Chinoserie tales

Art thou mGf of Chinese blood ancestry a true-blue Chinoserie?
Today's post on bluesy Mondae is to lighten up thy day in recompense for Yesterday's Inter:Lude which is not the norm serving "socio-politico" stuffings, "Vely heavy" I know.

Most of my Malaysian friends with Chinese ancestral blood are what Anak Merdeka frankly admits: Bananapeople, yellow on the Outside, totally white on the Inside.Which means to say, we can't speak the Chinese language, termed formally as Mandarin, and we are 70-80% at home with using our colonial master's lingo, English. The other 20% is for Chinese dialects like Kantonis, Hakka or Hokkien, etc.

But I have a few friends who are as strong in Mandarin as in English -- I call them a ripe Banana -- Yellow on the Outside, and Yellowish on the Inside. One is mGf Yan nigh Catsville. Another is a just returnee from mainland China I had introduced to my ER here as Mr Coww. Desi is in strange land -- neither here nor dare:( If you don't understand what I mean, it's not important enough for me to explain me here. Catch me through the Seremban Maze for an insight...

After seven months of rendering "international service" at Kunming, capital city of 4million tru-blue Chinoserie, in Yunnan Province,China, Mr Coww came back last Friday for recuperation and re-energising on typical Malaysian foods -- you people like to call it cute-sins? -- like nazi lemak, nai fun and sea food. Why sea food? Because Kunming is far from the seas, hence ordinary fish which we consider "almost discards" would cost RM20 per kg. But other types of cuisine cost about one-quarter of local rates -- so the Chinoserie folks could make do comfortably with 500rmb a month.

He is considered an "expatriate" -- receiving an enviable allowance to get by with more than enough to spare many times over. I can't disclose the pay as the IRB will get to Desi for "hiding" an "unpatriot" income -- the outcome can be disastrous for both of us -- YOU READERS CAN BE CONSIDERED A-ccomplices! An acomplishment eh?

If you wanna hear more folksy tales about Mr Coww's excursions, come down to Furong and have a tit-a-tete with Desi savouring Siew Pau and teh-tarik, with coffee for Mr Coww and get flee entertainment for a few hours. Please bring platinum card along -- I told one Mave SM that for an appointment with "seeFei" and he went MIA!:(


A typical outing to XinWen Road (News Road, my unofficial translation-lah!) is to a 4-storey Book City, where one company would display millions of titles on all floors. But the setback is 90% are in Chinese; only 10% are bi-lingual (Engllish & Chinese) or monolingual (English) books and other publications. One set of an abridged classic like Wuthering Heights plus movie (VCD and DVD options) only costs 20 yuan (rmb). But please don't complain if you only see the films in B&W! Collectibles:) Jane Eyre, Pride and Perjudice and all the "juices" of English classics are at thy calling, at Butler's service level-price!

"Gone with the Wind" comes in in 4 dics plus the Book costs only 20 yuan! When I join Mr Coww in his next trip back, I would have to bring two scouts haversacks which I can steal have in Da Store-room.