There's been a fusion feel to this CNY. Nyonya food, for example. Assam laksa from the Little Penang Cafe, and ayam berempah from Limapulo on The Row... An ayam berempah sandwich from Born and Bread...

And Sino-Indian movies.

Like Kungfu Yoga. Disregard the Tomatometer for once. This is a lot of fun. And it's one of "the three Sino-Indian co-productions being made as part of an agreement between the two countries". "One Belt One Road" duly got a mention.

Then there was Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back. This is the sequel to Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons, which we saw in 2013 while waiting in KL for visas to Indonesia. The pair of them, of course, recount the journey of 7th-century Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, who travelled to India in search of Buddhist scriptures (a journey that never fails to spark my imagination).

It's another wild romp of a movie. Not as warm as the first part (whose warmth came from the boy-girl element of the story). But vivid and imaginative and wacky.



The Indian connection had us hankering for some food to go with it. So our Chinese New Year's Day lunch was taken at Sangeetha Vegetarian Restaurant, situated in the always colourful Lebuh Ampang. We indulged in thalis, collected some sweets to take home, and noted that they open for breakfast at 8 am, and do mini-tiffin...

It was worth a trip to the Masjid Jamek area just to observe the CNY crowds. Most of these guys get about two holidays a year, so it's nice to see them out and about enjoying their oh-so-rare time off.



And... there was a Shah Rukh Khan movie out for CNY! Namely, Raees.

I'm happy to see the songs are back. But the ending...? Is he really "so fatally flawed that even the redeeming features are not enough"? Couldn't he have repented or something...?

Anyway, tomorrow's a holiday, but I'll be back at work trying to subdue some of the still lingering end-of-semester chaos.

Here's to the Rooster!