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+ In 2025, Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, fell on April 4. It is an interesting coincidence that an important day about dead people in Chinese people in both 2024 and 2025 fell on 04/04, since in at least some Chinese languages, including Mandarin and Cantonese, the number four (四) and the word death (死) have similar pronunciations, which is why 4 is considered an "unlucky" number in Chinese culture.
+In my family, we observe Qingming Festival every year by travelling to my parents' hometown, and visiting my paternal grandparents' and great uncle's graves. My great uncle and paternal grandfather died many years before I was even born, while my paternal grandmother passed when I was in my mid-20s.
+This year, my parents and paternal relatives visit my grandparents' and great uncle's tombs as usual. However, this year my parents and I agreed that I stayed in a hotel while my parents visited great uncle's grave, because the path to visit my great uncle's tomb was already h to travel especially on foot due to being full of stones and slopes, while my retinitis pigmentosa (RP) would make my movements on such uneven paths even more difficult. By comparison, walking to my grandparents' tombs are considerably easier.
+Sweeping tombs was not the only activity we did during this year's Qingming Festival, however.
+On April 4, my parents and I visited our family's durian plantation, which is currently taken care of by one of my paternal uncles. My last visit to the plantation was during this year's Lunar New Year, when I also met my uncle's dog, Bak Baan, for the first time. Since our last visit, I learned that Bak Baan has become pregnant, and my uncle estimated that she will give birth a month later.
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According to my uncle, Bak Baan is a dutiful guard dog. Therefore, my uncle was also looking forward to having puppies and be a dog grandpa, as it means he would have more dogs to help to guard the durian plantation. It is incredible to think about how Bak Baan went from a starved and injured stray when she met my uncle to a happy guard dog who is going to start her own dog family.
+During our trips both to and from my parents' hometown, we also enjoyed cendol.
+I love cendol, and the one served in a shop near my parents' hometown is my favourite, so we like to visit that shop to enjoy cendol when we travel to my parents' hometown.
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My parents and I stayed in a hotel for this year's Qingming Festival trip for one night. After returning to my home, I will soon need to prepare to attend 42 the computer science school's 26-day bootcamp, which will start on April 7.
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