Fried Rice in Ayutthaya by SweePea

Being an older cousin sister to Mei Phing means I have had the pleasure of her company for the past 30 years. I knew her first as a younger baby sister, such a doll, no I’m not kidding… she really looks like a doll. Hmmmm…. let me get her baby photo…..

When studies and careers brought us all together in sunny Kuala Lumpur, we became the best of buddies. Like Cheng (my not-so-much-younger sister) says we were always chattering and laughing. There was so much laughing that most times you would find us bent over with our sides hurting. We talked about anything and everything. No holds barred!! Hence, some of our conversations cannot be repeated here to protect the sensitivities of our younger readers.

In Sept 2004, we decided to take our loud chattering and laughing to Bangkok. We had the most fantastic and sometimes hilarious times. I remember one evening, after strolling through the ruins in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, our cab driver/ tour guide, Sa-Ngiam, took us to a quaint little eatery for dinner. Since Aunty Wendy insisted that we MUST eat where the local Thai people eat, most meals are somewhat like a little surprise as we weren’t familiar with the menus and were never very sure what we had ordered.

Mei Phing, Sa-Ngiam and I ordered three different type of fried rice respectively. When the first plate of fried rice arrived at our table, Mei Phing was very excited and asked if that was her order (…. like I said, we were never very sure of what we ordered). Sa-Ngiam nodded his head politely and pushed the plate of fried rice to Mei Phing. With the same enthusiasm that she does everything with, she also approached her food the same way. Mei Phing dived into the plate of rice and was thoroughly enjoying herself. We were all also snacking off her plate to try the yummy rice.

Very soon the second plate of fried rice arrives; Sa-Ngiam again smiled and pushed the rice towards Mei Phing. Boy! Mei Phing must have looked really hungry, or so we thought. After much clarification (Sa-Ngaim doesn’t really speak English), we figured that he was trying to tell us, in not so many words, that Mei Phing was in actual fact chowing down his rice. The facial expression on Mei Phing face was priceless as it sank in that she had been eating our cab driver’s fried rice and now that her order was served, Sa-Ngiam wanted his rice back! Looking uncertain, spoon hovering above the plate, she wondered what was the polite thing to do. While the rest of us were giggling away, Aunty Wendy took control of the awkward situation and insisted that Sa-Ngiam take Mei Phing’s order instead but Sa-Ngaim politely refused and told us it is OK! Chean Shen was the fast thinking one who figured out that Sa-Ngiam was really looking forward to enjoying his fried rice and was not keen to eat anything else. With an apologetic grin (and she does grin a lot), Mei Phing gave back the half eaten fried rice. I don’t really know how Sa-Ngiam felt about his first dining experience with us, as for us, we laughed all the way back to Bangkok!!

The theme for all our ‘makan-makan’ sessions with Mei Phing has always been FUN! For now, our family ‘makan-makan’ sessions are bitter-sweet events as we struggle to be cheerful, while at the same time, we cannot deny the fact that we are short of one laughing family member at the table. It is very difficult to accept that Mei Phing will never be sitting with me at the same dining table and that I will never hear her laughter again. All I have are the sweet memories of our good times together. I guess I should not be greedy for more and should be thankful that I had her for 30 fun years but … too bad, I WANT MORE!!! 30 YEARS JUST AIN’T ENOUGH!! Oops!….sorry for the outburst, I am a bit confused, sometimes angry and most times just plain depressed… However, I am working on feeling more positive and to accept (reluctantly) what fate has dealt us, seriously, no worries, I am working on it. To honor the memory of Mei Phing, we all need to embrace life and make the most of what we have. She was always working at brightening up our days and we will not let her hard work go to waste, just because she has decided to go and be a Spanish baby!!(private joke...hehehehe…just for those of us who believe in karma)
Gracias & Adiós Señorita Mei Phing!