Sibu Tales : Foochow Wet Noodles or Mun Mien

The exquisite Foochow Mun Mien or Wet Noodle is in fact quite elusive. There are certain features the chef must remember to bring out the aroma, taste , texture, colour and presentation of this noodle to an unforgettable state!!

My Uncle Lau Pang Sing and my grandmother Tiong Lian Tie were creative cooks. Besides preparing the very basic Foochow dishes using the big Chinese wrought iron kuali and wood stove, they were often adventurous enough to cook many memorable dishes to entertain the grandchildren who came to visit during the school holidays. Having as many children as a dozen or more was not easy. Hence noodles played an important of our holiday diet during those Nang Chong days - adequately to "fill the stomachs".


The secrets of the mun mien?  I would say there are a few. One is the addition of the aromatic Foochow red rice wine which my grandmother made herself. Besides another important ingredient was the pork crackle which she had plenty of because in those days, oil was more or less just made from pork fat. A third which must be mentioned is Lard which is a no no today for health reasons. But if you add a bit of pork crackle to the noodle, it will definitely make a lot of difference today.

Mun Mien from Chong and Law , Miri

These three photos are mun mien from three different outlets in Miri.  the best one, according to my taste is the first photo, and the mun mien was cooked by Chong and Law. The noodles are a bit "swollen", which makes the texture soft and tender. The sauce has a taste of wine which makes the diner rather happy. Although not all the necessary ingredients were put into the dish, the taste was just about right because some slices of liver were found in the noodles.

Close up of foochow mun mien, lots of sweet dark and thick soy sauce. Some pepper would be nice. No chillies

For four people:
Ingredients:
2-3  cups yellow or yiw mien (bought in the fresh market)
a cup of thinly sliced meat (chicken, pork,etc)
1/2 cup cleaned prawns
1/2 cup fresh fish slices like tapah or red fish,fish balls
2 cups green mustard (sawi)
1/2 cup liver (you can use chicken liver)
garlic (your own amount desired)
Some pork crackle, crushed into small bits
Some salt.

Sauce: 1 tablespoon red wine(or Xiao Xin wine) + 2 tsp corn starch, 2-3  cups warm water, mushroom powder or chicken stock  if you have, 1 tablespoon thick black and sweet soy sauce (to taste), some pepper

1. Cook noodles in boiling water with a bit of salt. Drain.
2. Slice pork loin into thin slices, against the grain. Slice the fish, liver and fish balls into thin slices.
3. Remove shell from the shrimps, but leave the tail. Remove the black vein.
4. Clean the mustard greens, discard the hard base, then slice leaves into smaller pieces.
5. Heat a little cooking oil in a non-stick wok.
6. Stir-fry garlic until fragrant and golden brown. Add the pork crackle.
7. Add the pork slices and stir-fry until almost cooked.
8. Add fish and prawns. . Stir well. Add the noodles and mix well.
9. Add greens . Mix well.
10. Add the sauce. Cover the kuali and let the noodles soak through. This is the stage where the chef has to be careful. It depends on how much noodles you are cooking. (So add water accordingly. If you wish to have more sauce, add more warm water.) It takes a few minutes. We call this the MUN stage when the noodles become thoroughly soaked in the gravy and improve in its  texture yet retaining its chewiness.(A good server will tell you that mun mien takes longer to cook than all the other fried noodles.)

Sibu Tales : Foochow Women's Frugal Outlook

Sustainable Consumption (Material Culture) has always been a part of my  Foochow upbringing.

Take for example my mother and grandmother's patching of our clothes.  There is a Chinese expression which goes something like, one patching will allow you to wear for more three years, and the second patching again another three years. So the third patching will give you further three years. And together you can wear your clothe for 9 more years!

Having said that, we Foochow kids were never embarrassed to wear patched clothes.

One of my sisters is a great seamstress and she can create beautiful embroidery and patch work on clothes which are a little torn or a little worn out. We love her designs.

Another Foochow friend Jocelyn Ling creates beautiful items from scraps of materials, or scrappies. Here is an example of her work - an ironing board patchwork cover. Her work gives me hope for the future generation.




We Foochows had a frugal life in the past. Even though today we see so much of the instant and throw away life style, we are happy to note that many people are beginning to be conscious of their environment and have started to practice 3 R's or reduce, reuse, and recycle. It is indeed very similar to our Foochow's Triple Patching philosophy.

Internationally there is even the Oslo Definition on Sustainable Consumption, "the use of services and related products which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations."

Sibu Tales : Xu Lai Primary School

Xu Lai Primary School was established in 1924 by Lau Kah Tii who contributed the land. Rev James Hoover contributed a few hundred dollars towards the building of church and school. By 1924, there were many children born to the first few batches of Foochow pioneers who arrived in 1903.

The original  wooden school was built on two acres of land donated by Lau Kah Tii.

By 1927, the student population almost doubled  which also coincided with the prosperity brought by rubber boom in Sarawak. The school developed well under the headship of Tang Yu Dong.  However when Sarawak saw economic depression in 1929, the school suffered some setbacks.  However the school maintained its prominence as an education centre for children.

When the Japanese came, English could not be taught as a subject. The school was closed for about 3 years.

Looking back an ex teacher there said that the school fared well even through the Depression and it was the community spirit that kept the staff and the school going.

After the war, the school continued to developed with the construction of a new concrete block.  The block was dedicated to the memory of Mr and Mrs. Lau Kah Tii.

Later the school was moved to Sibu because of political upheaval in the country side.

The entire school building was abandoned in the 1970's. Today it is a splendid town school in its new state.

Sibu Tales : Making your own Geng Chai

Mustard greens or yiu chai grew well in the swampy and soft soils of Sibu with the help of a little bit of manure. The Foochows particularly like to use urine which they collected from every male relative. The urinal would be placed in the toilet and the urine collected and diluted for use in the garden.  Onions and yiu chai would be very green.

One of the reasons why a lot of yiu chai was grown in the 50's and 60's was because the Foochows also enjoyed eating salted vegetables especially as a side dish to go with porridge.

It is quite easy to make our own kiam chye or geng chai (salted vegetables)

Ingredients
2 kg yiu chai or gua chai rinsed and drained.
150 g coarse salt
Brining solution
4 l of water
5 Tbsp salt
40 g ginger, sliced.
1/2tsp tumeric powder
1 Tbsp rice flour mixed with 4 Tbsp water

You would need one earthern jar or glass jar, a good cover and some strings. a piece of cloth.

1. Rub salt in between the leaves and stem and then aside for about 6 hours or overnight to draw out the moisture and to wilt the vegetables.
2. Bring water to boil with all other brining ingredients. Leave to cool.
3. Squeeze moisture from the vegetables and then pack them into the jar.
4. Pour the cool brining solution into the jar to keep the vegetables covered.
5. Cover the top with a piece of plastic, tie it up with a string, then cover with the lid and leave in a cool place for about a week.
6. Check on the vegetables from time to time and skim off the whitish layer that appears on the surface.
7. After a week, remove the vegetables without squeezing out any liquid, discarding the brining solution .
8. The salted vegetables or geng chai can be stored in a tupperware container and refrigerated up to 2 months. It can be stir fried even after a week.


My late maternal grandmother loved to make salted vegetables this way. From time to time, the family also made salted eggs.

We must never lose our traditional way of preparing food.

Foochow families practised subsistence  farming and were very frugal in their outlook and nothing was really wasted.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Daun sabong

Daun Sabong @ Daun Dodah @ Daun Melinjo

This leafy edible plant is called daun Sabong (Iban), daun Dodah (Bidayuh) or daun Melinjo with scientific name Gnetum gnemon*. This wild plant can normally be found at a secondary jungle in Sabah and Sarawak.

The leafy young leaves brownish green  in color can is a nice vegetable dish especially cook stir-fried with shrimp paste, Malay style.

Daun Sabong and pumpkin soup

However most Iban housewives would cook it with pumpkin in a soup.


The leaf is slightly slimy in texture when cooked, with subtle and unique flavor.

Daun Sabong sold in a tied bundle like this in a Miri Tamu

According to an elder, daun Sabong is a good health food to help reduce uric acid. Diabetics can also improve their health if they keep eating this  dish every day.

Sarawak Food : Tua Pek Kong Fish

Scomberoides commersonnianus, the Queenfish or Talang, is called Tua Pek Kong hu in Hokkien and is not eaten by the Chinese as they believe that the five spots on its sides are the fingerprints of the deity Tua Pek Kong, the God of Prosperity. 

There is another legend. A ship carrying many Chinese passengers was about to sink. But Tua Pek Kong heard their prayers. so he sent a big fish to stop water from rushing into the ship. The fish stopped the seepage and as a result there are five black spots on his body. Today the five black spots are left on the body of all the descendants of the fish. Therefore to thank Tua Pek Kong and this fish, many Chinese do not eat this fish.

Scientific Name: Scomberoides commersonnianus  Lacepède, 1801
English Name: Talang Queenfish, Leatherskin
Mandarin Name: 舢舨跳 (Shānbǎn tiào), 三保公 (Sānbǎo gōng)
Local Malay Name: Ikan Talang Bongkok, Talang Lima Jari
Local Hokkien: Sam Pan Thiao, Sam Poh Gong, Tua Peh Gong
Main Diagnostic Features: 5 to 8 round blotches on sides and upper jaw reaching well beyond eye.
Size: Maximum total length 120 cm, commonly 75 cm.

West Malaysian Malays, the ARabs and the Indians love this fish. It can be cooked in so many different ways.

Biggest Fish I ever Photographed in Miri

This is just for my own record . fish caught by my cousin's son in the sea. This guy in the photograph is the other son who owns the coffee shop Fisherman's Village in Luak Bay.

the fish was later cut up into several portions for restaurant owners who wished to buy a share.

May God bless my cousin and her family with good health, peace and joy.

Auspicious Chinese Food for CNY

Miri is a rather cosmopolitan city. For years the population dwindles during Chinese New Year as many people return home for the new year celebration to be with their grandparents in other parts of Sarawak.

Sometimes if people do not have many relatives or friends in Miri, it can be quite a lonely time.

Students who are stranded in Miri and cannot go back home also feel the solitude. Chinese New Year is not a time for many families to invite friends to stay. It is a family time and many people would not like to impose, to say the least.

Well, it is good to have a look at what the Chinese look forward to their Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner.

One way of serving leeks (in Hebei)

They must have, if they can afford, (Normally the mother would save all her money to at least present the dishes for the New Year), these dishes : Loh Han Chai, a vegetarian dish, Fatt Chai (sounds like prosperity). Kou Rou (braised pork), boiled whole chicken(with head and feet) to signify wholeness of family, Fish (surplus). leek (calculating money or suan). waxed meat (roundness resembling coins),

new dumplings (resembling gold ingots)

The mandarin oranges means fortune and good luck.

sunflower seeds are favourite seeds to be served as they symbolize fertiloity and having many children.

A must have is the nien gou (more prosperous year)

Noodles are served on the first day of CNY to symbolize long life.

and may be some mixed vegetables with seafood.

Sibu Tales : Night soil man.

Public piped water was available in Sibu only after 1958 and after a cholera outbreak which took many lives.

It was an unusual drought period. Our tank which stored rain water was completely empty and I remember having to wash our clothes in the Lembangan River with my mother and other aunts. We had to walk home with our pails of washed clothes. so many other women in Sibu were doing the same. We were grateful that the Rajang River was still providing us with water. for my mother, water was always plentiful when we lived in Pulau Kerto and we never depended on rain water.

That year, the people were happy that the government decided to install  standpipes in many places. When the standpipe was installed at the junction of our Kong Ping Road and Kampong Nyabor Road, we were delighted. I pushed my bike to help carry pails of water home. Jerry cans were not available yet. No one used plastic containers in those days.

I took this photo of a night soil man when I visited Putien not long ago. He inspired me to write my article on night soil men of Sibu.

In 1962, piped water came to our house in Kong Ping Road and we installed our first flush toilet!

So how was waste matter managed in Sibu before?

We had a night soil man who came at about 5 a.m. We could hear him but before we heard him, we could smell that he was near.

Our outhouse was at the corner of our garden, with pineapple plants surrounding the toilet.

The night soil was taken to the Pulau Babi wharf and loaded onto a boat bound for Pulau Keladi where the farmers would use it for their farms.

Wallace of Sarawak

Wallace arrived in Sarawak at the invitation of Rajah Sir James Brooke in 1854 and spent the 15 months exploring and collecting enormous specimens of flora and fauna.

The specimens included 2,000 beetle species, 1,500 moth species and 1,500 other insect orders along the Sarawak River valley from Santubong to Bau as well as the peat swamps of Simunjan.

The collections, which he sold to private collectors and institutions in the United Kingdom to finance his travels in the region, are now kept at the Natural History Museum in London and Tring.

From January to February 1955, Wallace also wrote his first major paper on evolution, which became known as “The Sarawak Law” in Santubong, followed by another major publication on the Orangutan in Simunjan the following year.

Recognising the danger that such specimens might be in great demand as collectors’ items, the Rajah Brooke Birdwing butterfly, for which Wallace was more widely known, had been declared a protected species under the Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance.

Sibu Tales : Popiah skin

Every year when the Chinese New Year is near I would think of the Hokkien man sitting at the corner of Tai Lung at High Street, quietly making popiah skins. In those days in the 60's there were fewer people in Sibu , so there was not much of a queue.

Apek is not a derogative term for in Hokkien Apek means an uncle who is older than your father and it is a very honorable way of calling a good man. Somehow in Malaysia the terms has become a little loose to mean a shabby looking Chinese man, an uneducated man with poor manners, a poor looking man,etc. Can we restore a word to its original high standing?

home made style popiah skin

The Hokkien Apek would stack up the skins in the tray in tens or twenties. To me, his popiah skins, were elegant, thin, and perfect!! No one had inherited his skills and after his passing, that special corner of Tai Lung forever lost the Popiah Skin Apek.

The Chinese festive season would never be the same again.

It is strange how one person can miss that social scenario. And it is strange how I can never bring myself to make popiah with supermarket popiah skin.

We make big and fat popiah this way. Hokkien style. The Fujian Legacy.

I have not tried to make the popiah skins myself although I obtained a recipe recently.

May be you could try to make some.

The dough starts out as a thick batter. The ingredients for the batter are

1 kg flour
4-1/2 cups water
1 Tsp salt
2 Tbsp tapioca flour

You mix all the ingredients together until they make a lumpy batter. You use a non stick frying pan.

The Apek had a special flat pan, like that of a canai pan and he would sit in front of his stove on a stool which was the same height as his stove.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Maram Palm Hearts

One of the most useful palms in Sarawak is the Maram palm. From the maram we get the meram fruit which is sour and very useful for making umai. 

The maram palms also give food foragers palm hearts which  are tender and sweet tasting. The preparation of the palm hearts however can be messy and difficult because a lot of strength is needed to cut off the outer layers of the palm before one can reach the hearts.

These are four shoots from maram palms. The shoots have to boiled first to get rid of its bitterness. The Ibans love the bitter taste in their food. These four shoots cost 3 ringgit from the native tamu




The palm hearts can be sliced thinly and stir fried with onions, garlic and a bit of chilli with belacan.

Radio Sarawak Radio Iban Announcer :: Gerunsin Lembat

The Iban Radio Announcer and the then Chief Minister of Sarawak. Datuk Kalong Ningkan

Sarawakian Local Delights : Garlic Chives

When I was a child I did not know that garlic chives of   韭菜; pinyin: jiǔcài,  also known as Chinese chives, Chinese leek, ku chai, jiu cai bore flowers.

The flowers are beautiful and can easily bloom when the soils are fertile . It can grow from seeds too.

As children we ate a lot of this vegetable as it was then a very cheap commodity and whole families could enjoy the dish for just a few cents. Garlic chives go well with eggs. At times they are even cooked as soups with eggs. Once in a while aunties make dumplings or jiaozi with fillings made from chives combined with eggs, shrimps and pork. It was a so good to eat jiaozi with loved ones.

The Foochows have a traditional oyster cake which is made very tantalizing by the addition of chopped garlic chives.

Today foodies can google to find recipes and the popularity of garlic chives have become global. Good cooks make jiucai bing or chives pancakes, and it can be added to a variety of noodle dishes. One can even make kimchi chives.

Sibu Tales : Hern Chai and Dried Noodles

The dried noodles of the Foochows, locally made by many cottage industries in SArawak, are called chien mien gang. They are the staple in many homes, including indigenous longhouses and government boarding schools. People who go camping often also find it very easy to bring some along.

To some, chien mien gang boiled, and tossed with a big of soy sauce and some lard is the best breakfast in the world, like pasta in Italy or the USA.

Interestingly the Foochows make soup out of amaranth or hern chai and throw in a bundle of the dried noodles. The resulting dish is so tasty and refreshing. This can be eaten at lunch or dinner, or even a late night snack.

The amaranth is another wondrous gift of nature. It is so easily grown in the backyard that you don't even have a prepare a loam soil bed for it. Some loose soils and some seeds, even in a pot, will give forth a few good plants of amaranth. The amaranth can grow to a height of 5 feet even. But the best amaranth must be harvested after a month of 40 days. Many people even say that they don't even need any fertilizers. Newly turned soil is all the vegetables need.

Today many families still love the dish whenever they get together.

To me eating this dish with my family members would remind us of the hard struggles that we had when we were young. It also reminds us of how creative our beloved mum is...and how she would devise all sorts of dishes to make us enjoy simple fare.

God's simple gifts are true gems.

Sibu Tales : Foochow " Wo gui"

My mother was a busy mother, having to cook after children who were born two or three years apart. Besides she had very very difficult pregnancies. As a result of her poor health also for many years, my grandfather who was very understanding did not let her look after our great grandmother, a duty she would love to commit to.

During the first few years of her marriage, my mother did look after our great grandmother. During that period, she made many Foochow kuihs for her grandmother in law, who was a small eater but very interested in having small kuihs every now and than. One of her favourites was Wo Kui or Steamed Taro Cake. She was considered an "older bride" because she was then 24 years old, having avoided getting married during the Japanese Occupation. She lived through the war dressed as a boy whenever possible.

Whenever my mother could get hold of some Bilong Wo (Pinang Taro), she would dice the taro (1 1/2 bowls) and have it steamed. While the taro was being steamed, she would chop some shallots and soak 1/2 bowl of dried shrimps (the more the better). She will then fry the shallots and dried shrimps and then add the steamed mashed taro. Some water would be added. Add one bowl of rice flour and 2 bowls of water. Finally add some white pepper. (All these are rather approximate).

the soft dough would be then steamed in a tray for about 45 mins.

To this day my mother's wo kui is still the best. She would tell us never to be short of dried prawns and ikan bilis in the cupboard.

1/2 bowl of pinang taro
1 bowl rice flour
2 TB wheat flour
2 bowls water
1/2bowl dried shrimps
5 shallots, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
some white pepper
some pork crackles crushed
some chillies (pounded roughly)
some cooking oil to be added to the batter

Toppings
deep fried shallots
spring onions, sliced finely
red chillies, sliced finely
dried shrimps, chopped finely and fried till crispy


Steam the taro while getting all the ingredients together. The batter is usually fairly thick and pasty when mixed with the mashed taro.

Steaming usually takes 45 minutes (the whole kitchen is so fragrant that you think a festival is going on!!)

This is how I feel whenever my mother makes wo gui. Eating kuih means celebrating a festival. Legacies must be passed on.

Sarawakian Local Delights : Nyakak

The nyakak (wild durian as the locals call it) is not pungent like the ordinary durian. Today it garners a higher price because it is getting very rare, having to come from the hilly regions of Sarawak. Farmed nyakak may not taste as good as the original wild ones.

The older trees have become rare as the deforestation proceeds without mercy in Sarawak.

An old uncle used to say, "The company bull dozer cannot tell the difference between a durian tree and a nibong tree. All trees must come down...."

Hawkers who sell the nyskak bemoan the fact that there are very few trees left hence the high price.

The flesh of the nyakak is firmer and it is not as messy to eat. Many consider it as less heaty. The orange colour ranges from pale orange to vivid orange. The fruit is smaller in size than other durians but the skin is very thin. There are more spikes per fruit than other durians. It is lighter to in weight. It also has a "beard" which is special characteristic of this fruit

Huang Xiao Feng wrote, "Durian ukak/nyakak with whiskers at the base of its peduncle."

The nyakak can be deep fried, coated in a batter.

Sibu Tales : Kacang Kuda at the Lido and Rex

Going to the cinema in the olden days was not posh like today. We did not have pop corn, or other snacks. We did not get a pizza before we entered the cinema hall.

Just outside the Lido and Rex cinemas were men who sold kacang kuda in paper cones, and sotong bakar with lots of chili sauce. These snacks were to die for. And not every one had the extra pocket money to buy them.

Each of the cones cost only 10 cents and yet many of us would not pay for them because if we saved enough money we could spend 50 cents to buy another cinema ticket so that three of us could go to see another movie,sharing a seat in the front row, get a neck ache but that was all worth it. Three small kids could enter the cinema hall with one ticket because the door man was kind enough to let us through.

Once the lights dimmed and the movie started, we could upgrade ourselves to the better seats. The door man would close one eye and pretended not to see. But because the hall was so dark, he could not see any way.

However once in a while, the manager or assistant manager would come with a torch light to check tickets. We had to be alert for situations like that. We were all ready to move towards the cheap seats to save our face.

Those who sneaked in without a ticket would be shooed out.

Sarawak : Daun Kadok

A very important Nonya style Cooking Ingredient is Daun Kadok which grows very well in a backyard or even around the house.

This leaf is also known as wild pepper leaves. It is from the Piper stylosum or the Piper sarmentosum plants.

In Singapore it is shredded thinly and added to Singapore laksa. It is added to  steamed otak otak Penang Style. In Thai restaurants all over Malaysia and Thailand it is part of a nice salad served before the main meal. It must not be mistaken for its cousin, the piper betel leaft plant.
In ancient days, it was made into a drink to cure malaria. The roots could be chewed to cure tooth aches. Many in the past boiled the roots to act on the kidneys, relieving constipation. It is also effective in treating coughs, flu, rheumatism, pleurisy and lumbago.

Source: Malaysian Timber Council, Various Issues

Sarawakian Local Delights : Buah Ma

Buah Ma or Buah Pulasan.

The fruit that can be "opened" by twisting the skin looks like rambutans, a more common fruit in Sarawak.

The pulasan (Nephelium mutabile Blume) is often confused with the rambutan. The Ibans call this fruit Buah Ma (with a k at the end). It is called pulasan in English, Spanish and Malay . In Indonesia it is called kapulasan. It is not known outside South East Asia.

Good variety of pulasan is very favoured and garners a higher price than the rambutan.

Unlike the rambutan, the pulasan tree is not tall. After a few years of growth, it starts bearing fruit when it is about 10 feet tall. It is quite easily grown around the house.

The name pulasan comes from the Malay word pulas meaning twist.

The skin gives a reddish dye.

Nang Chong Stories : Child Bride from China

My maternal grandparents were still very conservative when they first came to Sibu as Pioneering Foochows in the first decade of the 20th century. My maternal grandmother herself was a child bride, bought for 5 silver dollars as she was purportedly 5 years old. In fact she was only 4 years and her biological father (Tiong) had wanted to earn an extra one silver dollar by upping her age by one year. Girls were being sold for a silver dollar for each year of their life.

Girls were regarded fairly worthless in the male dominant Fujian society in those days. According to my maternal grandmother, many baby girls were secretly killed (female infanticide) at birth by several methods - throwing into the river/well to drown, smother the new born in the fire place with the ashes, put the new born between the siblings and soon squashed to death in the night, or left in the hills to die or to be picked by someone. However the most humane way in those days was the raise the child for a few years and then sold as child bride, slave or to the brothels.

Those cruel acts resulted in many Christian orphanages for girls at the turn of the 19th century when the many women Christian missionaries came to China. Mrs. Muriel Pilley who served in China also had a mission to save girls from such tragic ends. She started the now famous Methodist Children's Home in Sibu in 1951.

My mother's eldest sister in law came to Sarawak with her family to settle down near Sarikei, at a place called Paloh. She might have been born in China but at a young age, her parents "sold" her to my maternal grandfather to help out with the family at first. She did go to school with the other children.

Years later during the Japanese occupation, when she was already married to my uncle, her biological brother did bring some sweet potatoes and rice to help out the family. By that time my maternal grandfather had passed away and my maternal grandmother was stranded in China. My eldest uncle and my aunt were the heads of the household.

During the Japanese Occupation, which was very trying and difficult, this child bride, all grown up, was a mother of three, was extremely capable in raising domesticated animals, carrying water from the river and planting padi besides looking after the 3 younger siblings of my uncle. My mother being the oldest unmarried sibling helped her in every way possible including baby sitting and padi planting.

My mother alone was able to harvest a lot of padi in the three years she cultivated the padi field behind the big house in Nang Chong.

My eldest aunt lived a long life and was able to see her children, especially her eldest daughter prosper. Her oldest daughter in law passed away in 2017.