CNY: Chap Goh Meh #1 - In Pulau Ketam Jetty.

Chap Goh Meh or the Hokkien dialect for the 15th and last day of the Chinese New Year has been synonymous with a time honored tradition – the throwing of oranges into the sea. On this night, young, unmarried men and ladies will throng to the sea to throw fruits and made their wishes for a good mate. It was also an excuse for them to meet without the supervision of their parents for in the old old days, intermingling between the unmarried sexes were forbidden or at least frowned upon. Thus, the opportunities for to meet, ‘see’ prospective mates were limited. On that night, any young people who can get away will be there – and in the case of Port Klang, the old Pulau Ketam jetty in South Port which had been burned down (please refer in earlier articles ).


The reason orange is thrown is because it rhyme in Hokkien "Tim Kam Chua Ho Ang" (throw orange, get a good husband). For the males it is "Tim Peng Kor Chua Ho Bor" (throw apple, get a good wife). Later other nonsensical rhymes were also included such as "Tim Joi Tau Gei Ang Mor Lau" (throw stone, get a bungalow).


Both Kurau and me were old enough to remember the bustling activities in the jetty and had a somewhat naïve romantic memories of yesteryears. We had not been back there for a long time as much water had passed under the jetty since we both married. So it was there instead of West Port we went that night to document the event. We saw the jetty as -

lonely as this boat on still water. Our heart sank faster than the Titanic.

It is hard to describe the feelings we had. I will try to do it with pictures instead. It was like this man looking out to sea, waiting and waiting... under an orange spotlight that did nothing to illuminate except emphasized the darkness of the night.

It was as empty as this pathway that led to an emptier sea.

Like the reflections of these beautiful lights that shone for no one to see.

When we reached here, a full moon shone the way. Now dark clouds hid its view. Our feelings were similar to the cloud suffocated moon. Our hearts dropped like pins in a cavernous hall and I was sure I heard its echo. We lived through those times when this spot was the focal point of the town on this night. Now, it is was as empty as the hollow in our heart. We forced ourselves to take some photos and these are what you saw.




The only people who were there for the same reason was this young family but they only exacerbate our depressing state. We wanted to explain to them that it was not like this in the good old days. But we knew no matter how we explained, they will never see the scenes that we saw. And we were in no mood to explain anything.



And as I concentrated on taking some night shots, I did not realize that I was shot until much later in the forum. I always find it interesting to shoot other photographers when they are doing their things so I guess I cannot complain when this time round, I was the 'victim'. This is the only photograph of myself in my blogs for my writings are about the events and stories but not about myself directly and I meant to keep it that way. It was a very well taken photo which is why I included it here for it showed how forlorn the whole place was that night.

We looked at each other and knew that there is nothing more we can do here and decided to head to Tanjung Harapan though we knew that place will be jam packed. If I was alone, I may have lingered on a little while longer to commute with the ghosts of my past.


Next: Chap Goh Meh in Tanjung Harapan (Cape Hope).

To be continued...