Vincent Wong n Siew Fong (1)

I'm going ahead to writeup about Vincent Wong and Siew Fong's wedding day with the photos that I have. I am still waiting for Vincent's photos which would have me in it as well.

Vincent is Elaine's elder and only brother. And when he finally decided to tie the knot, I knew I would somehow get roped in to help. Even before the day itself, I was already helping them out by printing part of the invitation card. The images Vincent gave me were not great to start with and I have to massage the photo to get the quality that he wanted.

For the wedding day itself, I was first asked to be the cameraman. Luckily, he found 2 other professional photographers to take care of that detail as my Lumix was in the Panasonic workshop for a faulty display cable. Then he found out that I had a Sony Handycam - the one with 60G of HD. So I was opted as the videoman. I had another Lumix, so I co-opted Alex to be backup cameraman - and that's how I got a whole load of photos for this blog. And a few days before the event his mum called - can you be the MC too?? Choke!! Choke!!! MC? Haiz - isn't there anyone else? Nolah - if any of his Heng Dai get too drunk, he don't want them mouthing nonsense on stage.

So on the morning of Vincent's big day, I woke up at 6am, got Alex to do the same and we had a McDonald's breakfast. By 7am, we were at Vincent's house in Lagenda Mas. Waited for the Heng Dais to arrive as well as the bridal car and we were off to Tanjong Malim by 8am.

When we arrived at Siew Fong's house (actually it's a shoplot), we had to wait as her brother and some other relatives went off to buy breakfast for the starving Heng Dais. And after what seemed like a long wait, the new brother came over, haggled with Vincent on the right amount of Hong Bao (red packet) he should get before he would open the door for his new brother in law.The haggling didn't take too long and a happy Vincent finally got to step out of his bridal prison.

Upstairs - more wait was in store as the bride was putting on finishing touches. So the whole entourage was feted to roast pig, nasi lemak and drinks. Vincent got a separate dish of roast pork - supposedly not offered in prayers to the Taoist Gods. I cannot imagine the pig going to the altar with part of it's body carved out so that that part is not offered!! One of the Heng Dais saw a trio of parangs on one side and remarked that if Vincent don't make an offer that Siew Fong's family cannot resist, we may not get out of there alive!!

Okay - breakfast over and the show starts!! In Chinese cultural weddings, it is not an easy road for the groom to get his bride. In addition to bribing his future brother in law, he has to bribe and satisfy the Ji Muis on the bride's side. If not, he does not get to go into the room where the bride is waiting. The Ji Muis had prepared a series of herculean tasks for the groom and his entourage to complete before they are allowed to see the bride. The whole show dragged on for almost 30 minutes before the door was finally opened! And I am sure, to Vincent, the drama was worth it!!

Next act was the tea ceremony and then the customary family photos.

Vincent - if you have not already done so - look closely and recognize all these people. They are part of your family now.

Ijok New Beggar Chicken

Ha!! finally got the photos from Vincent. Looks like he was in a hurry to whack the food, so the photos turned out a little shaky. Never mind - the food was good and every reason not to spend too much time on photography.

When I booked a table for 10, the restaurant assumed that I was going for the dinner set. And I was wondering why he never asked me what I wanted for that night. Lesson learned - there are a lot of other food in the restaurant and there were some selections that I would have preferred to make. Still.... the dinner set was good. Alan, Alexandra's friend gave this place a 4 out of 5 - and only because there were a couple of stray dogs wandering around the tables.

I invited Siew Mei and family (but her husband had a kenduri to attend the same nite. So Ahsley followed the mum and Amelie followed her dad). There was Stephan and Janet, Vincent and Madeline. I finally managed to get one of my unmet e-pal to join us for the dinner. That's a friend I made on the internet whom I have not met face to face before. Luckily, I only have one handful of such friends. Alexandra came with her boyfriend Alan.

We had beggar chicken, beggar duck, beggar rice, beggar pig trotters, a pot of pig stomach soup, green vegetables, fried prawns, crabs, steamed fish. With about half the food served, almost everyone abandoned any thoughts of taking more photos. Everyone was attacking the food with gusto. Ashley epitomized our enjoyment of the food for the night!!

Yum Yum

Xmas will soon be upon us (2)

Actually, I have a couple of other topics to write about. One - I am waiting for the photos from Vincent (forgot to take any during the dinner at Ijok). The other, I am also waiting for Vincent (the other one) for his photos from his official photographers. I was only his videoman, MC, money counter and part time amateur cameraman for his wedding. I am sure his professional cameramen had much better shots than me.

So.... for this writeup - here's a round of around the shopping complexes in KL and PJ and how they spruced up for Xmas.

1 Utama finally got their decor up, but I don't think it was that impressive. The theme seems to be Alice in Wonderland, but I find the decor too flat. If you move over to the old wing, one of their tenants had a slightly more lively decor. But not by much since it is on a smaller scale

Nearby, in the IKEA/Ikano/Curve/TESCO complexes, I found the decor more well thought out and impressive.

The Curve has my vote so far for a really well thought out setup. They had a kind of a garden layout, with 4 entrances, animal shaped genuine fake bushes and elves a plenty. They even had at least 2 of the Christmas trees rotating on one side! The walkway leading from Cineleisure to the centre court had beautiful arches . Some of the tenants in the Curve also did up their premises - like Marche and TGIF.

The media raved about the decor in Ikano, but frankly I found it to be not as good as the Curve's. But it was definitely better than 1 Utama's. Ikano had a white Christmasy setting, with genuine fake snow all over the floor.

I have yet to visit Sunway Pyramid, The Mines and Bangsar Village to see their decor.

Akan datang (coming soon in Malay)

Xmas will soon be upon us (1)

First of all, the oft aborted dinner at the New Beggar chicken in Ijok managed to go ahead with 11 people. Some new friends, some very old friends, some relatives. It must have been the sight of so many cameras popping out when the dishes arrived that I forgot to take any photos. Have to wait for Vincent's photos to do justice for that night.

When I was in Singapore end of October, the Xmas decor was already being strung up all over the island and especially in the tourists spots. In Malaysia, Xmas decor has been slow to be put up. Wonder why. My Xmas tree at home is already up!!

Here is what it looks like in The Gardens and Mid Valley.

The Gardens had some awful looking bunch of leaves hanging at the Robinson's and Isetan ends of the mall. Luckily, the center court had something a little different, though I have no idea what bird cages have to do with Xmas.

The Mid Valley trees were still being assembled in the background. Preparations at 1 Utama is still a mess

Tsk Tsk Tsk!

An emotionally distressing weekend that lasted into Monday

First of all, I would like to proffer to Keshav Sharma condolences on the untimely demise of his 14 year old daughter. This had happened on Sunday in New Delhi, but I only got to know of it from my emails late evening of Monday. Keshav used to report to me as part of the AP CE Assist team and I know he will be badly hit by this tragedy. Keshav, you need to be strong for the living. May your daughter rest in peace!

On Sunday, just as I had reached the office (was trying to catch up on a project presentation prep work), my wife called up to say that my Mum's brother had passed away. I had just sent my Mum to church earlier in the morning and I was not sure how she would take the news as Uncle was showing up at my house every fortnight when he was on leave for the past few years. So I called up Elaine and asked her to go to the Chinese Church services and send my Mum home. She was not to tell her anything other than I had asked her to be home due to an emergency. On reflection, that was a big mistake as she was thinking of the worst possible scenarios. Was it my sister in London? Was it someone else in the house? When she reached home, my wife told her the news and she calmed down. I had to quickly finish off my prep work and went home within an hour.

Uncle was on leave since Saturday and had turned up at his daughter's apartment as was his usual practice. He was already 71 years old and working odd jobs at the temple halfway up Genting Highlands just to pass the time. My cousin, Suit Fong, went to his room to wake him and realized that he was dead. He died in his sleep with a hint of a smile on his face.

Mum and I then left the funeral arrangements to my cousins as we took my niece to my house so that she would be out of the way as the morticians got about their chores. By the evening, all of us showed up at the funeral parlor by 6.30pm. My other cousin brother, Wai Fong, had embraced Christianity a few years ago and wanted his Dad's funeral arrangement to be a Christian affair. His Church Pastor and almost 50 of his Church members turned up for the wake. Luckily Mum had the foresight to buy 80 pieces of pastry to feed the army that came. We had bought those pastries only a couple of hours before showing up at the funeral parlor.

When the Church service and eulogies were completed, everyone went home, except Wai Fong, who spent the night accompanying his Dad's coffin.

Next morning, after breakfast, all of us showed up at the funeral parlor again. This time, almost all of my Mum's step brothers (only a couple turned up the previous night) showed up. Only one did not make it as he was shepherding a tour group in Japan.

The Pastor and the Church turned up again for a final service. When that was finished, the coffin was loaded onto the hearse and the whole entourage made it's way to the crematorium.

With one more eulogy and sermon, all the people present said their final goodbyes and the coffin was lowered to a lower level where the coffin was then wheeled into the crematorium oven for cremation.

Goodbye Uncle Lee Hon Wing (26th Sep 1937 to 23rd Nov 2008). Rest in Peace