Cheng Ming

It's that time of the year again. But this year it is far worse. Usually, it will take us 1 hour to reach Nirvana Memorial Park but this time, it took us 2 and half hours. Worst jam I have ever seen. So many people and worse still, the road was only one-lane. If any car broke down, we will all get stuck there for longer hours. Because of the long ride, naturally, the first thing we did once we got out there was to find a toilet.
Goodness sake, the toilet was packed all the way up to the door! I had to wait for 30 minutes just to get in and pee. I can't imagine how those Ah Ma can tahan for so long. There were people everywhere; my dad said it was worse than Pasar Pagi.

The weather wasn't any good either. It was raining heavily when we were in the car but as we reached there, it stopped and the sun came shining on us, which was not a bad thing. But it got unbearably hot and humid. It was so freaking hot and I regretted for not reapplying my sun block. Yea, this time I DID put on sun block but I guess because of the long ride, it was washed off by all the sweats and oil. So, yea, I am sunburned again. As usual, the praying part was fast as there wasn't much cleaning to do. The ride back home was better, although it still took us 1 and 1/2 hours to reach home.

Cheng Ming isn't that memorable anymore. When I was younger, I remember I used to have fun playing 'gardening' with my cousins and siblings. We would pluck the weeds nearby the grave and it was such a satisfaction after we finished, when we see the clean, and visible grave. Mind you, those days, it was so hard to locate a grave as it was covered by overgrown weeds and even trees. It would need the expertise of uncles' memories, not to mention huge and thick glasses. After all the cleaning and scrubbing, we would eagerly wait for the joss stick to finish off. While our parents prayed, we would be eyeing on the delicious roasted pork and fried chicken. It was such a happy scene, parents chatted happily while kids were fighting for their favourite part of the chicken.

Those were the days.