Unexpectedly…

The best things are the ones that come unexpectedly, pleasant things, of course, that come as a delightful surprise.

I have not seen Justin for a long long time ever since we went out for dinner a few times with our friend, Julia, from Perth Australia, here and here and here, for instance. What I knew was he completed his studies at a university in Kuching and then he went over to the peninsula to work but all these years, we never got to meet each other again though we stay in touch on Facebook.

Imagine how happy I was to hear that he would be coming back to Sibu for Chinese New Year and he sent word to tell me that he would drop by my house as he had some stuff to give to me. Oh? Isn’t that so very sweet of him…to remember me after all this time and to go through all the trouble of bringing things back for me?

First things first, he had these the sweet gifts of gold…

…specially for me. In Chinese culture, eating fresh fruit symbolises a new life beginning, and eating sweet fruit is a wish for a sweet year ahead. I had neither seen nor heard of these amik melons before but according to Justin, they are very popular in West Malaysia and Singapore and they are now trying to break into the local market, Sibu especially. He graduated in the field of agriculture so that is what he is involved in right now over in the peninsula.

Other than those, he also brought me a pomelo…

– an auspicious gift for family and friends during Chinese New Year. “Pomelo” in Chinese is called ‘da ji’ which means ‘to have’ so the real meaning of ‘da ji’ is like a wish to achieve prosperity.

Then, of course, there is this thing about eating fish during Chinese New Year – 年年有餘, “Year Year Got Fish” literally or a more accurate translation would be “Have abundance every year“. The word for “fish”, yu is a homophone for “abundance” and “affluence”…and Justin brought me these Muar otak otak…

…for me to try and also the prawn version as well.

Thank you so much, Justin – you really made my day and with all the auspicious gifts that you brought specially for me, I bet a truly wonderful year is in store for me in the days ahead, that’s for sure. A Blessed and Happy Chinese New Year to you and all your loved ones too, cheers!!!