JUST TO SHARE (Lau Tai Onn): A Brief Account of CNY 2025 Celebration in B.M. January 29 to 31, 2025

My wife Soh Ai and 3 sons viz. Wai Kit, Wai Yu and Wai Kei and I went to Bukit Mertajam, Penang on the 1^st day of CNY on Wednesday, January 29. 2025. We were driven by Wai Kit in his Tesla EV car. He had earlier booked a homestay terrace house at Residensi PRIMA Taman Seri Mahkota, Kulim (3D2N for RM500+).

Day 1 大年初一 Wednesday, 29/01/2025

6.50am Left home at BSL to Greenpark Condominium Block AB, Taman YARL, KL.

7.13am Reached Greenpark Condo. and picked up Wai Yu.

7.50am Stopped at R&R Rawang for breakfast. Pretty crowded, mostly Malays.

8.40am Left R&R. Traffic was smooth.

10.25am Stopped at R&R Tapah. Wai Kit charged his EV car at TNB Electron Station from a battery power of 61% to 97% for about 20 minutes.

10.55am Left.

1.30pm Reached Residensi PRIMA Seri Mahkota Kulim. The 2-stroey house is quite new, clean and spacious with 3 bedrooms upstairs and 1 bedroom downstairs. It can easily accommodate 7 persons.

2.25pm Left for Bukit Mertajam.

2.50pm Arrived at Tropicale Residency, BM. Met Ah Ma, Soh Ai’s eldest sister Sock
Kim, her younger brothers Sze Heang, Sze Teong and the latter’s wife Kitty Wan. Heang’s wife YenLi had earlier taken their 3 children to Selama Perak to visit her mother and other relatives.

My 3 sons went to Sunway Carnival Mall, Seberang Jaya where Wai Kit would charge his EV car again there.

6.05pm Teong, Kitty, Soh Ai and I went to Kedai Makanan & Minuman Pek Kong Cheng (伯公埕老字号美食坊), BM for dinner.

Most stalls were open on this 1^st day of CNY. The food court was crowded, but we still managed to find a table to dine.

I took Kuey Teow Soup (槟诚粿条汤, RM7) and Shark Fin Soup (鱼翅羮, RM7) and bought (take-away) 3 bowls of Shark Fin Soup and 1 packet of Penang White Curry Mee for the children.

7.00pm Left.

After my children’s cousin sisters and brother, viz. XinYi, LeYi and JiaWei came back from Selama, Perak, they started playing fireworks (bought by Wai Yu). Their dancing was amusing (watch the video below).

10.35pm Left BM for Kulim. Teong and Kitty stayed with us in the homestay house, while Wai Yu stayed in BM for a night.

11.00pm Reached homestay.

R&R Tapah Arah Utara

Tesla EV car battery charging

Homestay at Residensi Seri Mahkota Kulim

Entrance to Tropicale Residency, Bkt Mertajam

Residensi Tropicale BM

Jalan Pasar, BM

Pek Kong Cheng BM food court

Food court

Shark fin soup

Kuey teow soup

Residensi Tropicale house

Short video clips of children dancing:

Day 2 大年初二 Thursday, 30/01/2025

7.30 am Left homestay in Teong’s car. The children continued with their sleep as they returned late last night from BM.

8.00am Reached Tropicale Residency BM. Sock Kim had already came from Penang. She and Soh Ai, Teong and Kitty would bring Ah Ma back to Rantau Panjang in 2 cars later.

8.20am Kim/Heang/Yenli/Teong/Kitty/soh Ai and I left for breakfast.

8.37am Breakfast at Kopitiam Tenang Ria, Jalan Kulim, Taman Tenang, BM. I took Honey Baked Chicken Rice. Quite delicious. Sock Kim paid for all.

10.00am The children (six of them) left for Sunday Carnival Mall (Wai Kit pre-booked movie tickets for eight, including Hean and YenLi) for the 12.30pm show of “Creation of the Gods II - Demon Force (封神二: 战火西岐)”.

I last minute decided not to follow Kim and others to go to Rantau Panjang, but go to Sunway Carnival Mall instead. I .would buy a ticket myself for the same movie.

10.15am Kim and Soh Ai left in one car while Teong, Kitty left in another car carrying Ah Ma and Indon maid to Rantau Panjang, Perak.

10.30am I left with Heang and YenLi to Sunway Carnival Mall, Seberang Jaya..

12.30pm Watched the movie “Creation of the God II”. A lot of special effects and quite entertaining!

3.30pm As the children still wanted to hang around at the Mall after the movie, I followed Hean/YenLi/XinYi back to Tropicale Residency.

5.15pm Kim’s husband Chooi KH came from Penang together with their daughter JiAn, son-in-law Ruben and grand-daughter Aria.

5.40pm Buffet dinner with catered food started. The food was abundant and many left over.

As usual, we took group photos of the entire family/relatives.

9.30pm Wai Kit/Wai Yu/LeYi/JiaWei went out to Auto City Penang. Teong/Kitty/Soh Ai/Wai Kei and I left BM for homestay in Kulim.

10.05pm Returned to homestay.

11.45pm Slept.

Tenang Ria Kopitiam BM

My breakfast

Ah Ma returned to her old house at Rantau Panjang, Selama, Perak after a long absence. Pictured with her sister-in-law and others. (Photo courtesy of Sze Teong).

Sunway Carnival Mall, Seberang Jaya

GSC cinema

Buffet dinner

A group photo of all celebrating Day 2 of CNY at BM

Day 3 大年初三 Friday, 31/01/2025

7.45am Woke up. By then Teong and Kitty had already left to go back to KL.

9.40am Checked out of homestay.

10.10am Had noodle breakfast at Kulim (九皇大帝广福宫/斗母宫).

12.15pm EV charging at Caltex Station, Changkat Jering. We drank coffee and ate ice-cream while waiting.

1.10pm Left Caltex. Traffic was quite heavy towards Ipoh.

3.20pm Late lunch at Jin Chen Restaurant, Tapah. Five of us took Steamed Tilapia with Spicy Bean Paste (酱蒸金凤鱼 RM55) ，Stout Pork Ribs (黑啤排骨 RM32)，Signature Tofu (招牌豆腐 RM20), Stir-fried Paku Fern with Belacan (马来栈炒巴古菜 RM18)，Rice (饭5大RM10)，Chinese Tea Pot (茶RM5). Total RM140. All dishes were delicious. I also bought one packet each of Durian Heong Peah Biscuits (榴莲王香饼 RM11)，Original Heong Peah Biscuits (RM10.50) and Daily Nuts (每日坚果 RM15).

4.20pm Left Tapah. N-S Highway traffic condition was sometimes heavy and sometimes light. It was smooth in KL.

6.55pm Reached Greenpark Condo. to drop off Wai Yu home. It started to rain from Taman YARL, but there wasn’t any rain in Cheras area.

7.25pm We returned home sweet home.