AN Aussie lady stayed with my sister and I during the recent Chinese New Year. Our guest was fascinated by the customs and traditions and participated in all the festivities.

On the 7th day of the Lunar New Year, we brought her to a restaurant for yee sang. My sister went up to get takeaway while we waited in the car.

I explained to our friend that the 7th day was known as “Everyone’s birthday” and that it was our custom to celebrate by eating yee sang – raw fish. A group of people walked up to the restaurant, and our friend remarked: “The customers are very well dressed wearing sparkling jewellery. This must be a very upmarket market.”

When my sister came back carrying a beautifully decorated cardboard box, our Aussie friend exclaimed that they even gave the customers environmentally friendly boxes at this market. Puzzled, I asked her why she kept saying market.

She said we were buying raw fish and surely it was a market that my sister went to. We showed her the contents of the box and she protested saying there was hardly any fish in it and that the name “raw fish“ was a misnomer. We countered saying that in Australia when we ordered a hot dog, we don’t even get a morsel of heated canine meat, and everyone had a good laugh.

Woo Kit Cheng

OUG, Kuala Lumpur

What a rip-off!

MY girlfriend and I went on a holiday in Hanoi where we travelled between our hotel and the city daily for dinner and shopped at the famous street maze in the Old Quarter.

We took care in taking taxis, agreeing on the fare before getting in. On our last night there, we took a metered taxi. After driving down a few streets, we noticed the taxi driver was taking a different route. The meter was tripping furiously.

Realising something was amiss, we asked if he was lost. He suddenly pulled over at a dark roadside and pointed at our hotel across the street. The fare turned out to be three times the usual rate for the same journey. He told us to pay 10 times the amount, citing the exchange rate.

At this, we got really upset and tried to reason with him. But he punched the steering wheel and insisted that we pay the amount he wanted. Our passenger doors were locked from his driver’s console. We were trapped!

Left with no choice, we told him to drive to the police station. In the end, he relented. We paid him the metered rate, not the exorbitant amount he asked for. We rushed out of the taxi the moment the doors were unlocked. This experience on the final day marred what had been an enjoyable holiday.

Lynn, Kuala Lumpur

Jacuzzi hero

DURING the school holidays, my family and I went to a resort in Kuantan. Since it was the monsoon season, my sons, aged 11 and eight, were content with just swimming in the pool.

On our final day at the hotel, my sons wanted to go into the Jacuzzi, and since there were many smaller children playing in it, I followed them in.

Suddenly, my younger boy called out that his brother was at the bottom of the Jacuzzi and was not getting up. Quickly, I tried to pull him up, but to no avail. I screamed for help, and many people jumped in to help. The suction was so strong that it took my husband and four other men to pull my son out. He was resuscitated and rushed to a hospital, suffering lacerations on his chest and stomach. In the intensive care unit, my son cried, saying that he could have died. We comforted him, saying he was a hero and that he had saved many children’s lives. If it were not for him, a smaller child would have got stuck in the suction pump and could have drowned. My son returned home to Kuala Lumpur three days later. I thank God and all the kind people who helped us on that frightful day. With God’s grace, though bearing the scars of that frightful day, he has returned to swimming, his one true love.

So all of you out there who feel like taking a dip in the Jacuzzi with your children, please bear in mind that it almost killed a 158cm boy who weighed more than 50kg.

Winlita Sandosam

Taman Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur

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