Is Getting Married in the Hungry Ghost Month a Taboo?

I can still vividly recall the way my mum told me to stay home at night time during the hungry ghost festival each year when I was still schooling. I also used to hear how mysterious things happened during the hungry ghost festival.

What is Hungry Ghost Festival? It is known as Zhong Yuan Jie 中元节 or more commonly known as Gui Jie 鬼节. I’m sure the Chinese community and the Malaysian are familiar with this special month of seven in the lunar Calendar. Ghost Festival is on the 14th night of the seventh lunar month. It is believed that during this month, the souls of the unborn for all deceased are released from hell to wander the earth for 30 days. As ghosts are dominating events in this month, it is consider a month of inauspicious for most of the Chinese community.

If you asks around , I’m sure you’ll hear different stories and views about Hungry Ghost Festival. Some consider it as the Feast for the wandering souls, some think that it is some sort of Chinese Halloween, etc. Well, generally, the Chinese believes that it is “bad” or inauspicious. And that’s the reason why, in the past the Chinese avoid holding any happy or significant events during this month. Older people will not be happy if someone wants to get marry, open new business, renovate house, move in to new premises, or even to travel during the seventh month of the lunar calendar.

As we exposed more to the science and our tradition is diluted slowly to a more Western style, people in Malaysia are getting less “pantang” (taboo) about all these believes. Press and media highlight the overwhelming high figures of Chinese couples booked the date of 09/09/09 to tie their knots with their loves one. And this has break the traditions of the low numbers of Chinese getting marry during the ghost month in the past.

Instead of the beliefs that getting married in the ghost month is inauspicious, the Chinese community in Malaysia believes that this particular date 090909 which read as jiu, jiu, jiu a rare auspicious event. The number nine is read as jiu 九sound the same as 久“jiu” which means eternity. So many loving couples choose this special date which happens only once every 10 years to tie their knots.

Well, I really don’t know whether to say that the Malaysian Chinese community is getting modernized and less “pantang” about the old superstitious beliefs or it is that the 090909 which symbolized eternity simply sounds too good for those who hope for an everlasting love between them…


P/S: Since I am writing on the hungry ghost month, in my next blog I’ll share some fun facts and believes of the Malaysian about traveling & ghost. Stay tune!!

Restoran Loke Yun Ampang 安邦樂園海南雞飯

Once again we were tempted by the food introduced by Taste with Jason, hosted by Axian 阿賢 on Astro channel. We decided to try out the Hainanese chicken rice shop at Pekan Ampang. Loke Yun here we come!

The shop is located nearby the balai polis Ampang. Finding a car park is not easy at the area. When we finally got to the shop, we found that the queue were long. The staff had to take down the name and the number of people for the queue. After waited about half and hour, finally we got a small table to squeeze in the six of us.

The staff took our order and busied off with thousand other things. I took a good look at the shop. The renovation is quite simple, with big menu board displaying the price clearly. Of course, the banner of Axian is displayed. Another big printout displays the endorsement of another food TV show by Hong Kong Artist, Sik Kar Yin, naming it the best Hainanse Chicken Rice. And a big photo frame caught my attention. I walked nearer to the photos and take a good look at it. It has photos of many famous and celebrity who came to this shop, like Chui Ling (host), Kar Yin (HK artist), Datuk Ong Tee Keat (minister), etc.

About 5 - 10 minutes later, finally the tea we ordered is served. When I take a sip of the tea I find that the pu-er we order has a unique bitter-sweet (甘甜) which usually pu-er don’t have. I took a look into the teapot and found that they put some extra leaves inside the teapot. I don’t know what leaves was it. I guess it is probably is a type of spice called “tim kuk” 甜菊I forgot the English name of it.

While waiting, I started to try out their ginger sauce (姜茸) and the chili sauce. The aunty sat beside our table is the regular customer here recommends us to try the special blend of chili sauce here. Even Axian also recommend the chili sauce, I’m looking forward to taste it, because sometimes, for Malaysian like me, the sauce is equally important as the main dish, and I knew how a good sauce can differentiate a chicken rice from good to moderate or bad. First, I try it ginger sauce, but it is disappointing, as it is sourly, taste like vinegar ginger (酸姜). Then I try the chili sauce, it is not exceptionally tasty to me, but it is still consider as not bad. What I would say is that it is unlike the usual chili sauce (for chicken rice) we get outside.

Ok, ok. I know the 1st photo uploaded is a bit small. here's a better photo of the mouth watering "bak zam"chicken.

And we waited about 10 minutes or so, finally, they served the rice followed by the chicken, chicken parts (雞什) , soup, and the vegi. Hhhmm… all look nice and yummy. I take a spoon of the rice. Yummy, the rice is nicely cooked, smooth and not too soft, a bit salty and very fragrant. Now the chicken. We ordered the “pak zham chai yuan” chicken. The skin of the chicken look yellowish and shinning with the oil, it looks tempting. Take a bite of it, and found that the chicken is tender, juicy and sweet. The soy sauce and sesame seed oil blend that pour on the chicken give the chicken a taste of sesame aroma and the saltiness of the soy sauce brings out the natural sweetness of the chicken. Great! It is worth all the hassle of beating the traffic to Ampang, hunting for car park and the long queue and waiting. I then try to dip the chicken with the chili sauce. Unfortunately, I personally think that I like it without the chili sauce. Just the soy sauce blend pour on the chicken works the magic best.

Now, another highlight of the must try dishes of the shop, the chicken parts. I know many people would turn their head on animal spare parts. Well, actually, I ‘m also very skeptical to those food. But since it is very famous here, I might five it a try. For the first time in my life, I eat the chicken intestine. The white and transparent little thingy, I took a bite and surprisingly it is quite good. Munchy and springy feel. The “kai chan” 雞胗 and the “kai gone” 雞肝 also taste quite ok and it do not have any weird taste around. Well, that’s a good try though.

Overall, I would rate this chicken rice shop a “GOOD”. The setbacks are that it is too crowded and it is a bit too salty. When I take the dishes separately, the seasoning of the food appear to be ok, but when all the food tend to has salty taste, gradually, when taking the rice and the chicken and other dishes in, I feel that it is a bit too salty. The price is ok. It is priced higher than those normal chicken rice shops, but it is still consider ok la… Six person, 1 whole chai yuan chicken, 6 big rice, one small chicken parts mix, one small vegetable, plus a pot of tea amounting to RM 83++

Below I add in a summary of my tasting experience in Chinese version for those prefer to read in Chinese.
白嶄菜園雞- 雞皮看起來鮮黃﹐脆口。肉滑而有嚼勁。麻油與醬油調配的醬汁剛好帶出肉的鮮甜味。難得的是雞肉是熟透的﹐許多雞飯商為了要保持雞肉滑的口感﹐常常都有點還是生的。
雞飯 - 香﹐軟而不綿。帶着淡淡的咸味。
雞什- 雞肝﹐雞胗和雞腸。雞腸和雞胗非常爽脆。沒有任何的異味。總結: 值得一嘗。難得的海南雞飯享受。

Additional Info:
Restaurant name: Restoran Loke Yun Ampang / 樂園海南雞飯
Address: 158, Jalan Besar, Ampang, Selangor.
Tel: 03-4291 9884
Business hour: Business hour: 10.30am - 3pm & 5.30pm-8.30pm

Evolution: From 555 to The Plastic Card

I remembered those days when I was a young kid, my mum used to buy things from a sundry store nearby my house. They also made deliveries for big items like cooking oil, gas for stove, etc. The tauke (boss) would take his 555 book out and record the total purchases. Mum would only pay the total bill at the end of the month. During those days, using 555 as credit purchases are common. People use the 555 at the mamak, sundry shop, Chinese medicine hall et cetera.

As time passes, I don’t know whether is the trust between people has deteriorated or is the modern economy doesn’t allow this type of trading. The month end bill clearing from the 555 book is no longer in practice.

Now a new type of credit purchases take place – swipe the credit card. Yes, the easy application for credit card. Most urban folks have at least a piece of this credit card in hand. Unlike the 555, the little plastic card has wider usage.

Undeniable, the credit card gives many flexibility for the card holder in credit purchaser. Unlike the traditional 555 “hutang” (credit) method, the person much gain trust from the tauke to the credit facility. Bill must be clear each month or else the boss wouldn’t give more credit out.

In today competitive business world, getting a credit card is relatively easy. Once your card is approved, a person just need to pay the minimum amount per month and the credit continues to roll. Many youngest today falls into the pit of credit card, where the loan amount is too big, beyond their capacity to repay the loan. Rate of bankruptcy due to unpayable credit card loan is on the rise. Many people become the slave of the card, with income that barely enough to cover the minimum payment of the card(s) each month. And that’s the negative side of the new hutang method.