The 5 Biggest ‘Ughs’ in every Malaysian’s Chinese New Year

Yay! It’s red, it’s prosperous and sometimes preposterous! As much as the Chinese New Year is loved, there are still a couple of pet peeves that grind our Malaysian gears. 

As such, let us break down on what are the common things that somehow manage to stain our holiday mood.

1. Traffic Jams

Oh boy! Isn’t this a bane for anyone who wants to ‘balik kampung’. It is not uncommon for Malaysians to be stuck in a jam for more than 5-10 hours trying to get back to their hometown. Not forgetting the fact that Malaysians road ethics are nothing short but ‘brilliant’. If you can’t tell, we’re being sarcastic.

And when all these shambolic elements combine, what we have are roads flooded with cars with honking seasoning. Then again, Malaysians are always well-prepared with the most innovative ideas to curb the issue.

To our surprise, air purifiers are almost spotted in most Malaysian cars nowadays. Notice how e-hailing services like Grab and MyCar have one of these inside their vehicles; it is almost mandatory for maximum comfort. You’re stuck inside your car for countless hours, might as well make it smell like as serene and aromatic as possible right?

Aromatic yes, but the aforementioned serenity needs another remedy. To fix the honking sound we recommend jiving into music. Earphones are a necessity to mask over the obnoxious honking noise that is adding salt to the injury.

That being said, take caution while driving and make sure to not be TOO immerse in your music that you lose your driving sense!

2. Small talks

“When are you getting married ah?” “When are you getting children ah?” “So big already ah?” “Where’s your girlfriend ah?”

Whew! Get ready for a BARRAGE of these so to say nonsensical questions that are repeated every year and at almost every family gathering. Usually the wise would come out with some witty answers and the dull would stare into oblivion, poker-facing themselves to salvation. Don’t even get us started on the ‘bananas’ (a term used to describe a Chinese that can’t proficiently converse in Mandarin).

Even so, these are one of the very few rites of passage that one needs to endure to get to that ultimate reward, the final satisfaction. The almighty angpow.

3. Overcrowded shopping malls

We just love how uniquely different every shopping mall decors are during these festive seasons and CNY is one of the more extravagant ones. Try hopping into any of the top-tier malls like Mid Valley or Pavilion and you are bound to witness CNY aesthetics of the highest calibre.

Here’s the catch though. Nice things attract audiences, and for some reason, everyone in Malaysia is somehow outside the comfort of their home and spending their holidays in shopping complexes simultaneously.

This is a goddamn mood-killer. Fellow comrades barging over one another just to get a glimpse of that overused lion dance routine can be pretty tiring. On top of that, the blasting of overused Chinese New Year ‘ballads’ can sometimes be low-key irritating when merged with the stressful crowd.

Not really a bad option to stay at home and spend a little more time with your family and relatives.