What was so interesting till the cats all gathered their heads together? It’s food or course!

We call this a da tuan yuan (big gathering), sharing the same title as the song we “played” in our previous post. These cats had to have their reunion first that day because the human would be busy preparing for the Chinese New Year.

They were really enjoying and busy munching the cat food. The two Siamese look alike cats are the little ones that we adopted last December. Well, they are no longer little ones anymore. In between them is the orange stranger that has decided to make this place his home and likes to take naps on the car roof. And the smallest of them all is a new stranger whom we called Plastic.

“Yum…yum…Do you think they’ll give us some more?” asked Orange.

Orange is always the one who comes and ask for food everytime we come back. He would dash out from no where and run like a leopard and wait for food at the door.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full!” said The Siameses.

The Siamese twin appear to be more cautious of their surroundings. They are easier to be frightened. It was worse when they were kept in the cage. We wanted to make sure that they are ready before we let them roam freely round the house. And now they are able to protect themselves so we set them free from the cage. Even though they are still tend to be scared by certain sounds or movements but their situation has become better compared to before.

“It’s finished, Orange! You ate too much!” complained older brother Siamese.
“I did not!” said Orange.

Plastic has just joined the group so he tends to be quiet but he is a cheerful little kitten.

“Can I have some more please……….meowwwww….?” pleaded Orange.
“You are so greedy. I’m outta here. Got some sight seeing to do.” said younger brother Siamese.

Eventually, Plastic has finished his portion as well and left the spot. Leaving behind Orange and older brother Siamese who were still arguing who has eaten more. They also looked around for any left overs. They are not the type to give up so easily, especially when it comes to food. Good spirit, huh?

This is the first time ColinJong.com plays you some music. Please switch on your speaker and click on the play button above to listen.

I have created this MIDI file based on the most popular Chinese New Year song - Da4Tuan2 Yuan2, which means a “big gathering“.

This is not the first time I create a midi music, but it took me at least 5 hours to compose this song. I know it may not be as perfect as the professionally made MIDI, but please comment to give support. :p

Hehe… This is the second time I create midi files. First time was during my college time where I had to create a website and for a multimedia project. It was about 8 years ago. Then I didn’t touch the midi program at all until weeks ago, where I have an idea to add music to ColinJong.com. I don’t have the real MIDI keyboard connected to my computer, but the “virtual organ” and control panels are on my screen. I felt that I was sitting in a recording studio keying in one note after another and test it hundreds of times. It’s really a tedious work and I was having a good time testing the limit of my patience.

If you felt that this music is lousy, I am sorry because I have no music background at all nor attended any music lesson, but I have to thank my parents for giving me a Mini Casio Organ (for kids) when I was in primary school, without that organ I don’t think I can create this MIDI especially the rhythm part which took me hours of work. Now I don’t know where the mini organ has gone to.

If I have time I wish I can learn piano. Am I too old to learn piano?

Okay, now let me show you the original music video. I will remove them from ColinJong.com in the future if they show broken link or any issue with the copyright.

No matter where I go, the coffee shop, shopping mall, car servicing center, FM radio, almost everywhere I can listen to these two songs. Can you imagine how popular they are? :p New year is over and I am not paid to promote them. :p Hehe…

Sorry for those who are suffering from hearing difficulties, I wish I can make a vibration speaker for you so that you can feel the music. May be this type of device is available in the market already, I am not sure, tell me if you know.

Aren’t they beautiful? Lanterns are not only for the Mooncake or Lantern Festival but also popular during Chinese New Year, especially red lanterns. According to the myth, to frighten away the beast called Nian2, red lanterns are one of the things the villagers put outside their houses because it is afraid of red.

Remember we went out twenty minutes after twelve on the first day of Chinese New Year and found the city in a mist? It was still hazy when we took these pictures at a temple called Lin2Hua2Shan1 on our way back. It was around two in the morning so I think the real mist must have mixed with the remaining smoke from the firecrackers so the environment was much foggier.

They have done a really great job in hanging and displaying these red lanterns. The smaller red lanterns are hanged from the top all the way down to the other end, creating a nice atmosphere around the temple. They look like stars aligned neatly in the sky.

There are also different patterns of red lanterns. These three lanterns, starting from large to medium and then small, connects together and brings out one special lantern. At a glance, they look a little bit like vases turned upside down though. I still remember when I was in my primary studies, my teacher taught us to make lanterns and shapes of fish using red packets (ang pow) as house displaying accessories for Chinese New Year. We made “lanterns” similar to these too. The “lanterns” had three layers began with large to medium and small. And we made them with extra care because we were using the red packets. It was a lot of work but it was fun.

The temple also have a pagoda like entrance and exit. From these spots, you can see all the red lanterns, the small ones, the special one and also just a single big red lantern by itself.

Lanterns from big to small.

The tall GuanYin statue is another main attraction at the temple.

Our friends gather together at the temple.

We went home at about 3am and it was still foggy