Cina tak Mandi Pagi
She bathed once a day!!
Sometime back in 2004, my former colleague confessed she bathes only once a day and not in the morning! At her dismay, I almost couldn’t stop laughing. ROTFLOL. I can’t imagine a working adult in a software company who comes from a middle class family in KL bathes only once a day despite our hot and humid weather. Sah ini Cina tak mandi pagi. Sungguh tak fresh pada waktu pagi bekerja. LOL.
That conversation reminds me of my former school teacher in Year 5. The year was 1993 in St. Thomas Primary, Kuantan, Pahang. St. Thomas Kuantan is an all-boy school and majority of the students are Chinese with a good proportion of Malay and Indian students.
One fine morning, she asked our class if most Chinese do not bathe in the morning. Some of us giggled but those who rarely bathed in the mornings find the question rather weird. I do know a number of my classmates only washed their face and brushed their teeth before coming to school. Those giggling friends confessed they don’t bathe in the mornings. Either they are observant of old Chinese practice of not bathing in the morning/night or their parents were concern about Rheumatism which I highly doubt it.
I am fortunate and grateful to have warm showers whenever I need it since I was a kid. Even went we lived outside the naval base, we had a water heater installed in our home especially when were in Kuantan. As it rains almost every day during the North-East monsoon, a warm shower during those periods was really a bliss. So, I never really practise that age-old tradition although my parents are somewhat observant about not bathing after the sun sets. :)
wow i would had felt pretty sweaty and uncomfortable under the hours of not bathing. Euchhhhhhh!!!! Say tak nak to not bathing at the morning