Hi there!
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I came from a family where my dad is the 11th child (the youngest, of course). I grew up spending much time with uncles, aunties and many cousins. It was quite a norm for us to gather at my late eldest uncle’s house whenever there were long holidays. He didn't have a big mansion to house all of us, in fact, he and his family of 8 lived in a small single-storey house, about 18ft x 60ft, situated in Kampar, Perak. There were only 2 bedrooms, 1 shower and 1 toilet. There was no air-conditioning, only ceiling and table fans.
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Memories of my childhood days still linger on. There were more than 20 of us gathered in his little house during school holidays or any festive seasons, especially Chinese New Year. You may think, "How could this be possible? Wouldn't it be too crowded? Were the younger ones forced to go there by the adults?" NO WAY! In fact, we, the younger ones then, begged our parents to bring us there as early as possible when any holidays started.
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We didn't mind the lack of space in the house. Our playground was not confined to the house alone. There was so much to do outside the house. Our focus was just to be together and have fun. We made kites and competed with neighbours, we were so proud to have caught fish in the "longkang", we caught birds and released them later, we plucked coconut and ate them fresh, we fought and played again.
Our aunties were busy chatting, cooking, cleaning, etc., while our uncles were busy catching up with news, politics, economy, their conversations didn't seem to able to end.
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Yes, we didn't have enough beds but we're happy with mattresses. The aunties with baby cousins would occupy the bedrooms. While the rest would sleep in the living hall on the mattresses, of course. The uncles would sleep in the dining hall. Whoever slept the last would just have to look for any available slot to lay his head. On a good night, there would be peace and quiet. On a not so good night, we would have baby cousins crying throughout the night. We didn't mind that either.
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Now it's really not possible for all of us to return to the little house in Kampar to spend a night. There are more than 50 of us in total now, and the number is growing. We've got married, with kids. Even some of our nephews and nieces have also married and with kids. Well, we didn't allow our numbers to stop us from meeting up and spending time together. If the little house could not fit us, we looked for other venues..
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For the past few years, we tried different home-stays. The first one we went to was a single-storey bungalow but it has rooms situated quite far away from the main hall. The second one was a 4-storey bungalow and it was quite a task for the elderly to climb the stairs to the rooms and also for other
activities. It was not safe for the little ones to run and jump up and down the stairs. Instead of resting and relaxing, the young parents were more stressed watching out for the little ones.
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After having been to 2 sites, I thought, "Why don't I get a place and turn it into a holiday home where other big families like mine could also enjoy each other's company for a weekend, holiday getaway or a family gathering during the festive seasons?" So, this brought forth the birth of Ode to Joy, Serendah.
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This is our little family's venture and we've not been in this line of business. It took us quite a long while to decide to do this after pondering upon a quote from Sir Richard Branson (founder for Virgin Group), "Entrepreneurship isn’t about selling things or services – it is about finding innovative ways to improve people’s lives."
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We sincerely hope that our little humble holiday home, Ode to Joy, Serendah, would be a place where your families and friends would take home with you loads of memories and moments to be cherished in the years to come.
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Seize the moment with your family and loved ones! Enjoy!