By Phyu Sin Chaw

UNLIKE other Burmese, my family didn't go 'home' very often. The term for Myanmar seemed awkward, because my family moved to Singapore when I was a child.

But I remember 'home' as my grandparents' house, a five-minute walk from the famed Shwedagon Pagoda.

I remember life in a developing country being pretty inconvenient, but the relaxed pace there was always a welcome change from the academic stress here.

For this food lover, the perennial pasar malam-like buzz in the streets, with stalls everywhere, was irresistible too.

Whenever we visited Myanmar, which was about once every two years, we always stayed with my maternal grandparents, who are both now over 60 years old.

I looked forward the most to our foodie expeditions together, especially the mornings when I would walk with my grandmother to the nearby Bahan Market for breakfast. Nga cheid paun, rakhine mon di - these words transformed plain balls of glutinous rice and fish-soup noodles into exotic delicacies.

During the weekends, my sister and I would also go around visiting various temples and shrines in Yangon. There was always something peaceful about them, and the hopefulness that accompanied our donations at each place.

We had fun too, feeding the turtles and fishes in the ponds of these compounds.

When Cyclone Nargis hit earlier this year, our relatives in Myanmar were, fortunately, not significantly affected.

But it was then that 'home' became more than a faraway concept.

The first thought that went through my mind was of my grandparents, and if they were okay.

Luckily, they were.

As I grow older, I find myself spending more time thinking about Myanmar, especially with my grandparents ageing, and a newborn cousin just added to our family.

My family and I didn't manage to return this year because we couldn't find the time.

I hope we get to go next year.

The writer, 21, is a third-year information systems and social sciences student at Singapore Management University.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on December 29, 2008.