_{Photo taken from unsplash}

Every Chinese New Year would be only time I get to take a longer leave to go back to my hometown to visit my family. My mum would always say 'You can don't come home any other time, but Chinese New Year you have to come home'. Chinese New Year is a time for me to reunite with my family and it is the only time of the year I can get longer leaves, reason being a Chinese. You know... Chinese = Chinese New Year = Biggest Festive for us.

I got up early in the morning today because I have to get to the airport by 11.10AM. Surprisingly, the traffic was pretty smooth and there wasn't many people around. I'm guessing a lot have already gone home the day before. Chinese New Year is also a time for be to take a break and reflect at the previous year. Also to recuperate and come back even better.

While I was waiting to board the plane, you know it is a must to find insta-worthy snaps. Usually you'll get photos like the plane taking off, plane's wing and clouds. Well, since the plane hasn't arrived yet, I kinda just took photos of the ground crew doing their work.

This shot is definitely the most common cliche shots everyone would take at the airport. Haha, so here you go. And No, I didn't take home any cloud photos and photo of the plane's wing for you.

The flight was about 1 hour 45 minutes. Thank God everything was on schedule and I arrived back at my hometown, Kuching, Malaysia at 2.00PM. To be honest, I used to love going to the airports when I was younger because it would be for a vacation with family but nowadays, things are different. Going to the airport now would mean that I have to get back to reality and work while leaving my family back home.

I have landed! The first thing I did was asked my dad to bring me to Kuching's famous Kolo-Mee(Noodles). Have been craving for it since one of #teammalaysia member posted a photo of it like a few days before. Well, I got mine now and my cravings are satisfied.

So many memories still kept in my hometown. This was my primary school. Last time, it wasn't that big but it has since then been renovated and the classrooms are now air-conditioned. Last time, I remember that we used wooden tables,ceiling fans and blackboard. I even remember as we were hitting puberty, we guys are especially shy around girls. I remember my friend had a crush towards a girl from the class next door and we would spend our recess 'stalking' her. Those good ol' days.

This is one of the iconic buildings in Kuching known as the 'Kuching Civic Centre'. It's an observation deck where you can actually see the whole of Kuching from above. The architect who designed this building almost didn't complete it because of it's unique structure. He needed to have the top perfectly fitted on top balance from all sides. Wasn't an easy task but it is now a tourist spot for many.

Welcome home! This is my house entrance decorated with red lanterns and LED firecrackers. It's like christmas where the houses along the streets would decorate their houses outside. So for Chinese New Year, it's lanterns and anything that's RED really.

I was wondering what this little fella was hanging in the middle of the entrance porch. My mum said it's a cabbage plushie which symbolizes '100 types of prosperity'.Just thought it was cute. Chinese love the word 'prosperity' that's why during Chinese New Year, Mcdonald's have the limited edition 'prosperity burger'. I mean why not, I don't mind being prosperous. :)

This is my view from my house balcony. Nope, we don't live in tree houses but we still have lushful greenery all around. Sometimes, we even get to visit from our friendly bush neighbours, the snake and scorpion.

This year Chinese New Year's Zodiac is the 'Dog Year' but poor doggie here is afraid of the firecrackers so she gets to follow us to our family reunion dinner at my aunt's house. She's a mini schnauzer. Firecrackers are believed to scare away the 'evil spirits' but I think it's more frightening to dogs everywhere. Haha.

And also she get to get the front seat. Just cause she's afraid of fireworks. Pampered dog. Haha

Ohhh and every year we have the best food. Roasted pork, Abalone, prawns, fish maws, fish and a lot more. Every year we would gather at the round table with relatives for a one year once catch-up.

My favourite was definitely the roasted pork... and homemade chilli paste made by my uncle. He's always really good at making oriental paste for food.

After our meal, we sat around the table just chit-chatting away till it was time to bring out the firecrackers. I used to love playing fireworks but as I grow older, I just want to spend my time indoors. It does sound like a 'warzone' now as it's already 12.27AM as i'm penning down this post. The fireworks started at 11.50PM and it's still going strong. Usually the neighbours would compete with each other to see who has more money to burn. Oh... I mean more fireworks to show. Nonetheless, I still play firecrackers with my relatives after the dinner.

I love China... the top mass producers of fireworks, firecrackers and basically everything around you.

Nope, these ain't cigars. When you light these up, they explode. You wouldn't want to be chewing on em when that happens. :D This is called the '4000'. Basically it's 4000 firecrackers. :O

We would usually tie up the firecracker pole against the gate and light it up! So here's the video of 4000 firecrackers of prosperity. Enjoy!~

This was only one, later on we went to light two more.

After that, my family and I went home to call it a night. This poor doggie however is hiding under the pillows. She's probably still awake now as the fireworks are still on-going.