Congratulations to newly WED couple !!

It took the whole journey approximately 3 hours+ from Puchong to Labis, Johor. It was under my sis request to capture below snapshots as she would be including them into her wedding slide show which entitle:

"my journey back to kampung for registration".

And so.......dun get bored, k?

My promised comparison will start here. Actually in order to arrive Labis, one must get through Tangkak first from the highway, then through Bukit Serampang before finally arriving at this 'wild' suburb call Labis. So from Plus Highway, the only exit to take was the Tangkak exit which then leads you to those 'kampung' roads which were super narrow.

Once we exited at Tangkak junction, below were the 2 scenes that flashed by our eyes for nearly an hour. Now I know what Labis & Tangkak are famous for !!!!

Palm Oil estate.

Rubber estate (i didn't even know what's these until my dad told us so)

The unexpected & horrible part of the drive started here. The 'kampung' road was extremely narrow & dangerous.........for those who can't imagine this, they were much much narrower & curvier than those heading to Kuantan & Trengganu (for a comparison)!! Hence my conclusion, it was no doubt that the journey to Labis was more challenging, so .....................

Verdict no. 1: the journey to Labis is more 'kampung' in this sense (as compared to the journey back to Kuala Kedah)!!

Despite the challenges, we finally arrived Labis ard 5pm !

The suburb looks as normal & as equal to other suburbs in Pahang, Kedah & Trengganu!

Verdict no. 2 = tie breaker

We were brought to 'checked into' this double storey terrace house that was booked for our 1 nite stay. We were quite impressive with the clean & neat environment of this house that has 5 rooms. So everyone has a good night sleep..........even our maid has a room ALL by herself, u say lar!! There were extra room bcoz my elder sis didn't make it to the trip as all 3 of her kids were down with sickness!
Check out below pic:........ 'kampung' was well famous & typical with this type of accommodation for outstation guest! It costs RM350 for the entire house i.e. RM75 per room with air-cond, huge fully furnished living & dining hall, fully equipped kitchen, heated bathroom plus ASTRO full channels ahh !!! Everyone took some rest before heading to the wedding party.

Next was the groom's house........it was a corner single storey terrace (size a bit like bungalow)........ looks to me the renovation was done not long ago so the house definitely doesn't qualified as a 'kampung' house.

Verdict no.3 = huby's hometown house was much more 'kampung' indeed, hehehe!!

Below are the 2 host.....the bride & groom. Notice the corsages.....the only indicator that identify the groom, bride & their respective parents coz there were no formal bridal attire!! It was such an amusement that we laughed & made fun of my sis:

ooi, u dressed like that already a "san leong"(/bride) ahh, bwahahaha????? again 'kampung' style!!!

Scot & ..............

Buffet Catering style of wedding dinner..........self-service!

When I was talking about a wed. dinner in a village with an uncle, he commented:

"that the fowl that you will be eating for tea(i.e. dinner) is fresh as it was wandering around under your feet one hour ago"

But too bad, it wasn't such a case at all............nope, no fresh seafood. It was just an ordinary buffet meal like those we used to have in a party (fried mee hoon, fried rice, fish ball, sausages, curry chicken & blablabla)

On the other hand, we were treated with a few exceptionally delicious & lip-smacking salads. We were lucky as Angus (my BIL)'s 2nd elder brother was a chef in KL Shangri-La hotel. He cooks for an Italian restaurant and so... you could well imagine the specialities of those salads. Below was one of them......apply walnut (those in brown) salad. There was another salad & bacon garlic toast which my sis reported were "award winning dishes".............walau ehh, u say we lucky or not??

Thai style salad but photos not doing well

OK, Done with food review, next proceed to entertainment.

I guess it was pretty norm or rather a culture to have a 'karaoke' session in a dinner hosted in any of the suburbs around our country! And the host didn't made an exception. Coincidentally my mom is a "super fan" of singing karaoke. She had & was still attending singing lesson with those "lou see"/singing teacher & participated in various singing competition. So that nite, she was thrilled to be able to showcase her skills.

Her "chan kar" (Angus's mom) was another sociable lady, accompanied my mom during d singing session.

You see, she even initiated the dance session while my mom sang, isn't it fun to have such sporting mom???

Unfortunately, I must mentioned that this culture of karaoke session in wedding dinner has been sort of "banned" in KL wedding dinner especially those held in 5 stars hotel as it was alleged to have deteriorates the "standards/class" of the entire reception which was purportedly to be a "posh" event instead!!

Even my own sis also has d same thinking & will ban this in the reception to be held in KL Concorde Hotel.

But since the 'kampung' style allowed that, the young ones did not hesitate to sing their lungs out. The married couple had a bunch of uni buddies that travelled all the way to celebrate their event in Labis.......just lucky to have such good buddies ehh??

Fortunately, the traditional "yam seng"/toasting session was still practised...................

But I was surprise there wasn't any tea ceremony with the groom's side of relatives. I guess it was merely a dinner treat for the neighbourhood along with an annoucement that their son has steal my sis as his wife! I was made to understood that event 'ang pow' given by guests were rejected by the host......now this is what i called "sincere" treat ehh, u agree?? As for the relatives of the groom, my sis said they will all be "transported" up to KL when the actual full chinese ceremony is held. So that tea offerings would have to wait another 2 months.........

The next morning after the dinner was the primary event i.e. marriage registration. It was done in a Segamat Hakka Association Centre as early as 8:30 in d morning, gosh !!

NICE????

I think the buddies made these for them......fun ehh?

"sure no regret??" "irreversible wan??"

swearing

signing d paper

ring exchange

The memorable event concluded with the bride throwing her hand bouquet !

After my task was done i.e. signing as the "witness" on behalf of my sis, all the guests were treated to the most famous 'bak kut teh' in Segamat!! It was after the brunch, that we left for KL..........

We headed to Melaka for a stop over...........supposingly for a snack/tea! Huby suggested the below place.........it maybe familiar to many coz apparently this place despite not outstanding, was crowded with both tourists & locals!!

Here are my review:

my thirst for this "cendol" was so fulfilled on that hot sunday !!

dissapointed "rojak"

yummillicious "asam fish", my mom loves this so so so much!!

Finally, the "nyonya laksa" was another 'sure to come back' meal..................

As much as we had only wanted some light snack, we just couldn't resist these wonderful delicacies of Melaka..........ooh my stomach, pity you'd worked hard!!

After the 'heavy meal', as it was only abt 1-2pm & we weren't in a rush to head home, we took a stroll at the new Pahlawan Shopping Mall!

Despite a short trip, it was hectic and memorable most importantly! So I ended this long-winded update with "my sweeties" handsome faces..........blek blek :P !!!

more photos are available at flikr !

The Royal London of Circus

Back dated post.

The twins had their first taste of a circus show during the recent boring Merdeka break. As for me, i think it must have been more than 10 years ago since my last attendance to a circus show. I remember during my first few toddler years (in Menglembu Ipoh), having a chance to watch circus show was such a luxury as back then, entertainment in such a rural area was very limited.

Actually The Royal London of Circus had been performing in M'sia quite a number of times but time wasn't right for us yet then. And I had a very high expectation initially though in the end was a bit dissapointed with the 'standard' of performance...........and we later reckon that it was a right choice not insisting on getting the expensive ticket. Furthermore, the price on Sunday nite was also lower!

Finally we paid RM25 for each pax instead of our initial plan of getting RM55 ticket, phew !!!

Anyhow, for the boys, the show was definitely still an awesome!!

Can't believe there was only ONE(1) single elephant, a poney, a little monkey & a dog in the entire show......... though there were also some chickens & birds that entertained the kids !

Nevertheless, few of the acrobatic actions like the below were worth some compliments!

And especially the below motorbike show, I must admit that it was a dangerous performance. With only a second of trivial mistake, a serious accident could happen! So this was worth mentioning!

Now, at least the boys had a circus encountering to be penned down in their journey!

A short trip but MEMORABLE one..........

The "LAI" family will be departing to a suburb called Labis in the state of Johor. I can't recall learning about this place during our national schooling days. According to my sis (Mag), it is a very undeveloped village or in other words....."sangat sangat kampung"!!

This in fact made me very anxious & curious as I considered my huby's hometown (Kuala Kedah) already very very very "kampung"!! So the comparison is inevitable...........i'm going to do a thorough one indeed, hehehe......see who married a more "kampung" boy !!!

Oh ya.......i got too excited & forgot mentioning about the objective of the trip!! As it denotes above, it's going to be a memorable one coz it is going to mark the beginning life of a young couple as "husband & wife", Mag & Angus will be having their marriage registration in Labis (Angus's hometown) on 9/9 Sunday morning. The nite before on Sat, there will be a simple party/catering at home for relatives & friends! And the actual chinese tea ceremony & "The Grand Wedding Reception" will only be held in KL coming November!!

It is indeed rare that all my sisters (5 of them) could make it together in a trip like this so i'm sure we all look forward to it very much & shall update with more photos soon............

Boring Holiday.......Part 2

Knowing that it was going to be a boring day, decided to do some 'masak-masak'/cooking. But not that i can be like her, it was just some light meals sufficient to fill the stomach!! Nothing to showcase. Just that we were lazy to go out hunting food plus trying to enjoy relaxing at our cozy home, so just prepared some "mashed potatoes+sweet potatoes+pumpkin" as snack for the kid anytime of the afternoon.

Just a little trick by filling up the "mashed" in little cup already made the little ones eat happily, appetite booster indeed !!

Then, main meal was only d simple, boring, easy yet sumptuous fried mee hoon !!

Next here, you see the boys boring or not............until nothing else to play!

CHALKS time........but on our wooden door! I don't mind as long as it could be easily cleanse & the boys were occupied productively !!

During their afternoon nap time, the boys even imitated mumy's role by helping each other to put on their nappy..........eeeee, shame shame lar......yeah, still not yet wean, what to do lazy lor !!

You say boring or not?

Boring Holiday............Part 1

Before this long break actually arrived, we had a long list of things-to-do in our plan.

Here was d list:

-go Sungkai village which was famous for the natural lake/pond for "legs soaking" session. There was also one with hot water (natural type wor) where people actually place eggs to boil;

-go Ulu Yam to eat d famous "lor mee";

-go Ijok to eat d famous salted chicken;

-go Bangsar eat d famous sarawak laksa plus long time never shop in d shopping mall there;

-go Kepong eat d famous seafood prawn mee (missed one very long time ago);

-go Jenjarum Temple & eat seafood while pass by Carey Island, Klang -- decided to leave this nearer to Mid Autumn festival, it will be more beautiful;

-go Pulau Ketam for seafood & boat riding;

See...........long list or not? But in the end, our lazy butts decided not to move! Too many excuses & so the list will have to wait...........

We slept until so late in d morning of Merdeka day until we missed the parade session we had intended to view. By the time we were all set to get out of d house, it was already 10+ so we headed straight to 1Utama Mall for a brunch (pasta & pizza) as we were also in a hunt for a pair of shoes for the boys suitable for formal occasion (my sis upcoming wedding). But in d end, we didn't find one.

Half way through, everyone was thristy & there we went for a sip of juice while allowing the sore feet to rest.

Since it was 31st of the month, we went hysteric & joined the long queue at Baskin Robin bcoz of the 31% discount lor. We got this can of ice-cream at RM15++.........quite big can lar !! Found a nice sofa along the path & whacked finish it right there & then !!

We spent so many hours there...........walking from new wing to old wing & back again, Parkson, Jusco, MPH & many other kids' shops. Left around 3pm+ & reached home nearly 4pm. A good nap was all we needed. Rested until my mom called for dinner & just had another casual meal together. Thereafter, we went over to book tickets for coming Sunday nite for a circus show by The Royal London Circus.

The boys kept asking about the circus............they couldn't wait until Sunday & so am I..............

Mumy follow school outing...........

Merdeka EVE was already an 'off day' for the twins as well as mumy! No school for the twins bcoz their kindy was organizing an outing to a Wild Life Theme Park & this time, mumy took leave to join them. Early in the Thurs morning, mumy had to fight through the terrible traffic jam at the Sunway toll.

The kids were getting ready in queue to get up to the bus........

The twins were eager to be able to board a coach again..........jakun city boy!!

Actually initially I don't exactly know where was the exact location of our destination. All I knew was it's near Sunway Lagoon. Not until we finally reached the place, I couldn't believe in the middle of the busy & hectic Sunway city, there lies a green natural forest i.e. the wild life theme park which actually belongs to the Sunway Lagoon (i think).

Coach making entrance to the park........

The park was fronting Sunway Lagoon............

Here was the wild life ranger giving a briefing to the kids before the tour started.

The school principal actually arranged the trip together with another Q-Dee branch in Pch Kinrara to make up the number to 300 so that the group is big enough to demand for some animal show which was not an event on a normal weekday!

If not seen & heard by my own eyes & ears, I wouldn't believe how havoc & tough was the job in just getting & arranging the kids into the above seating. The principal really shouted out of her lungs & boy.......i think if it was me, i would have ended up with a sore throat at the end of the session!

It was suppose to be a good show but UNFORTUNATELY the weather wasn't cooperating well. The show only started for about 10 mins......there goes out of sudden, rain drops dripping on our heads so quickly..........d principal yelled out to the kids to put on their hats (whoever had that, not for my boys). So you could imagine the disaster of it when hundreds of kids rushing out to seek shelter. Both principal shouted for their own people to different sites & yes, with the mess, there were kids that got missing........i.e. went to the wrong crowd !!! I told myself.....luckily I was there to mind my own boys.....cold sweat!!

Thank god, we were only kept under the shelter for about 5 mins. Immediately after the rain stopped, we continued with the jungle trail but never continue with the animal show.......they 'untung' lar !!

The kids managed to have a quick glimpse of some farm animals, birds before the weather threw tantrum again.

Love to see colorful birds...............

Kids feeding session was one the exciting part but the kids really needs to be monitored for some of them were treating the animals like their toys (i.e. torturing them) !!!The kids were also conned into a fishing session......the mini pond was almost fishless!! This was yet another worrying part for a paranoid mom like me, as there was no fencing surrounding the pond so with only a slight push, the kids could easily fell though the water was very shallow. And it happened right before my eyes, one of the boy fell into the pond, got wet all over & needed a change, gosh !!

Finally, the outing was concluded with a quick lunch at SS 15, Subang Jaya McD. Each kid was given 4 pcs of nuggets, fries & re-filled orange juice! Adults got McChicken burger, fries & coke! All gone for RM160 (entire trip)

My conclusion: it was a boring session for me though my boys enjoyed the outing very much. Ok ok i did adored seeing my boys having fun with their friends............
The obvious reason i felt bored was actually my kids enjoyed being with their friends more than their mumy though my presence made them felt much more secure!! Maybe d next time around, I should learn to let go my worries, trust the teachers & just let my boys hang out with their friends!

Reached home around 2pm & as I have been bored for long, I can't imagine confining myself with the kids at home anymore..........my mind has already flown elsewhere..... an indication of failure to be SAHM, haha!! So i got myself showered & zoom...... off I left the boys with my mom & maid, I went for my long needed facial session, hehehe !!

That's how I spent my off-day !!