It was down memory lane when my family met up with my cousins and two old friends W and A at a very old Chinese restaurant in an obscure part of Chinatown Penang. Gosh! It must have been like 15 years since I went to Sun Yuet Kee Restaurant because I had forgotten about it.
When the seven of us arrived at about 8p.m., we were greeted by a sea of elderly faces, some giving us toothless smiles as we sauntered up the dark narrow stairs. Upon reaching the landing, two men, presumably the chefs smiled at us while I caught the whiff of delicious food being cooked by one of them. As I made my way to the air-conditioned dining area, I had an onslaught of memories that flooded my mind. Opening the door, I walked in and was filled with so much nostalgia. Good to see you back - the walls seemed to echo to me as I made my way to the table where the others were waiting patiently for us.
As soon as we were seated, W proceeded in his matter-of-fact Big Brother style to order the signature dishes while the rest of us chorused happily "Hot barley!". What do you expect - 6 of the 7 were in our 40's with one in his 50's and my son was the young punk in the group.
Soon enough, the dishes came. First to be served was the delicious wat tan hor fun. Sorry folks - we were so hungry that the main focus was not a photo session but enjoying the following Cantonese cuisine cooked in old fashioned style.
The signature dish of the restaurant is the BBQ Spare Ribs - succulent, crispy at the right places with a smooth and tasty gravy that makes you crave for more. Despite being a non-meat lover, I had three pieces of meat.
My cousin from US was enamoured with the following dish which is kangkung with fresh succulent prawns.
Before the next dish came, my other cousin had already reserved the eyes and tongue of the fish...Here we are - fish head curry.
The roast meat served was crispy, well smoked and absolutely delicious...
The homemade beancurd was smooth, soft, silky-textured and had been deep fried before being cooked again in the delicious gravy.
After the dinner, it was time for action! Much as we were heavy in the middle area, cousin taught us a few Muay Thai moves. For your information (extracted from Wikipedia):Muay Thai or Thai Boxing is a form of hard martial art practiced in large parts of the world, including Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. The art is similar to others in Southeast Asia such as: pradal serey in Cambodia, lethwei in Myanmar, tomoi in Malaysia, and Lao boxing in Laos. Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand and is the country's national sport. Traditional Muay Thai practiced today varies significantly from the ancient art muay boran and uses kicks and punches in a ring with gloves similar to those used in Western boxing.It was not as easy as I thought it would be, certainly not as easy as Tai Qi, Qiqung, Wushu or Weng Chun. First of all, we were taught how to move our knees, hips and shoulders - absolute necessity in Muay Thai. Then we had to learn the correct rhythm in the movements after which we shuffled up and down the workout room. Then he put us to the grind with the jab jab punch routine synchronized with the leg, knee, shoulder and hip movements. It was made more pleasant as the theme song from "Rocky" was being played.
Muay Thai is referred to as "The Science of Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A practitioner of Muay Thai ("nak muay") thus has the ability to execute strikes using eight "points of contact," as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts.
Obviously, this old lady here could not move as fast or as rhythmically as I wanted to - ain't no svelte teenager any more - I felt so stiff and was not rocking in the correct style and felt like I had just had hip surgery so I gave up and did other exercises instead while my boy and cousin trained and then traded punches after donning the boxing gloves. I decided that Muay Thai is not my cup of tea and feared my fate in case I fumbled and fell. For sure, I would not want a recurrence of my spinal injury. Still, I am glad for my brief intro to Muay Thai and am also happy I know how to trade blows and do the different cuts. After while, we decided that much as we wanted to stay, we had to go back as it was way past my boy's bedtime. So, yours truly is very tired and wish you all a good night.
Indeed it has been a wonderful day and may God bless us all with wonderful life-enriching experiences.
Take care and good night!
Walt Oh how wonderful for you, I'm getting fat just looking a the pictures. Yes there is nothing like good times with family and friends. I would say you had a much better time than I did trying to spy on big brother, only to see big brother looking back at me. ;-)