Sunday, November 23, 2003

Well... It is Balik Kampong time again, Balik Kampong in Malaysia is going back to one's village or hometown, it happen every year, when Malaysian celebrate it special festival like the Aidil Fitri, the Chinese New Year, the Deepavali, the Christmas and other ethnic celebration like the Gawai Dayak in Sarawak. It is a phenomena only happen in Malaysia where people would go back to their hometown to celebrate these festival. It was once a traditional way of celebration by the Malay of long ago..... now it has catch up with other Malaysian of different races and religions and hence today has became a Malaysian culture. As festival approaches Malaysian families would drive in droves to their kampong and this would normally happen a week before such festival.... the roads and highway would be pack with cars, and buses heading to different direction to get the people back to their respective kampong. The other mode of transport such as the trains and the airplane would be as crowded as well......Such is the way Malaysian celebrate their holidays......the kampong could just a distance away and some are a bid far such as those remote kampong in Sarawak, Sabah, Kelantan.....Now that the traditional kampong are slowly diminishing with families moving to towns and cities, the concept of kampong has change with times....now one's kampong could be Ampang, Petaling Street, Kampong Baru which are modern housing area, but still Malaysian would use the term balik kampong to mean going back to their home town such as those places......Well that is the Malaysian way of life, all the races and religions have somewhat merged their way of celebration into one balik kampong way....truly Malaysia is a melting pot of different culture and tradition of Asian....thus evolving a truly Malaysian culture.....the Balik Kampong is an example....a great way to celebrate one's festival......As Aidil Fitri approaches...let all enjoy and visit each other with a Selamat Hari Raya......Have a great day....

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