Xiao Wang's Wedding

Today is Xiao Wang a.k.a Chee Guan's marriage day (31st March). He invited Sabby a.k.a Sebestian, Xiao Hei a.k.a Tan Rui and me as his brothers, of course with Irene tagging along. All of us have our role to play and we had aligned the tasks during last week meeting. We meetup at Xiao Wang's parental home at 7am and set off for his wife's parental home.

The drive was pretty short as we traveled from Pasir Ris to Tampines to pickup his wife. Both Sabby and I drove our cars to follow the wedding car, which was the 'Subaru Legacy'. This is something new, thought most people would choose Mercs, BMWs or Jaguars...

Anyway, check out the car plate number, 7573. Xiao Hei who was in my car, insist that we buy this set for the weekend. We were planing to make time in the afternoon to go buy some 'opportunity to strike rich'. Traffic was dense throughout the journey, of course, who want to wake up so early on a Saturday. The ride was only about 10 min and it could be faster if not for the convoy.

Xiao Wang's door was opened by a small boy, and was given an 'ang bao' for that. It reminds me of the time when I opened the door for my brother-in-law. I told him to wind down the window first and hand me the 'ang bao' to check the price before I agree to open the door!

We hang around downstairs while waiting for the bride family to prepare, anyway we are ahead of schedule. Sabby and I tied the ribbons onto our car doors to indicate that we are the bridal cars. This way, it represent that our cars are on parking coupons at all times. "No summon, auntie, car got ribbons!"

Finally, its time to go up to fetch the bride, whom we need to wrestle from the evil, money greed-sicken sisters. As usual, playing games that completely humiliate manhood, who invented such things? Why do they have to make things difficult for the guys? Doesn't mean through this, the man will treasure his wife?


Anyway 1st quiz, what is the sum of your wife age and the number of months you have been together. "Can't help you!" is the 1st remark that we brothers made. What to do, these are question to test the guy's memory which most do not have it. So, what is the consequence for guessing wrong? Push-ups! Remind me again, why did we agree to be his brothers?


After the mindless games, eating wasabi on stick cracker and bribing with 'ang baos' to the sisters, we finally breached the first gate. Nothing new, there is always this 2nd gate. This time its up to the bride groom, the brothers can only rest while waiting.

Xiao Wang had to sign a 10 commandment contract and recite the contents to his wife, with regards to, you know, 'my $ is her $, her $ is her $' and 'I shall bring her for oversea holidays thrice every year' and etc. The woman strikes two, the man's pride dropped by another 1 point. Someone should stand up and stop all these nonsense. But who? Not me, I'm busy with the drinks, too thirsty with all those shouting and cheering. The other two brothers had their time already and were immue to it.

Finally, Xiao Wang got his wife out of the room. Then they began with the tea ceremony with the bride family and relatives. This is the time where the newly wed couple serve cups of tea to their elderly while kneeling down. Lucky it was pretty short as there wasn't much relatives from the bride's side. Guess its because most of her relatives are in Malaysia, yep she was Malaysian.

A round of applause for the Man of the Day.

Next, we set off to Pasir Ris Park (Fisherman Village) for a photo shoot. The weather was getting warmer and most of us were getting tires and restless. The most pitiful persons should be the wedding couple, as their clothes were thicker than ours. Irene and I had to participate in the flower throwing game. The rest of the brothers and sisters are all married, so its left to Irene and me to do the job. Luckily I managed to catch the back thrown flowers, that save a lot of embarrassment as there were only 2 person standing behind the bride.

The remaining journey of the day were going back to their new home in Pasir Ris for "Dian Teng" which means switching on the bed lamp that suggest bringing kids into the family. After which we went to Xiao Wang's place for the tea ceremony to Xiao Wang's family and relatives. By the time we finish all the stuff, it was already 2pm plus. The newly weds drove to the Grand Plaza Hotel on their own while the rest of us went back home to rest before the dinner.

No Summon, told you the ribbons works!

Road Trip to Kuala Lumpur

I took leave on Friday (23 March) and we booked a hotel stay in KL for 2 nights. This was our 1st road trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in my car. We have been looking forward for this holiday but with much anxiety as the journey could be too adventurous for both of us to handle. Problems like loosing our way, car breakdown, accidents or maybe robbery were challenges that we may face during the journey.

We set off at 6am from my place where we traveled to Tuas, 2nd link to get to the North-South Expressway. Traffic was pretty light and there were little vehicles on the road, that makes the drive easy. Along the way we made few stops at the R&R (rest stations) for toilet breaks and some bites for the growling stomach. The speed limit was 110km/h and I drove approximately 120km/h until my car was pulled over at a police temporary check point. I was cursing and swearing when I slowed down my car and winded down my window to face the police officer. He asked for my driving license for verification and then told me it was just a check and set me on the road again. Whew, what a close shave...

When approaching the city, the traffic built up and our car had to crawl amongst the vehicles driven people for work. Finally, we managed to reach our hotel, Novotel Hydro Majestic, at around 11.30am. The room was fabulous and everything looks very new, Irene mentioned about this hotel being around 1 year old. After some rest, we stepped out of the hotel to explore the surroundings.


The city looks very busy with congested roads and heavy human traffic. Our hotel was very close to the central business district or should I called it 'Orchard Road' instead. Things were not as cheap as we thought it should be. The price were equivalent to what you pay back in Singapore for those branded stuff. Unless you go for those local brand stuff then it will be slightly cheaper, but as they always say "you pay what you get what".



We managed to find a coffee-shop at the outskirt of the city and it looked very authentic. We went in and ordered ourselves a plate of wanton mee with a glass of sweet plum drink each. It was great! What luck to be able to find good local food. However the price was quite same to the price that we paid when eating in Singapore coffee-shop (non-aircon).


After a couple of hours of strolling around the city, we decided to call it a day as we felt tired and needed our rest. We made our way back to the hotel for some rest before coming out in the night for dinner. We had KFC for dinner and the chicken taste much similar to Singapore's but more tastier.


Saturday we had our breakfast in the hotel, then we left for 'Sunway Lagoon'. This was an tourist attraction place similar to Singapore's 'Wild Wild Wet' concept but here there were more highlights. There were 'Waters of Africa', 'Wild Wild West', 'World of Adventures;, 'Surf Beach' and 'Wildlife Interaction Zoo' etc. This place was with filled with excitement in the air and we walked around to take with shots. The long bridge was like the tree top walk but the trees were not amongst us except water. We also enjoyed some of the amusement park theme rides like "Pirate ship' that swings CW & CCW & complete round making us dizzy after.


The weather became bad, the dark cloud starts to gather and we smell rain coming. We quickly changed our clothings and dumped our belongings into the lockers. Then we rented a dumbo ring each for use in the lazy pool where we enjoyed the floating while waiting for the rain to cease. After which, we queued at a few water rides before we called it a day at the wave pool. It was around evening time when we left the place.


The 'Sunway Lagoon' had a gigantic shopping mall and we found a BBQ place that looks very tempting. We ordered a mixed meat (pork, chicken, beaf and some seafood) for a price of RM$38 and we started cooking our dinner over the hot plate. Delicious! After the dinner, we left for our hotel in cab after completing few rounds in the mall.

Sunday was very relaxing for us as we were trying to calm ourselves as our holiday was ending soon. We spend the morning in the hotel's pool where we enjoyed the tanning and some swimming before we packing our belongings and checked out of the hotel.

The journey was back was much easier as traffic was like light, perhaps it was a Sunday. We managed to find our way up the expressway and begun our drive back to Singapore, having in mind to complete the drive shorter than the Friday's. We were cruising at around 120km/h and half way we were again stopped at the police temporary check point. We were not the only cars, in front of me was one row of Singapore cars. This time there were no cheerful greetings, instead the officer told me that I was speeding at 123km/h and the limit was at 110km/h. He then asked for my license and followed with a question "Want to issue summon?". Huh? What is this? I told him 'no' and he replied "You wanna pay now?". "How much?", "RM$50", "Can less, how abt RM$40?", "Sorry no." added with a smile. @#$%^%&$#!!!, I paid the guy the money while he carefully rolled into his palm and said "Driving safely". I am on the road again. When I looked back, they were still pulling over Singapore cars while they ignored those Malaysian cars. What is this? You think their national cars are slower then me? They were cruising at around 130-140km/h and I was merely 123km/h (the extra 3km/h was due to the steep slope). This was so obvious. Why, Singaporeans rich?

We stopped for dinner at KFC again, at a nearby R&R place. Then we quickly back into the car and carry on the drive cautiously at around 110km/h. The trip is about 4.5 hours before we reach the 2nd link and another half an hour from there to reach home. What a tiring ride, not to mention, I was on the wheel at all times and Irene was enjoying in her passenger seat.

Dinner at Iciban, Novena Square

Took Mum and Irene for dinner at Iciban, our favourite Japanese restaurant, located in Novena Square. I ordered myself a green tea cold noodle that only myself enjoyed. What a pity both of them can appreciate the good food. We left the place with a complete filled stomach and the ladies spend some time shopping to digest.

Kulim, Malaysia, Part 2

The next morning, I took a cab to Kulim plant and the journey was around 30mins. I was greeted by my colleague over in Kulim and he introduced me to his bosses. After the introduction, I was brought to the clean-room for a line tour.

It was an eye opening to me to see some other people's factory. Their layout, cleanroom suits, procedures and machines are so different to ours despite we are in the same company. I had a good time trying to remember what I have seen so that I could share with my colleagues in Singapore.

I was brought out for lunch by their group of process engineers, and they took to eat Penang Laksa. I believed that was my first time having this dish and it was good. The noodle, the sweet sour soup and the minced fish meat do taste pretty good. These bunch of Kulim colleagues were pretty friendly and it was enjoyable to mix with them.

After meal, we continue back our discussion in the office until evening where I bid them farewell as I need to catch the plane back to Singapore. It was raining cats and dogs when I stepped out of the building, and to make things worst, my cab was late for nearly an hour. I was so worried that I will missed the plane, but luckily I was still an hour in time before the take-off.

Kulim, Malaysia

Flew to Kulim today for business trip. My flight was scheduled at 3:40pm and I took the whole day off as I need to pack. Irene came over to pick me up and send me to the airport. There was this electronic station that can help to assist your check-in (if you do not need to check-in luggage) without the hassle of queuing. However my passport failed to be identified by the system as it reflected "expired". Yep, my passport was manually updated to allow 10 years usage upon my accomplishment of NS. Never mind, the queue was not long so I check-in through the usual way.

The flight in Singapore Airline was a hour journey to Penang airport. I only realized now that Penang is an island on its own, I used to believe that it is on the main eastern land. From the airport I was picked up by a chauffeur dispatch from the hotel and ferried me to the main land. There was this long bridge that connects Penang with main land, and I could see the majestic view of the bridge when I was on the plane.

The journey was pretty smooth as the driver told me it was till not "peak time" yet. If we were to travel another half an hour later, we would stuck with heavy traffic due to knock-off time. I reached the Sunway Hotel in Butterworth after half an hour ride. I checked into the hotel which looks fairly ok, guess it should be only 3 stars.


Lucky they gave me one King size bed else I am going to complain if they give me a double bed room. I prefer to sleep on a big bed so that I can roll on it. I dropped my bag and went out to have my dinner. Ordered roti prata for dinner in some nearby coffeeshop and that cost me only about $3 ringits. Went back to my room and played my favourite mp3 songs using my PsP for the night while I go through the necessary presentation foils for tomorrow. Around 11 plus, my stomach starts to growl again so I had to order room service for a plate of drum and fries. I am growing fatter!

My 33rd Birthday

Finally, I am 33 years old this year. What's new?

Another boring increasing number to my age, how long more am I suppose to count until? Once a person hit above 30, there is nothing he can look forward to for his birthday, except reducing his age.

Today, Irene brought me to this German restaurant located in Vivio City. I have problems trying to remember the name of the restaurant and the food that we have ordered.

Anyway, back to the Birthday celebration. The place was situated next to the riverbank or should I say the sea that seperates from Sentosa island. The scenery was superb as we got to see the bridge that links between the main land and Sentosa, the cable cars traveling between the cable-car towers, the mini-train that travels out of Sentosa to pick & fetch passengers from mainland and passing big ships. Very relaxing and enjoying as we sipped our beer down our thirsty throat. This is a highly recommended makan place, we were discussing how to introduce this to our friends here for the next meal.


We ordered a meal for two and its a fried combo stuff with shrimps, fish cakes, chicken fillets and generous serving of potato wedges. We shared a bowl of onion soup with minced crab meat, and it was nice. We wanted to order their special "pork knuckles" but worried that we may not be able to finish it so we gave up.

We spent close to two hours enjoying our meal and had a good chat about the makan place and my trip to Kulim the next day. After the meal, Irene paid close to $70 and both of us felt tipsy after a single mug beer each. Must be the age catching up.....

We walked around Vivo city and also went to glance at the latest much talkabout "St. James Power Station" located next to the mall. There were luxury cars like BMW, Merc S-class, Porche and Ferraris parked outside the small carpark. What a sight. We decided to make opportunity to visit this place if we are going to 'chiong'.

We left for my place to open the birthday present that Irene bought for me........ stay tune......

Tremors in Singapore

Today at work some colleagues mentioned that they felt giddy, some said they felt that someone was shaking their tables. All this was because there was an earthquake in central Sumatra, Indonesia, at 11.49am. The occurrence is approximately 430km away from Singapore and the magnitude was measured to be 6.6 on the Richter scale.

According to the local news, several buildings like the Concourse at Beach Road, Capital Square and Centennial Tower in the city, and even Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Clementi, were evacuated. Callers to the MediaCorp News Hotline reported tremors were also felt at Beach Road and Choa Chu Kang. Witnesses said some tall buildings in the central business district swayed slightly. Police said there were no reports of injuries from the tremors in Singapore.

• CNN news report

• CNA news report
  

Prayer is a Supplement

This is a funny video.