Seek and ye shall find a red cheongsam
Hahaha…..I was seeking for a cheongsam all this while. I’ve always wanted to have one handy because there was always these so-called cultural events and I find that I have nothing cultural nor traditional in my closet spare the baju kurung I used to wear to school. I can shamefully say that the baju kurung has been converted into a sleepdress sorta thing since it’s so comfy without the sarong beneath.
When these events come by, I always had to borrow from mom or sis. We claim to be of the same size but well only for some clothes. Sis has a habit of buying mini-sized clothes and since I’m a wee bit bigger and taller than her, I’ve to SQUEEZE into her clothes. And mom, well, her clothes are of perfect fit for her, but a little loose for me. I can imagine 40 years later, I’d probably look and behave exactly like her.
And most of the time, I’d probably get to borrow a baju kurung or kebaya or some other Malay costume. I dread wearing them, really, because I already look so Malay without the clothes. The least I could do is just stay away from them. I wear one to school because twas always so cold in the mornings. My school was on some sorta hill and surrounded by lush greenery. Sounds really nice and cool, but I just couldn’t get used to it especially after making the shift from a town school afternoon session. And rainy days were just really cold. I call it winter. Haha.
Back to the cheongsam, cheongsam’s are expensive. Very expensive, especially if it came from some retail outlet that everybody knows about. I’m a scrooge, I won’t buy anything unless I think it can justify its price. And most cheongsam’s are plain, old-fashioned. They look fit for Aunties.
And so I was seeking, and I found it. It was lying there in the rack, just waiting for me to pounce on it. I didn’t even have to try it to know that it would fit though I had to put in on convince my mom to buy it. She kept saying, “you won’t wear it, I know you wont” until I got out of the fitting room in it. Mom was impressed. Later, dad was very impressed too. He used to say I shouldn’t buy a cheongsam whenever I mentioned the word cheongsam at home. I think he was most happy about the price of the cheongsam though. Probably the cheapest piece of clothing I’ve bought for the past few years. Really.
Did I mention that a week ago I spent a whole day at mid-valley a week ago and went home empty handed. It’s really hard to find something I like especially if I’m seeking out something special for Chinese New Year. It turned out I had to look further, beyond KL. I found the cheongsam in Bukit Mertajam, a small town near Penang. Mum went there to see a famous Chinese physician so we all took advantage to go shopping. The clothes (not all) were quite shockingly nice and all for shockingly low prices too. So of course, all of us managed to find something or another for CNY. I bought a few other garments too to make the new year closet complete. Yay!!
Talking bout the place, the food was very very very very very nice and super cheap too. It’s like Penang taste for below Penang prices (Some places really overcharge the tourists) I was eating 24 hours and now a good kilo up from what I normally weigh. But then again, shouldn’t fatten up too much. Later wear cheongsam not nice LoL. If I shall ever decide it isn’t nice, I’ll just turn it into another nightie………….
jiayeng
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11:20 PM
