Pray

First and foremost, Selamat Hari Raya to all my friends. This year is rather different because the Nine Emperors Festival somehow coincides with the Raya. As predicted, there will be lots of rain throughout the whole festival and this year wasn't spared at all.

This morning, I took mum to the temple opposite Telekom to offer our annual prayer to the Kao Ong Eah. I thought that the roads will be heavily congested since it was Raya but somehow, the streets were cleared of cars. *scratching head* Shouldn't there be traffic jams?

Okay, we've finally reached the temple. Surprisingly, the crowd that turned up this year was less than the previous years. *scratching my head even harder* Where have all the people gone to??!!!

Never mind. Let's move on.

As usual, before we entered the temple, we bought 3 pairs of mi koo, a bottle of oil, a packet of rice and two packets of joss sticks.

We bought those items from these two ah peks. They have been operating their stall here for many years and it felt great to see them again.

This handsome ah pek getting the mi koos for us

Packets of rice to be sold to the devotees. The one on top was sold to my mum.

We had to get one of the ah peks to write my dad's name on this packet of rice so that the Kao Ong Eah will know that it was offered by us.

Think that traffic lights are only to show us green or red lights?
You're wrong! See, you can hang umbrella here as well.

Just before we entered the temple...
Oops..too bad I don't have any money with me. Sorry, uncle.

That's my mum. Feeling rather eager to know what she was doing, I drew myself nearer to get the answer.

Oh, she's asking for this young man's help to place the mi koos on the table. And also a plate of fruits that we brought from home as well.

Packets of mi koos. Oops...I couldn't figure out which one was ours.

Stacks of rice offered by the devotees.

Look at how serious this auntie was. Don't play play okay...

Once done with all the praying, we then proceeded to this lady who obtained our particulars (names, birthdays and marital status) and wrote them on small pieces of yellow papers.

After finished writing, the papers were passed to these men. They helped to stick the names onto the kooi jin (dolls). According to mum, these dolls represent each of us and they were supposed to keep us safe from any mishaps.

Tadah! These dolls represent all my family members! I need to get them to my mum ASAP!

Mission accomplished. The dolls had been passed to my mum.
Here, mum can be seen holding the dolls while muttering her prayers to God.

Due to the mass amount of joss sticks placed on the 'pots', this uncle has to remove them occasionally

Random shot

I spotted a Red Cross member taking a break and helping herself to yao char kueh.
Eh, save people also need energy okay?

Next...

Mum stumbled upon something...What was it?

Oh, nothing but a packet of coffee :S

This stall was empty.

Hey, guys! This girl looked a bit like Pauline, huh?

We walked and walked. Finally, we saw food. Real food at last.
But, we didn't know what to buy. With such a variety, we were spoilt for choice.

Okay. We've made our choice.

We then proceeded to the counter to pay for our food. We were told that the total was RM14.50. Hey, shouldn't RM3 + RM3 + RM4.50 + RM3.20 equate to RM13.70? Mum counted and she also agreed that it was RM13.70 . However, the guy insisted that we counted wrongly. How can both of us be wrong?

He then took out his calculator and counted one more time. This time, it showed RM13.70...
There!!! See, I told you!!!

I expected him to at least apologise to us for his miscalculation but he did not. Was it that difficult to admit his mistake and say sorry? Or was his mouth so full of gold that he can't open and say sorry? Shame on him.