Red lanterns: A symbol of everything good.
By Foong Pek Yee
23 Jan, 2022
THERE is an air of festivity in Ipoh over the weekend.
With Chinese New Year (CNY) on Feb 1, the Ipoh old town is a hive of activity.
CNY or Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is celebrated worldwide.
The Koreans celebrate Lunar New Year or ” Seollal”
The boss of a shop in Ipoh old town which is famous for dried seafood appears in good mood.
On his most saleable items, he reels out a list – from abalone, mushrooms, scallops, oysters, sea cucumber to pistachio (hoi sum guo or happy fruit in Cantonese).
With his eyes glued to the workers unloading goods from a lorry, he went on to elaborate why business is good in the year of the Tiger.
Upbeat: A shop in Ipoh old town that specialises in dried foodstuff especially seafood, is all set for brisk business.
“People will spend their CNY holidays enjoying good food at home or in restaurants.
“Unlike previous years when there were people who went for overseas holidays, they cannot do so this round even if they have the money .”
Along the five-foot way, a man was engrossed writing Chinese characters with good tidings with a Chinese brush on pieces of red paper.
Best wishes: Chinese saying on anything good and written on red papers is an evergreen deco.
Steep in tradition: A bookshop in Kampar old town selling CNY greeting cards – a rare commodity in this digital era.
Good tidings: A shop in Tambun with its first batch of pomeloes.
But there may be a shortage of pomeloes this CNY – a much sought after fruit because its Cantonese name “look yau” rhymes with abundance rolling in.
According to a fruit shop owner in Tambun, Ipoh, the recent raining season which coincided with the trees flowering stage had affected the yields.
Tambun, about 7 km from Ipoh city centre, is famous for producing good pomeloes.
In Kampar wet market, a flower stall owner expects a shortage of flowers from Cameron Highlands as farmers are not producing at full capacity.
“Farmers are treading carefully after losing so much last CNY due to the movement control order,” says the stall owner who has been in the business for almost four decades.
On consumer spending, he says people are extra prudent nowadays because of the high cost of living and economic uncertainties.
Perseverance: This man who runs a flower stall for almost four decades tending to his CNY plants.
He says he will soldier on, and last weekend saw him busy meeting orders for bouquets from graduates at the convocation ceremony in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) nearby.
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