Of Ah Hua & Ah Huat

Ah Hua sells 'koay chiap'[粿汁],a type of Siamese rice noodle, at Ah Huat's coffee shop somewhere in Bukit Mertajam. 

 Although 'koay chiap' is her signature noodle, Ah Hua is enterprising as well as versatile enough to provide other variety of noodles to satisfy the taste buds of her customers.

Ah Hua's business opens at 7.30 am and ends at approximately three hours later, at around 10.30. At present her business is so good that a customer has to wait for at least half an hour for a bowl of noodles to be served. When Ah Hua is busy at her stall in front of the coffee shop, Ah Huat has no chance to be idle.

While the customers are waiting for their noodles, they would order drinks from Ah Huat. Poor Ah Huat! As he is in his seventies, he has to depend on his 'semi-retiring' brain matter to help him to remember the orders from his customers. Sometimes Ah Huat got confused and jumbled up with the orders. A customer who had asked for one type of drink was provided with another one instead. For an example, one who had ordered coffee got a Nescafé.  There were times when the customers who had waited far too long without being served their drinks had to refresh Ah Huat’s memory and to reorder with a touch of irritation. Oftentimes too, customers had to raise their voice to make themselves heard, no thanks to Ah Huat’s failing hearing.

On the other hand, Ah Hua had a telegraphic memory. She could imprint in her mind the orders of her customers like a Photostatting machine. She could even remember minor details pertaining to the likes and dislikes of her customers regarding certain ingredients or sauces preferred.

Ah Huat's business is very much dependent on Ah Hua's. Any day that Ah Hua is not selling noodles, Ah Huat would be spending his time shaking legs and swatting mosquitoes.

Every time when Ah Hua is on for business, one would see Ah Huat's coffee cups going around the shop, dancing graciously in tandem with Ah Hua's bowls of noodles in-between the coffee tables.

Once with Ah Hua's noodles sold out, the music would come to a full-stop with Ah Huat's coffee cups returning to their respective corners at the shelves as most of the customers would have vacated the shop by then.

 Ah Hua works only for a dozen days a month. Other days she would go back to Hat Yai to attend to her private matters.

 A good indicator to know whether Ah Hua is selling ‘koay chiap’ or not  on any particular morning is to observe from afar whether there are cars parading in front of Ah Huat's  coffee shop.

It is not uncommon to see a customer patronizing  Ah Hua's ‘koay chiap’ for days continuously without fail as the customer would have a 'hidden fear' that the following day Ah Hua would not be selling 'koay chiap' if she were to go back to Hat Yai. Only God would know precisely whence she would be back to resume her usual business.

The good prospect of Ah Hua's business is mainly attributed to her selling of noodle soup at a price relatively cheaper than others in the town. Moreover, her 'koay chiap' has been tested over the years for its distinctiveness or uniqueness. It stands in a class of its own which is equal to none in the town. Those who have  tasted her 'koay chiap' would not have regretted it for the rest of their lives.

一蚊鸡

讲起那吉首相的一蚊鸡，
令我想起以往《龙的传人》
所促销的一蚊鸡。
我以为一蚊能吃一蚊鸡，
谁知不能只吃这一蚊鸡，
还需要消费其他餐饮品。
结账时不能只付钱一蚊，
当然需加付餐费数十蚊。
一蚊鸡呀一蚊鸡，
一蚊难买一蚊鸡。

My Views on Marriage and Cohabitation

I was asked to give my views on the following questions which were posted to me by a friend doing his Master Degree programme on Psychology.

1) We have seen how we ourselves, our parents and our friends live together in a marriage. What are your views about marriage?

Born to a traditional Chinese family under the sway of the Confucian culture, I regard marriage and keeping the family unit intact as the duty of the husband and the father. In those days, a few decades ago, a broken marriage was regarded a disgrace to the family concerned. In the olden days, even though marriages were match-made, the husband and wife would try to maintain and sustain their marriage until they depart from this world.

Fifty years ago, the term cohabitation was alien and unheard of. At that time the worst   failing a daughter could bring disgrace to the family, was her elopement with her loved one. Now, elopement has become an obsolete term which can only be found in the dictionary and in the classical novels of the orient and the occident.

 2) Some couples prefer to stay together without marrying or what is called "cohabitation". What are your views about "cohabitation"?

 

"Cohabitation" has become a common trend of the present day whereby couples prefer to stay together for their own convenience as well as for companionship as both men and women are mutually economically independent. If they can get on well with each other by cohabitation they will stay together for a longer period or maybe indefinitely. If not they would  break off their relationship instantly and permanently without any legal binding constraints so that each one is free to  get attached to a new partner or each could remain single with no obligation or commitment to the former one.

"Cohabitation" is common nowadays especially with the rapid urbanization and the advancement of IT social network, like Facebook and many other networks; with more and more youngsters looking for jobs in urban cities across the boundary of states and nations where they could easily get acquainted and socialise with others.

3) If given a choice will you cohabitate or to allow your children to cohabitate?

"Cohabitation” is prohibited from the religious point of view as it is forbidden in Christianity and is also prohibited in one of the Five Precepts of Buddhism as most religions do not encourage premarital sex.

As a Buddhist I should not cohabitate and I would not like to see my children cohabitate as well. But as my children are already adults, I cannot stop them from doing so if they choose to.

I believe if the children were to have a strong religious inclination, they would not be tempted to cohabitation unless the perspective of religions has changed over the dimension of space and time.

An Unpleasant Jetstar Experience

 

This is my first experience travelling with the Jetstar airline with my reservation number TEI5UA.

 At around 3.00 pm on February 20, 2014, my wife, my daughter and I arrived at the Changi Airport in Singapore. My daughter went straight to the Jetstar check-in counter with our travelling documents. The Chinese lady at the counter insisted that all of us have to avail our presence before her before she would issue the boarding passes which I think the clerk was overreacting as my wife had the difficulty of dragging her feet over a seemingly short distance as she is suffering from osteoporosis. If the identity of a passenger has to be verified in front of the check-in clerk, how is it that most airlines permit passengers to do web check-in? It could be that that particular clerk had forgotten that she was not an immigration officer! This kind of practice was not carried out by the Jetstar staff at the Penang airport. Neither was it practised by other Airlines which I had travelled before.

To my daughter’s request to have my wife’s seat changed closer to the entrance of the plane, it was also turned down abruptly by the inconsiderate lady. Unlike her counterpart, at the Penang airport, who automatically changed our seats without much difficulty.

Further request by my daughter to have a wheelchair provided by the Jetstar airline was also rejected as the lady said that the wheelchair would only be provided one hour before boarding time which to my mind was very ridiculous as my wife needed a wheelchair to move around in the airport waiting area during the long hours of waiting. Moreover, in the circulars emailed by the Jetstar, it was clearly stated that any passenger requesting for wheelchair assistance should be in the airport at least two hours before the flight.

As we could not get a wheelchair from the Jetstar, my daughter had to hunt for an alternative wheelchair from the Changi Airport to ferry her mother around the waiting area of the airport during the five hours of waiting time.

Finally, at around 8.00 pm when the time had come for us to enter the boarding hall, the Indian lady at the check-point entrance told us that the airport wheelchair we were using could not be utilized to ferry my wife to board the plane. According to the Indian lady, my wife had to make an effort to walk to the plane. No attempt at all was made by the lady to contact the Jetstar office at the airport to send an 'appropriate' wheelchair for my wife at the boarding hall. Luckily, one of the staff who was supposed to push a passenger on a wheelchair at the boarding hall was willing to make an extra trip to ferry my wife to board the plane. Our experience travelling with the Jetstar Airline in Singapore did not give us any good impressions that Jetstar had provided customer-friendly service or satisfaction. By contrast the Jetstar staff at the Penang International Airport had provided really good service. This made me wonder why an airline company would practise double standard in its customer service in different countries. Don’t tell me that this is corporate culture of the Jetstar Airline!

Hope the Jetstar Airline will not get any further complaints from other flyers in the near future.