This is a photo of my mum, watching the sunset at Beach Front Cafe. It is next to Park Royal Hotel along Batu Ferringhi beach in Penang, Malaysia.
This post is dedicated to my mum, whose birthday is round the bend.
One of the things I love most about mum is her wisdom, which comes in the form of Hokkien words and sayings:
1. Sin jamban ho pang sai
Translation: New toilet good to poo
Wisdom: Don’t be attracted by new things, they are just like shiny new toilets, everyone wants to poo in them.
Context: Fickle-minded Penangites who flock to new shopping malls that spring up and abandon old ones to suffer economically.
2. Mang khek bak seow
Translation: Don’t crowd me with your hot flesh
Wisdom: Go back to your own bed
Context: When all three sisters hog her bed and refuse to leave until we’ve rolled around in laughter and warmed her bed.
3. Tho yam
Translation: We have no idea what it means, but it is an adjective used to describe the worst of the worst kind of children so naughty they make her overflow in motherly anger.
Thumbs up to mum! What would we do without her. Happy Birthday and love you lots. I’d be sure to pass down these timeless wisdoms.
From your daughter,
xoxo
Wan Phing Lim 