We always knew that we were going to be celebrating with Leo’s family, but what we didn’t realise is just how much we would be participating at various family members homes for meals and also how much a part of their family we would be made to feel. The generosity and kindness is quite humbling and it feels a privilege to be here.
So this morning we were having late breakfast/brunch at a family friend. This lady was Leo’s Mums best friend and their children are all a similar age. She was Leo’s surrogate Mum. Again the house was packed to overflowing and as on previous days a large covered area outside the kitchen door, which acted as an outdoor kitchen complete with sink was kitted out with tables and chairs and all the food for the many guests.
It seems to be very much the culture here to remove your shoes on entering the home. So by both front and back doors there will be an array of different styles, colours, sizes and shapes of shoe. The sensible ones wear flip flops!
One of the traditions of Chinese New Year is for money in an envelope to be given to any single people. Leo has been doing quite well! But today, all of our group of singles were included and our hostess and her daughter gave them all envelopes! They don’t necessarily contain much money, but again it left us all feeling very included.
Our hostess’s son was one of these larger than life characters and full of fun. His sister told us that although all this money was being handed out the ladies would try and win it all and so followed some rounds of blackjack. It’s all a bit beyond me but suffice to say there were winners and losers.
There were also more lion dancers, so more heart stopping moments (still trying to download video, so keep looking!!) And like yesterday’s group they were all packed onto the back of the truck with the kit.
By this time it is early afternoon so time for a bit of culture! Back onto the party bus for a trip to the Agnes Keith house.
Leo has been magnificent in doing all the driving, but for those of us who have usually sat in the back, we have had moments on bumpy roads when we have left our seats and nearly hit the roof! Some of the seat belts work, some don’t! There don’t appear to be any seat belt laws here. But it has got us to where we need to be. And so we set off.
Agnes Keith was an American author who married a forester and came to live in Borneo a few years before the outbreak of WW2. She, her husband and son were interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp but managed to survive. She had already had one book printed prior to this and has other books, 8 in total I think, with some of them being about her time on Borneo and in the prison camp. Apparently whilst there she used to write notes on any scrap of paper she could and then hide them in tins, moving them regularly so that they would not be found. On the day of the liberation of the camp she and her son got the tins and took them with them. We need to read some of these books when we get home!
The Agnes Keith House is situated on the top of a hill overlooking Sandakan, with views over the bay.
Next to this is the English Tea House so we went there for some refreshment. Some people were still able to eat a plate of food!! It was very Colonial, but very pleasant sitting on the veranda with our various refreshments.
Next up was a trip to the Puu Jih Shih Buddhist temple. All decorated out for Chinese New Year with its Chinese lanterns, it as a stunning sight!
The inside of the temple was typically ornate. I’m never really sure what I think about it all and yet the little I have learnt about the Buddhist religion is good and positive, despite the bling!
The view from the temple was similar to that from the Agnes Keith House.
We then went back to the holiday home for a rest, freshen up and to prepare for the next feast! This was at a Sim Sim. Leo drove us down to a waterside area where you would never have gone unless you knew there was a good restaurant. I will try and paint a picture. We parked up the party bus on the side of the road. Little street lighting and the smell of a fish market. We walked along the side of the street where there were some more interesting and even less pleasant smells. Turn left onto a board walk that is taking you over the shore line. It’s not wide, maybe a yard of walking space and on either side of that little stalls and stall holders selling fresh fruit and vegetables. The boardwalk then starts to go through houses that are built on stilts, with loads of rubbish floating in the water. We walk on, turn right with some kind of wooden shack restaurant on our left. Not ours! The boardwalk is narrow and you have to be careful that you don’t knock your head on air con units sticking out from the side of the houses. It is dim, but not dark, although I can’t remember seeing where the light was coming from. People’s doors are on the boardwalk and some have incense burning outside the door. And then we arrive at a large wooden building, with a roof but open sided. It was busy and there were probably at least a dozen tables seating about 8 each. Every table had a burner in the centre, attached to a large gas canister! The burners had saucepans on top heating a variety of soup/stock that people were cooking their own food in. Under the saucepan, but on the grid above the burner was a large piece of silver foil that you melted butter on. When this was done and the broth boiling you went to the big tables at the front of the restaurant and chose what you wanted to cook! Fish of all sorts, shell fish, squid, crab sticks, prawns, little flat fish, then meats, vegetables, pre cooked rice and noodles, just about anything you wanted really! It was a fun thing to do, and again we were joined by some of Leo’s family who plied us with food.
And so ended another interesting evening. So much that happens here just would not be allowed at home, and yet people appear happy and healthy.
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