Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
I’ve had a few strange hotel experiences—but this is the one I still can’t explain.
It happened during a family trip in England. Back then, we often stayed at Travelodge—simple, affordable, and predictable. I’ve never been one for hotel rituals. It’s not that I don’t believe in ghosts; I just prefer not to acknowledge them, especially in unfamiliar places.
This was my second supernatural encounter in a hotel—this time in Osaka. If you haven’t already, you might want to read my post on Chinese superstitions when entering a hotel room… I wish I had followed them more closely on this trip.
It happened on 16 May 2010. My husband, my sister-in-law, and I travelled to Japan for a holiday. She had her own room, while my husband and I shared another. Like most Japanese hotel rooms, ours was compact but thoughtfully laid out. As you entered, there was a narrow landing with a bathroom on the left. Beyond that sat a double bed and, by the window, a small table neatly arranged with books.
No matter how many stars a hotel has, it doesn’t guarantee the room is truly “clean.” Behind closed doors, there may have been natural deaths, accidents, even tragedies. Some places carry stories long after guests have checked out. Have you ever stayed somewhere that felt… off?
In Chinese culture, we take extra precautions when entering a hotel room. There are rituals and small superstitions meant to avoid disturbing anything that might already be there. (If you’re curious, have a read of my post on Chinese superstitions when entering a hotel room.)
As mentioned in my previous post, I used to work as an operating theatre nurse back in my days in Singapore. This is my second story about the strange paranormal incidents I experienced during my very first three night shifts.
During the first few weeks of orientation, we mainly worked office hours. Soon after, however, we were required to trial night shifts. On a normal night shift, there would usually be seven staff members running three operating theatres if things became busy. Since I was still a junior nurse and it was my very first night shift, I became the eighth member of the team.
I used to work as an operating theatre nurse back in my days in Singapore. During the 15 months I worked there, I experienced several paranormal encounters — some during the day, but most during the night. There were simply too many strange incidents to fit into one post, so I’ve decided to split them into two parts.
This happened during my second nursing job. Before joining the operating theatre, I had spent a year working in an Orthopaedic/ENT Class C ward near my home. I was unhappy there, and eventually a friend persuaded me to transfer to the operating theatre at one of Singapore’s oldest hospitals.
If you work late nights or permanent night shifts, you will probably hear your fair share of strange stories. Taxi drivers, especially, seem to encounter things that cannot always be explained.
Since last year, I have been listening to my favourite Singapore radio station, Love 97.2FM and Mr Zhou’s Ghost Stories podcasts. Many of the stories involve taxi drivers picking up unusual “passengers” late at night. Some drivers even claimed their business suddenly became poor because there was an unseen “extra passenger” sitting in the front seat — something only certain people could apparently see, causing potential customers to avoid the taxi altogether.
Hello everyone! This is my second ghost story, and this time the topic is school toilets. Just hearing those two words still gives me goosebumps. I have always hated school toilets — they were usually small, dark, damp, and dirty. Even in broad daylight, they could feel unsettling.
To coincide with this year’s Hungry Ghost Festival, which runs from 29 July to 26 August 2022, I decided to share some of my own true ghost stories on this blog. Don’t worry — I only have about eight stories so far, so definitely not enough to fill all 29 days of the festival! I’ll share more when I feel comfortable enough to talk about them.
A few years ago, I wrote an article about the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival, but I didn’t elaborate on the “don’ts” observed during this period. Now, I would like to share some tips and hope everyone stays safe during this time. Even if you aren’t superstitious or don’t believe in ghosts, it is still respectful to observe these practices when you are in Asian countries, especially around those who do believe.
Making Dumpling Craft for Dragon Boat Festival. It was the Dragon Boat Festival again, which is also known as the Duanwu Festival. This year it fell on the 18th June 2018 which is the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar.
As some of you may remember, I help run Lichfield Mandarin Club which started six years ago and we often do arts and crafts with the children, especially with themes based on Chinese festivals. So this school term, one of the mummies Ailin organized some party games for the children.
Yesterday we were celebrating the Dragon Boat Festival, which is also known as the Duanwu Festival, and falls on the 9th June 2016. It occurs on the 5th day of the 5th month of the traditional lunar calendar. The festival involves eating dumplings (zongzi – sticky rice) and racing dragon boats! If you want to know how the dumplings look like, check out my post I wrote two years ago.
As some of you might remember that I help run Lichfield Mandarin Club which started four years ago and I like to involve arts and crafts with the children especially Chinese festival. So this school half term, I organized a Dragon Boat festival.
The Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival is also known as Zhong Yuan Jie. In Chinese culture (especially Asian countries), the Chinese Lunar seventh month calendar is regarded as the Ghost Month in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, release from the lower realm (Buddhist- the wheel of Samsara) for the whole month. During this month, there will be a grand scale of praying and celebration which will have Getai (singing in Hokkien or Teochew) and dinner with bidding for lucky things on such a night.
This year Dragon Boat Festival falls on this coming Monday 2 June 2014 which is today! There are a few versions of how the history came about. For what I learnt at school it is about Qu Yuan. He was a poet and minister (c. 340–278 BC) of the ancient state of Chu. To cut the long story short, he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Miluo River. The local people raced out to save him but was unable to do so. So they dropped balls of sticky rice (dumpling) into the river so that the fish would eat them instead of Qu Yuan’s body.
Qing Ming festival is a day where you pay respects at your departed loved one’s grave. The day varies each year as it goes according to the Chinese lunar calendar. This year it falls on the 5 April 2014. However, it is an acceptable tradition for the families to pray to their ancestors 10 days before and 10 days after the actual day. This is to avoid major congestions at the cemeteries and temples. As many countries like Singapore are densely populated and short of land, most of the deceased are cremated.
Many of you might recall that I had recently written a series blog posts for Chinese New Year and that this year is the year of the Horse. In the Chinese zodiac, the horse came in seventh out of the 12 year cycle of the animals. If you would like to find out more about the Chinese zodiac animals, click here to read more. Why does the horse come in seventh in the cycle? Legend has it that the sneaky Snake hid itself on the Horse’s hoof. Before crossing the finishing line, the Snake frightened the Horse and took the 6th spot and left the horse in 7th.
