let's talk about the good bits first. last weekend, i went back to my hometown, sitiawan, to meet some family which i've never met before in my life. why?
here's the story, my grampa married two wives, my gramma is the second wife.. i never met the first wive, there for i never met the rest of the auntie uncle cousins that came along with them..
back up, back up..
here i am, excited as ever as i've not been back to sitiawan with my family for ages, and those days weren't even the ones where we didn't even visit family.
we took the coastal road up to sitiawan all the way. interesting, as all i got to see was kampung, kampung, and more kampung...
so ok.. upon reaching sitiawan, the first thing my dad did was to take us to his step sister's house in this little town called kampong koh.. yes, the kampong koh that produces one of the best bottled chillies i've ever tasted...
and a little later on, we were passing through kampong koh, which is about a 2mile stretch road, into sitiawan "city" centre to check into the hotel..
en route, we got to see some interesting sights of the town, which my father started telling us stories..
this is my father's school....
SMK Methodist (ACS) Sitiawan
established in 1903, more than a hundred years old..... 
this little shoplot.. sitiawan surgery.. apparently was the only clinic during my father's days in town... show's how old the doc prob is now..
ok, my father was like an expectant little boy, looking at how the world has changed around him... so many things stayed the same.. so many things changed.. it was a side of him i've not really seen before, except when he's sailing
we arrived at hotel flamingo.. it is not one of the best looking hotels i've seen, but is one of the only two hotels in sitiawan.. the other was crystal hotel.. both two stars, so don't even bother..
we came back to sitiawan for two reasons that weekend..
1) my gramma's huge b'day celebration with the whole family, and i mean whole family...
2) for my brother and i to visit my grampa and 1st gramma's urns at the temple. it was, afterall qing ming weekend..
we got to this restaurant called a go-go (wtf??) with 10 tables, and an interesting table setting arrangement.. it wasn't set around the table in front of the 10 seats that we normally see in hotels.. it was an organised display of clutter on the table with a pattern to boot.. hmmmmmm..
our table was the only table that didn't speak our mother tongue (hock chiu, the native language of the fu chow clan) and thus, we kinda stuck together..
of course we did our little rounds of meeting all our auntie uncle cousins, the whole "aw" clan... and wow, we had at least 7 tables worth of immediate family...
(just thinking bout how my wedding would be like if i have to invite both mum's & dad's immediate family. that alone will take up 25 tables... what about my and my parents' friends??? that would be another 10 tables at least.. ok, whoever you hubby to be, be prepared to spend, or else we have to elope)
turns out, that my dad has about 8 siblings, just like my mom side.. and my father is the 3rd child.. my 1st gramma was in china when my grampa met my gramma.. it wasn't till she came down to malaysia, that was when she started having more of the "aw" clan, by then, my gramma already had 3...
apparently, my brother and i are the youngest male and female grandchildren of the clan, as my father's younger siblings married very young and started having family very early..
and i thought the ones younger looking than my bro and i were our cousins.. turns out to be our adorable nieces and nephews...
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i went to visit my 1st gramma & grampa's urn at the temple.. i stood in front of his niche and was shocked as to discover that my gramps passed away when i was 4 yrs old..
i always thought that both my gramps passed on before i was even born.. this was a very disturbing thought.. not because the rest of my cousins has met grampa.. but because my grampa has never seen or heard of me before.. and needless to say, i was disappointed..
i wanted to confront my father about this, i wanted to know why i was denied the knowledge of my gramp's death or why i've never met him before.. i felt denied of that privilege to get to 'know' one of the most important relative in my life..
i didn't, of course.. i suppose he had his reasons for shutting grampa out of his life, and it would just as disturbing to bring it up for him.. maybe when i'm a little older, i'll know the truth..
mayb...
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grampa, gramma... i'm home now. i've finally visited you.. rest in peace..
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