Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
Do you believe in spirit babies? In Chinese, we call them 婴灵 (Yīng Líng). They are the souls of babies who were aborted, miscarried, stillborn or died shortly after birth. Most of the time, they were not properly buried (especially aborted in hospital, their remains would be thrown into biohazard bags along with other bodily fluids for burning) or have a name/tablet for themselves.
Last week, we took an early flight via Birmingham Airport and departed for Rome. The airport staff are always great with people with disabilities or travelling with young families. We were grateful that we were fast-tracked through most of the queues and went straight to security. At the gate, I do hate it when we have to take the shuttle bus to board the plane. It always takes so long to get everyone onboard and getting a visually impaired child up those metal stairs in bright light with loud engines running is not easy.
The National Folk Museum of Korea originally began as the National Museum of Anthropology, which was founded in 1945 and opened in Namsan in 1946. It is an educational venue where visitors learn about the daily lives of Koreans in the past and present. There are many artefacts on display, educational photographs, films and videos of the sites of various folk events.
Whenever I visit Singapore with friends, I will often take them to Chinatown. Not only to get a feel for the vibe but also to visit the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.
Normally I don’t like to go crazy with buying jigsaw puzzles, but this hobby has become more and more serious for me. Therefore, can you imagine how I felt when I saw an advert for the largest jigsaw puzzle sales at Erasmus Darwin House (15th March 2023)? I did give it a lot of thought as to whether I should swing by at all as I already have 8 unopened puzzles at home! Since it was the first day of the teachers’ strike, I decided to pop out with my daughter to check it out.
One of the highlights of Haw Par Villa Hell’s museum in Singapore is their infamous 10 Courts of Hell. We Chinese believe that in the afterlife, we will get judged by our sins and punishments evolved as ancient civilisations shared their cultures across time and space.
We are nearly at the end of the seventh month of the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival with the last day on the 26th of August. If you are in an Asian country, do check out the list of don’t dos during this festival and the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival that I wrote a while ago.
Recently, I took my children to visit one of my childhood parks – Haw Par Villa in Singapore. The last time I went was with my third aunty and cousins 30 years ago. I still remember that every child would have to take a photo with Confucius, hoping we will show humaneness, righteousness and filial. Needless to say, my modern children did not believe in this.
During the summer holidays, we were looking for places to visit within an hour from where we live and the Midland Air Museum popped up on our search. Midland Air Museum is situated outside the village of Baginton in Warwickshire and is adjacent to Coventry Airport. It is quite easy to access by car and the museum also includes the Sir Frank Whittle Jet Heritage Centre (named after the local aviation pioneer and inventor of the jet engine).
Experience our breathtaking universe documented in UK’s largest planetarium and explore this vast resource covering the fields of space science and astronomy at the award-winning National Space Centre! It is indeed a real eye opener for first-timers like my family and me.
Things to do in Coventry for free! School holidays can be very expensive, especially with the amount of money you spend just on entrance tickets. So one of the things we always look out for is free events around the Midlands and one of the top things to do is to visit Coventry Transport Museum.
Where would be the best place to learn about the history of brewing and what does Burtonisation mean? The answers can be found at the National Brewery Centre Museum! Not only can you learn about the history of brewing but you can also sample some of the best local ales on your way out. The National Brewery Centre also hosts a variety of live music and other events, including weddings throughout the year. Do check out their website for more details.
