Time with my Grandmother

After the strangest Mother's day dinner ever (we were at a dai chao place by the roadside), I had a short talk with my grandmother about her past.

Turns out, she's led quite an adventure of a life. At the age of 9 months, she was given away to the Goh family in a village called Ho Kay Pi. That village was very small, consisting of only a few farming families. The house she once stayed in was called Zuii Bwei Lao. A very fancy name for a house of a farmer in the middle of no where.

I remember the stories she used to tell me from that village. There was one which always had me gripping my blanket in fear at night, staring at the shifting shadows on my bedroom wall as the lights from the neighbour sifted through the curtains. The Lang Wei(?) was a fearsome creature which lived in the mountains around Ho Ke Pi. It had flowing black hair and ran on all fours, feeding on unfortunate travelers with a wicked screech which could be heard across the vast expanse of forest. The only trick to escaping it was to run downhill so that its hair would fall into its face, blurring its vision.
There was another story about how a boy got burnt to death for not listening to his mother, but I guess that's a tale for some other time.

Turns out, good old grandma was married to my grandfather for eight years before she finally made that dangerous journey across the South China Sea to Malaya. She stayed with her in-laws at Liao Qi village for the whole time, while my grandfather was working in Malaya.
Grandma was supposed to join him after his first year there, but the matriarch insisted that she wait till after the Lunar New Year to have her photograph taken.
In those days, Grandma had to travel for a good whole day before a camera could be found. So by the time she had her picture taken and the paperwork filled out, the Malayan government had withdrawn their offer to allow her into the country. The next round of intakes was in eight years time, and so she waited, finally arriving in Melaka.

Such heritage... I wonder what stories I'd tell my grandkids?
I used to walk five minutes to the 7-11 round the corner to buy drinks.
You mean people still WALKED back then?!!!

Lol.