foood... so much foooood...
So I'm about five days into my trip to Malaysia, and since I landed, it's been all about food, family and shopping.
The flight itself was good. I flew Cathay Pacific and those TV's in the head rests were AWESOME. I didn't even get around to reading all of the books I brought (seven of 'em).
FRIDAY, JUNE 24
Firstly, I got into KL around 1pm on Friday. After a brief missing-luggage scare, I arrived at my fifth aunt's house in decent shape. The suggestion was to hit up One Utama to do a little shopping until dinner.
So we went. I was good for about half an hour and then my sister had to drag me around half-asleep. It was a pretty sorry sight. Got back and took a power nap before meeting up with the family and eating food at home. Then more family started coming over. I called my cousins by the wrong name. Mainly because they were my cousin's friends, not my cousins.
Oops.
Suffice to say, I can't remember much about that night. I know we were planning stuff with two cousins who were to be the wedding's MC's. And we were debating if/what games we should play during the wedding, since that seems to not be the norm here.
So finally, I got to go to bed. Sweet, sweet bed. With air conditioning.
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
Right so, wedding day! If you've never been to a traditional Chinese wedding, here's a tip: Don't wonder when the wedding service is. There isn't one. Instead, the groom and his posse head over to the Bride's house to prove his worth. Think of it as Mario trying to rescue the princess and having to go through several levels, or tests, to finally have access to her. Hopefully minus Bowser.
He had to eat wasabi laden crackers, drink coke through two-foot long straws, sing, and the run of the mill bribery with money packets. Luckily, his crew could assist in some of the food ingestion trials.
He then sucessfully returns home with Bride in tow and a tea ceremony takes place, where, if you're younger and unmarried, it's a good thing. Yay red packets!
So of course, food happens here, and afterwards, we prep for the wedding dinner. Happened in a place called Cyberview Lodge in Cyber Jaya. Geek that my cousin is, I thought he picked this location in the Multimedia Super Corridor for obvious reasons. Running through the back of my head was the thought, "There must be SOME decent kind of connection here..." due to the intermittent net connection where I was staying.
It turns out he chose it 'cause it's a stunningly nice resort. There was a pool party that involved neither swimming, nor people arriving on time. I suspect the pool party was just so people started arriving before the actual dinner time.
We went on to dinner, (more food), and there were plenty of laughs in translation between the two MC's. We ended the night with the (apparently) time-honoured Chan family tradition of toasting the groom. With two fingers of brandy. Per cousin.
I have a lot of cousins.
Suffice to say, he got sick at some point during his wedding night, but we weren't present for that. I also managed to hijack the computer terminal with free internet from my cousin's honeymoon suite.
SUNDAY, JUNE 26
So we woke up to go to pay our respects to my Grandmother and Grandfather. We got lost enroute to (another one of) my cousin's house where we to meet up at 8am. Didn't get there until 9:30.
Now, I feel a bit bad because I don't know all the protocol or reason behind the bowing with insence part, but my sister and I just went along. Saw my great-great grandmother's resting place too. And like, a great uncle or something. I'm not sure.
Back to the homestead to meet up with the family for lunch.
Now, I know it's not the rule here, but seeing my baby nieces and nephews pull up giggling on the their parents' laps in a van full of my cousins disturbs me no end. I mean, don't they know their babies could go flying out of the windshield!? And Malaysia isn't the kind of place with really great driving rules in place.
So a Chan convoy of 5 cars and a van made their way to this seafood restaurant in the middle of no where to eat some good food. That's 29+3 toddlers, not including some missing family members off-continent and unavailable.
It's a big family.
After lunch, we went back to chill and play some Mario Kart with the newly married cousin. A quick history: this cousin stayed with my family for many years while he went to school in Canada. He also was the one to introduce the SNES in to my home. I have fond, fond memories of coming home one day to hear the sound of "shoryuken!" floating up the stairs.
good times, good times.
Then, off to dinner again with my cousin's family and some of his N. American friends in for the wedding. We had dessert at another place which uses ice and fruit toppings and sago. Very yummy, though we had some initial doubts of if we should ingest that much ice from an unknown source. So far, so good!
MONDAY, JUNE 27
Monday! Monday brings us to a day of visiting the eldest brother of my father. There's some estrangement here, so that's why this special trip. I forgot what fantastic fruit they grow in their garden. Got to eat mangoes, bananas and custard apple. So nummy.
Next on the visitation schedule, an old family friend of the family. We went to lunch and ate a fantastic meal. Shark's fin soup was super tasty, and we had this roast pig on top of glutinous rice. SO YUMMY.
We went to visit his daughter next, as she just had a baby girl not ten days before.
My sister and I got dropped off at One Utama again on our way back. With the fantastic exchange rate, (3:1!!), I bought soo many things. Shoes, clothes, jewellery, super cute bags. It was great. I mean, at these prices, I became a total shoe whore. seriously nice shoes for the equivalent of $10?! yes please!
Though, by the time 10pm rolled around, I was super tired. At some snacks, notably was the yummy kweh with coconut inside. yummmmmy.
TUESDAY, JUNE 28
After a fairly leisurly morning, my sister, niece and I packed a small bag to join my cousin to go to Singapore for a couple days. It's a four hour ride or so and it went uneventfully.
Went to dinner at The Line and can I say? All-you-can-eat has lost the stigma for me. I can't upload pics now, but it's BEAUTIFUL. and the food is all high-grade food. and the desserts... !!!!! I have photos I'll share later, but it took me about fifteen minutes of photo-taking and indecisiveness over what I should eat before I could even pick up a plate.
edit: added a link to The Line
I'm stuffed now, and it's a nice way to end my day by finally being able to sit down and write so I don't forget all of this! I also have to say how nice it is to have a family that is so close. Warm fuzzies all over!
The flight itself was good. I flew Cathay Pacific and those TV's in the head rests were AWESOME. I didn't even get around to reading all of the books I brought (seven of 'em).
FRIDAY, JUNE 24
Firstly, I got into KL around 1pm on Friday. After a brief missing-luggage scare, I arrived at my fifth aunt's house in decent shape. The suggestion was to hit up One Utama to do a little shopping until dinner.
So we went. I was good for about half an hour and then my sister had to drag me around half-asleep. It was a pretty sorry sight. Got back and took a power nap before meeting up with the family and eating food at home. Then more family started coming over. I called my cousins by the wrong name. Mainly because they were my cousin's friends, not my cousins.
Oops.
Suffice to say, I can't remember much about that night. I know we were planning stuff with two cousins who were to be the wedding's MC's. And we were debating if/what games we should play during the wedding, since that seems to not be the norm here.
So finally, I got to go to bed. Sweet, sweet bed. With air conditioning.
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
Right so, wedding day! If you've never been to a traditional Chinese wedding, here's a tip: Don't wonder when the wedding service is. There isn't one. Instead, the groom and his posse head over to the Bride's house to prove his worth. Think of it as Mario trying to rescue the princess and having to go through several levels, or tests, to finally have access to her. Hopefully minus Bowser.
He had to eat wasabi laden crackers, drink coke through two-foot long straws, sing, and the run of the mill bribery with money packets. Luckily, his crew could assist in some of the food ingestion trials.
He then sucessfully returns home with Bride in tow and a tea ceremony takes place, where, if you're younger and unmarried, it's a good thing. Yay red packets!
So of course, food happens here, and afterwards, we prep for the wedding dinner. Happened in a place called Cyberview Lodge in Cyber Jaya. Geek that my cousin is, I thought he picked this location in the Multimedia Super Corridor for obvious reasons. Running through the back of my head was the thought, "There must be SOME decent kind of connection here..." due to the intermittent net connection where I was staying.
It turns out he chose it 'cause it's a stunningly nice resort. There was a pool party that involved neither swimming, nor people arriving on time. I suspect the pool party was just so people started arriving before the actual dinner time.
We went on to dinner, (more food), and there were plenty of laughs in translation between the two MC's. We ended the night with the (apparently) time-honoured Chan family tradition of toasting the groom. With two fingers of brandy. Per cousin.
I have a lot of cousins.
Suffice to say, he got sick at some point during his wedding night, but we weren't present for that. I also managed to hijack the computer terminal with free internet from my cousin's honeymoon suite.
SUNDAY, JUNE 26
So we woke up to go to pay our respects to my Grandmother and Grandfather. We got lost enroute to (another one of) my cousin's house where we to meet up at 8am. Didn't get there until 9:30.
Now, I feel a bit bad because I don't know all the protocol or reason behind the bowing with insence part, but my sister and I just went along. Saw my great-great grandmother's resting place too. And like, a great uncle or something. I'm not sure.
Back to the homestead to meet up with the family for lunch.
Now, I know it's not the rule here, but seeing my baby nieces and nephews pull up giggling on the their parents' laps in a van full of my cousins disturbs me no end. I mean, don't they know their babies could go flying out of the windshield!? And Malaysia isn't the kind of place with really great driving rules in place.
So a Chan convoy of 5 cars and a van made their way to this seafood restaurant in the middle of no where to eat some good food. That's 29+3 toddlers, not including some missing family members off-continent and unavailable.
It's a big family.
After lunch, we went back to chill and play some Mario Kart with the newly married cousin. A quick history: this cousin stayed with my family for many years while he went to school in Canada. He also was the one to introduce the SNES in to my home. I have fond, fond memories of coming home one day to hear the sound of "shoryuken!" floating up the stairs.
good times, good times.
Then, off to dinner again with my cousin's family and some of his N. American friends in for the wedding. We had dessert at another place which uses ice and fruit toppings and sago. Very yummy, though we had some initial doubts of if we should ingest that much ice from an unknown source. So far, so good!
MONDAY, JUNE 27
Monday! Monday brings us to a day of visiting the eldest brother of my father. There's some estrangement here, so that's why this special trip. I forgot what fantastic fruit they grow in their garden. Got to eat mangoes, bananas and custard apple. So nummy.
Next on the visitation schedule, an old family friend of the family. We went to lunch and ate a fantastic meal. Shark's fin soup was super tasty, and we had this roast pig on top of glutinous rice. SO YUMMY.
We went to visit his daughter next, as she just had a baby girl not ten days before.
My sister and I got dropped off at One Utama again on our way back. With the fantastic exchange rate, (3:1!!), I bought soo many things. Shoes, clothes, jewellery, super cute bags. It was great. I mean, at these prices, I became a total shoe whore. seriously nice shoes for the equivalent of $10?! yes please!
Though, by the time 10pm rolled around, I was super tired. At some snacks, notably was the yummy kweh with coconut inside. yummmmmy.
TUESDAY, JUNE 28
After a fairly leisurly morning, my sister, niece and I packed a small bag to join my cousin to go to Singapore for a couple days. It's a four hour ride or so and it went uneventfully.
Went to dinner at The Line and can I say? All-you-can-eat has lost the stigma for me. I can't upload pics now, but it's BEAUTIFUL. and the food is all high-grade food. and the desserts... !!!!! I have photos I'll share later, but it took me about fifteen minutes of photo-taking and indecisiveness over what I should eat before I could even pick up a plate.
edit: added a link to The Line
I'm stuffed now, and it's a nice way to end my day by finally being able to sit down and write so I don't forget all of this! I also have to say how nice it is to have a family that is so close. Warm fuzzies all over!