I woke up at 5.30am on Sunday morning. Why on earth did I pry my eye open on such un-godly hours in the morning? We have to move Cobby’s grandparent’s ashes. You see, His grandpa’s ashes were in Mandai crematorium, his grandma’s at Aljunied crematorium, and the rest of the ancestor’s were at San Qing Kong Temple at Bedok. So the whole idea was to move both of their urns to San Qing Kong Temple so that they can rest inpeace with the rest of the family.
Seeing that everybody have to get up so early in the morning, I offered to make some sandwiches for everybody. Kay-poh right? Anyway got up and made some ham and cheese sandwich sandwiches, I asked Cobby to help me fry up some bacon while I prepare the ham and cheese. But he must be still half asleep cuz he burnt my bacons! Oh no! So in the end, I have fewer sandwiches to bring. Hmph! Next time don’t ask him to do liao. Angry…
So we were out of the house by 6am, picked up his mom and sis that their place by 6.30am and reached his aunt’s place at 6.50am. The van they rented picked us all up by 7am and drove us to Mandai. You know hor, from our home to mandai only need 15-20mins leh… So if we didn’t have to drive his mom, we can actually sleep for another 2 hours as they say have to reach Mandai before 8am. Oh well, Cobby is a filial son. :)
So we were there at about 7.40am but get this, the rites only start at 9.00AM! FAINT LOR!!! They were so scared that the traffic would delay people’s timing that they made us come so early! So we waited. Two hours can crawl by so slowly when you have no where to sit! We stood, we squatted, we leaned, we gossiped, I even visited my late grandparents at the next block, came back waited some more. Zzzz...
Finally at was 9am! The Taoist priest was so young! Maybe around mid 30s? Interesting choice of career. If you meet him on the streets, you would never have guessed his occupation. So he did his chanting, praying, etc. After he finished his chanting, he would yell “Huat ah!” the everybody have to shout together. “Huat ah!” This would bless everybody who yelled with good fortune. So funny right? Haha…
Then the uncle would have to Seng Puay – which is to get the approval to move the ashes from the grandpa by asking him and then throwing two coins. If both faces landed on different sides it’s a YES, if both sides same = NO. I couldn’t see, but I guess it’s a yes cause the priest ask us to all have to turn around while the other guy knock out the cover to get to the urn.
When the priest saw the urn he frowned because it was wrapped in a red cloth. The urn was wrapped in a red cloth when transported to Mandai, but the cloth was supposed to be removed from the urn before it was entombed. Very bad feng shui! The previous priest must be sleeping on the job! So he wrapped it up in a new red cloth, uncle have to toss some coins into the empty compartment and we moved off to get grandma.
The urn was carried my Cobby’s uncle and his family in another van, so we happily hopped onto our van and feast on sandwiches, fruits and huat kuay. Everybody fought to eat the top of the huat kuey because it symbolizes hitting the 1st prize.
头 (head - top of the kuey) = 头奖 (1st prize – toto, 4D, etc.)
Haha, Cobby's mom and aunties they are such a funny bunch. So we headed to Mount Vernon crematorium and repeat everything, this time minus the waiting but have to do everything in the searing hot sun! Phew… so glad to get back into the air-conditioned van!
On the way to San Qing Kong Temple Cobby & I snoozed all the way while the aunties chatted away. Tired sia… Wah piang. The temple’s ventilation was so bad! The room where they place the urns was enclosed! So you can imagine how smoky the place was as hundreds of people burn incense inside the room loh! All our eyes were red and watery, our throats scratchy and our nose were running. People would easily have thought that we were an emotional bunch, but actually we were just being smoked alive.
As the priest did his thing again, I wished that I was Adam Sandler in the movie Click. So that I can fast forward the whole process and get out of there!!!! 救命啊!!! After we burnt some offerings outside we’re done! I felt like screaming! I felt so crappy! I’m tired, starving, sweaty, covered in soot and ashes and I smell like incense! ARGH!
I wished that we can go straight home but we still have to go lunch together, so I was feeling even more crappy. But no complains as we saw the food as I was so hungry! We quickly went home after lunch and I took a cold shower to cool down. Then we lazed at home for the rest of the day, watch some tv and take short naps. Shiok~
I think it’s the sun and all the heat because we were so tired that we went to bed at 10.30PM! It’s great because we have a really good rest and this morning we felt super energized and refreshed!
Hope I don’t have to smell anymore incense in the next few months because I seriously had enough, thank you very much.
*Just in case you're wondering: I didn't take any photos cause I feel that it was inappropriate, besides, I don't wanna accidentally capture "things" in my pictures! O_O"
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