I have made fire!

I always want to involve in the fire making in every BBQ party, even though I know for sure I will sweat like a pig through the process of it. I am not sure why people say it is an essential skill of every manly man but I want to build fire because I am having fun out of it.

I learnt fire making during my time as a Pertahanan Awam cadet, a government body similar as 911 service in the US or 112 in Europe. During that time, my friends and I used to frequently compete with each other, to see who could build a fire the fastest, with only 3 matches, a knife and wood supply. Ahh... good old times! I don't remember when I made my first fire. But since then for every fire I build, I always have the same feeling swelling inside me, the same feeling when you had created something great, when you are empowered. In control. Since we were young, adults always told us that fire was dangerous. Yes it is. But when once you'd learnt how to make fire and control it, you will feel your existence as real as never before.

I have made fire!

This feeling is never exhibited more perfectly on the big screen than the movie Cast Away. I always laugh during the scene in which Tom Hanks' character struggles so much but persists, and successfully make a fire in the end. I laugh because it is so true. Ever since, I quote his line every time I make a fire : Yeah! Look what I have created! I have made fire! I ... have made fire!

Of course in Tom Hanks' position, a survival life-and-death situation, fire is really important for obvious reasons : warmth, lighting, protection against wild animals, to cook food, etc.. One more but mostly neglected reason is morale boosting, as showcased in Cast Away. I first heard of it in Bear Grylls' TV show, Man VS Wild. Sit in front of a bond fire and gaze at the flame is capable to help one through the most dire situation as I have experienced it multiple times during my ultrarunning adventures. After spending hours and hours at night through kilometers of trail in the cold windy mountains, tired, down. But after a few minutes of therapy by the bond fire at pit stop, I was always able to keep going again.

From the classical elements of the Ancient Greece to the Chinese Wu Xing, there is no coincidence that people in the past assume fire is one of the basic elements forming the world around us, although we now know that fire is not element at all but a chemical process. Nevertheless, there is just something about fire, something pure and captivating. Aang in The Last Airbender, pretty much sums up what fire is about and I quote : 

All this time, I thought firebending was destruction. ... But now I know what it really is. It's energy and life. 

That is why there used to be people worshiping fire. That is why eternal flames are still used to commemorate of historic events. Fire is awesome. Making fire is awesome. Undoubtedly dangerous but awesome because it's energy and life. 

Or may be deep down I am a pyromaniac.

Raja Uda Tom Yum Mee Trend

If you ask me recommend what to eat in Raja Uda, I would probably say tom yum mee. There are a few things in abundance in Raja Uda. One is Chinese temple, from the oldest Leng Eng Seah Temple, the famous Tow Boo Kong, to the under-construction, more grandiose, new Simpah Kuan Im Teng Temple. Many more smaller lesser known temples are spread out the whole stretch of Raja Uda.

The second thing in abundance must be tom yum mee stall. It wasn't the case a decade ago though. I think there used to be only the Ju Heng Tom Yum, and then the Kwong Hwa Tom Yum. Rumour says the owner of Kwong Hwa Tom Yum used to work together with Ju Heng. For reason unknown (I think most probably because of profit splitting problem), the partnership was broken. Nowadays, we can call it a rivalry between them. Customers are divided into two camps, arguing which tastes the best. 

Trend is a funny thing. It comes out of nowhere and then takes the world around you by storm. Like fidget spinner, it is impossible to pin point the time or the event that triggered the craze. All I notice is started a few years ago, more and more tom yum mee stalls popping out around Raja Uda, to the point of having its own franchise (Liang Khee Tomyum). Even though each stall has its own taste, they all in fact are just ever slightly different from each other. Most importantly they are not even authentic. However inauthentic doesn't mean bad taste or whatever. I always consider myself to be not choosy on the food I eat, so they all taste good to me. It's just that I always wonder why it is a trend. Having a bowl of tom yum mee as supper has become a "à la mode" thing to do now. Food blogs write about it, young people and outstation hipsters come here to have a taste of it and hastag it for bragging rights.

Only one reason I can muster to explain the popularity of tom yum mee is the offer of choice and customization. These tom yum mee stalls are often buffet-styled, which means you pick your favorites from an array of ingredients, pick your noodle type or porridge if you fancy, then they cook all of them in the tom yum soup base for you. In a time when we all desire to put our initials on everything we own and has everything customized to our taste, this style of tom yum mee stall offer just that : customization. You can have your special bowl of tom yum mee with exactly 3 fish nuggets, 3 fish balls, maggi noodles, and an egg, and claim it as the best combination ever. It is not objectively the best but the best because it is your choice. If you are newbie in this extravaganza, then you have the chance to slowly fine tune your combination to craft your personal taste, because order a simple regular bowl of noodle soup is just the "lame" thing to do.

Whenever I tell people I live in Raja Uda, they always ask me if I know about them or which one I prefer : Ju Heng or  Kwong Hwa. The thing is I live in Raja Uda for more than a decade now but I had never tried either before. So every time I was asked the same question, the reaction I got was : are you serious?! Just recently I finally succumbed to the peer pressure and tried both tom yum mee. Finally, I can call myself a true "Raja Uda Lang" (people of Raja Uda).