4 Wedding Occasions & A Couple

The title is clearly stated. 4 wedding occasions held over 3 weeks, solely for a couple, namely Ray & SL. Not whining, but just unusual arrangement. Add in several colourful characters into the scene such as the Akurians (& their partners in crime) and u have 3 eventful weekends, which I can safely say memorable enough for the couple to remember for a generation at least.

The album with CD intact, proudly displayed at the champagne corner

It's all started with the gathering during Raya eve (1 week before the 1st week) for a project. See, if people like Theva can be the first person to arrive, u know it's a damn important project to come up with gift of sorts for the soon-to-be-wed couple. We produced this MTV style video presentation featuring ourselves (Too obscene to be shown here) plus photo album for the couple. 1 week later, there's the wedding dinner held first in restaurant near Bukit Bintang. Beautiful setting in a cosy (although small) area. No prize for guessing which table is the noisiest & has the loudest cheers during the "yam seng" drink session.

Our breaking point: When glasses broke

Move on to the next week, we have this pre-wedding buffet in the groom's house. Hell broke loose as the night went along. With consent from his parents, the plan is a surprise attack for Ray with flour & water. Witnessed by all his relatives, groom was left to fight for his survival with attacks from all corners with water & packets of tosai flour. With those Akurian peeps, u can expect "conspiracy within a conspriracy" whereby even Maj, Nei & myself also got attacked without any of us knowing it. I'm still trying to figure out who was the first to throw flour on me. Poor Ray with the 3rd surprise attack on him. We can't be blamed though, u always "create" the perfect setting & occasion for the peeps.

Here we go....

It's war....

The next day, we braced ourselves for another potentially dangerous occasion, the bride pick-up at SL's house at Ampang. Arrived at the doorstep of SL's house, we were faced with several challenges thrown by the bride's friends. There's food & drinks of all 4 tastes (sweet, sour, bitter & salty), waxing of leg hair (Hail the great Phil), calligraphy writing by groom, rap+beat box session by groom & mates and tens of packets of ang pows given away. Negotiation finally completed after 45 minutes. Thankfully, we're given challenges relatively modest by KL standard.

Gang preparing for toast, drinking whatever that's given....

We drove up north to Ipoh on the next weekend where the groom held another session of dinner for his Ipoh relatives. Rather, this is an excuse for us to have another fun trip together. Stayed in this Ritz Garden hotel presidential suite where it has an adjacent private pool, sauna, steam room & jacuzzi. A heavenly resting place & perfect area to leave our marks. Honestly, everybody mind is already in the pool, even during our dinner in restaurant. Spent 5 hours in the pool for camwhoring sessions to find the perfect shots. Had the best Ipoh "hor fun" in Ipoh Old Town for breakie the next day. We then proceed for another camwhoring session in Gua Tempurung before calling the end of 3 freakily mad weeks.

The gang with the sauna. jacuzzi & steam room behind

One of many camwhore shots taken in the pool

To Ray & SL, do enjoy the ride together. It won't be easy but faith & care for one another will make the journey worthwhile enough to last u a lifetime. Just a piece of an Uncle's mind..:)

Random Shots in Melaka

Showcasing some random shots taken in recent Melaka trip. Now I understand why photo enthusiasts love Melaka so much.

Serenity along Melaka river bank

Arsenal of the Porta de Santiago

Old pre war shophouses along the river bank

Windmill

Open area in a typical Baba Nyonya home, converted into a hotel

Hall in Hotel Puri, filmset of the Singaporean film "The Little Nyonya"

Indoor garden inside the home

Celebration of Union

Putting food aside, the actual reason for our recent Melaka was to witness an important event for our family. Bro & his gf, Janice moved a level up in their 8 years relationship (I think) by exchanging their vows on so-called auspicious date 090909. Total of 99 couples participated in a mass registration event on that day. Personally, I think the obsession of those auspicious marriage dates are all gimmick & has nothing to do with superstitions or customs whatsoever.

Anyhow, it was a beautiful celebration of unions on that day. Mom & Dad did not show it, but I knew they're really anxious & nervous about the day & anything else related prior to the day. Hard to explain it but it's like awaiting the birth of new baby in the family. Both families met for the first time but all talked as if everyone already knew of each other.

Congrats to the couple

99 balloons up in the air

Welcome to the family, Janice !!

Food Gastronomic Trip - Melaka

Making a foodie's trip can be frustrating at times, especially if the places are popular haunts with long queues. One of the way to avoid this is to do it during weekdays. Recent weekday trip to Melaka provided us the satisfaction of having good food with minimal queue. Actually, our family was there for a bigger occasion, witnessing the marriage registration for my bro, which shall be blogged later. As it's only 1.5 hours drive from KL, worth a second trip for "makan makan "next time.

Satay Celup (Restoran Ban Lee Siang, Jalan Ong Tee Kui)

Handmade Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball (Restoran Chung Woh, Jonker Street)

Hainanese Chicken Rice (Restoran Chung Woh)

Nyonya Cendol

Nyonya Rojak

Fresh Prawn Wonton (Note the 2 prawns in one wonton piece)

Durian Cendol

Gasing Hill Climb

I always dream to climb Mount Kinabalu one day, one of the things to do before I die. Before conquering the BIG one, u gotta start with the small one first to check ur standing. Even if ur exercising regularly, it does not means that u will have good endurance & stamina; something I learnt from the Fitness First trainer. The recent Gasing Hill climb during the Koran holiday was the perfect start to gauge that.

I just loved working in Selangor. During Selangor state holiday, great feeling to see people with their busy lifestyle while u just relaxing, doing ur own things at ur own sweet time...:) Went together with few of the Mahikari youths. For ur info, Gasing Hill was a reserved green area (I think it's a mini forest reserve) situated in Petaling Jaya. People frequented the place for its mini jungle walk. We started at the back entrance at 9am & ended at main entrance in one hour. I must say I underestimated this activity, thinking it will be a walk in the park. At the end of the walk, whole shirt was soaked with sweats. Some climbs are quite steep although trails are easy to follow. The result of endurance standing?? Passable but can be better. A second visit?? Yes, just need to get a face towel next time.

When stamina deteriorated after a tough strenous activity, energy from food will be required. Dim sum brunch is perfect to serve the purpose. And we went to this Key Way restaurant in Paramount Garden, which serves wide arrays of dim sum & other deserts. Food was surprisingly good at this modest place that we just keeping asking for the waiters with baskets (with steamed dim sum) to bring on the food. Price? Little bit higher than the rest but u just wouldn't mind paying more if the food was good. Really need to go back there again !! It's situated just in front of the post office in Paramount Garden, Petaling Jaya.

Layout map of Gasing Hill

One of the climbs up

Main entrance to the park

Steaming hot Dim Sum

More varieties !!!

Remember this name. I'm already checking out the day to visit here again

Sounds of Silent Dreams

Heard before of any drum performance by groups of Deaf? Sounds impossible but it's true. There's one who's consisted of multi racial deafs youths from YMCA & called themselves Deafbeat. One look at their performance, u wouldnt have thought of them actually being deaf. Personally knew most of the team members as friends of my sister who is also deaf.

Went to KLPac (Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre) recently to check out "Sounds of Silent Dreams". The highlight of course being the Chinese drum performance as opening. Perfectly synchronized drum beatings, coupled with superb teamwork & coordination, no wonder Nazir Razak of CIMB Foundation, the team patron & sponsor called them his "babies". So much so that the team was invited for a performance in Deaf Paralympics (deaf version of Olympics) in Hong Kong last year. The latest project was for them to be involved in theatre play & their latest play given the title above. Story tells of a boy who got entangled into a dream after a hard day work. Too bad camera not allowed into the hall, couldn take photos of the performers in actions. Anyhow, the play completed last 30th August & heard that it received rave reviews from press alike. Way to go guys & babes !!!! How about the dance musical by the deaf next??

Title of play

Rave reviews from media

Japanese styled restaurant in the garden nearby KLPac

Koi fishes in the garden pond