motion thing which I though was rather lame. It was also a waste of money that we decided to watch it in 3D, of course it was because there were no movies available at that time of night, but there really wasn't anything impressive about the 3D, gimmick!

    Anyway, the movie was mediocre for me, it did provide a few laughs but all in all it wouldn't be memorable. Hell, I forgot about most of the plot already. Kudos to Seth Rogen though who lost a few pounds to play the role.

My Roti Rating: 6/10 (burnt outside but soggy inside)

Got stitched up for the first time...=O - Part II

Opened up my dressings today to clean up my war scars. A little blood and a little pain. Anyway just to share some pictures of my ordeal. If you are afraid of ghastly images of terrible wounds or blood, or having your lunch or any meal of the day, it is therefore that I advise wisely against viewing the images that I have posted.