Chun Ching and Jin Yee's Wedding

At long last, my long time buddy CC Liew has gotten himself hitched! The night before was bachelor's night at his very own home, which was just 10 minutes drive from my office. This deceptively implies that it would be a simple task for me to at least arrive on time. Alas, that day, I receive a last minute high priority task at work, hence it wasn't until after 8pm could I only leave my office. A seemingly quick stop for refueling took much longer than expected (there was something wrong with the credit card reader at the pump, eventually forcing me to move to the next pump). Hence, upon my arrival, practically everyone had already left, save another of my old friends Pon, Yip and David. Together with Liew, we all worked (some still are) for my old employer.

The next morning, I arrived at Liew's house at eight. It was going to be another wedding day ritual. There was no shortage of "media coverage" as there was a videographer on scene (I overheard that his name was Benny) and also one of Liew's friends was wielding a Canon DSLR. I had my Tamron 17-50 on my S5, for expected action at close quarters. The band of "brothers" assembled and after a light breakfast, we set off towards the bride's place in a convoy led by Liew's VIP car, a current model Camry 2.4. It was a rather short drive, as the bride's residence was just 10 minutes away (in the housing estate next to my workplace).

Upon our arrival, we were met by the reception committee made up of the bride's "sisters". Our first challenge was to get past the front gate, by successfully threading a row of sewing needles embedded into a block of polystyrene, without removing any of the needles in the process. Once of the brothers stepped forward to accept this challenge (undoubtedly, he's probably the one with the best eyesight / hand-eye co-ordination). Seemingly easy task, but it took minutes to complete, with Liew taking over at some point. Finally, as the thread passed through the eye of the last needle, Liew proudly presented the finished puzzle and we were allowed access to the next gate. Some conversation and exchange of words in Chinese, 10 push-ups done by yet another brother, saying "I love you" in 10 different languages (dialects are allowed), a few ang pows and we were in front of the door to the room where Liew's bride awaited.

At that point, it was getting a little congested, so I was moving in and out through the crowded hallway to get some shots, and to allow some space for others to do so too.

Anyway, at the door, more exchange of words and Q&A session. Through my limited comprehension skills of the language, I could just make out questions like "where was your first kiss" and "what is her favourite food". Liew was also asked to read something out aloud, which was apparently quite funny to those who understood what he was reading. There were only two physical tasks here. One was to retrieve the room key from a basin of ice-cold water using only bare foot. The other was to drink an unidentified glass of greenish liquid (exact formulation remains unknown to yours truly). Eventually, after the fun, the room door finally opened, and my friend Liew was at last united with his bride.

The tea ceremony ensued shortly after exiting the room. After which, everyone got into their cars and started off. Due to some communication break down, I thought we were going back to Liew's house already, when in fact, the plan was to go one round and come back to the bride's house. So, while everyone went for a small round in the housing estate, I went for a big round to Liew's house and back...!

Well, eventually, we made it back to Liew's house, where there was some photo-taking in the master bed room. The Chinese seem to have a custom, where they get one of the kids (a boy) to roll and jump on the bed. It is believe that this ritual would increase the likelyhood of the couple's first child being a boy. This boy also is required to punch through a paper-covered potty (which is exactly what you think it is) which contains an angpow and a pack of preserved fruit.

By then, it was almost noon. I headed home to shower and change as the wedding lunch would start at 2.00pm. Later I found out that the "official" starting time of the dinner was 1.00pm, which I would have realised too had I read the invitation card with greater scrutiny. You know that you're practically the last one to arrive when the lights dim and the music comes on for the wedding march as you're walking halfway down the hall towards your table!

The restaurant of choice was none other than the YPL Restaurant at Malim Jaya, situated next to a large Brothers Car Accessories Outlet. I brought my wife along, and at our table were Ho and wife Tham, Lee KY (another old friend) and his wife Mok, Pon and his wife and finally Alex and wife too. Ho, Lee and Alex each brought their kid along. Also in the table next to us were Tan TT and daughter (husband David was seated on another table somewhere), and on that table too I recognized Heng and Swee Lan (formerly from my company). I later managed to walk around to shake hands with Gary and HS Wee, bosses from my previous company, and also right at the back I met up with Mary, my former lady boss (in my entire working career to date, I have effectively had only two direct bosses, and Mary was one of them). She looked almost the same after nearly 10 years since I left for my current job.

Our table was situated halfway from the front of the hall, which unfortunately, put us in too close proximity to one of the two loudspeakers which flanked the main stage. Thus, through the karaoke sessions we were trying hard to have a legible conversation among our group of old friends.

Alex brandished his D90 DSLR, and so this event would be well covered. I try to go where none of the other cameramen were, to avoid redundant / repeated shots / angles. It was difficult for me to mobilize myself in the packed restaurant hall, so I switched to my 18-200 Nikkor for that extra reach in case I could not get somewhere in time. On my S5, cranking up the ISO to 3200 still gave acceptable results. Hey, it's no D700, but at least it handles high ISO shots with aplomb when compare to my D200.

Well, at the end of the dinner, our old bunch of friends gathered with Liew for a group photo (taken with Alex's camera, so I'll have to wait for him to post it on FB).

My heartiest congratulations to Liew and his newly wedded wife on their marriage. Best of luck to them and may they have lots of kids coming soon! :)

A small photo gallery can be found here : http://mcwk.multiply.com/photos/album/84/Chun_Ching_and_Jin_Yees_Wedding_-_Feb_2010

CNY lunch at the Botanical Cafe, Air Keroh (Melaka)

Today, the management team went for lunch at the Botanical Cafe, as Chinese New Year was just around the corner. This was my first time going to this cafe, though I had seen it many times before during my jogging excursions to the Botanical Garden behind it (formerly known as Hutan Rekreasi).



Good news for Muslims - this place is certified Halal (so says the certificates clearly pasted on the glass wall to the right of the main door). To get to the place, you'll have to be on the same side of the road as McDonald's / Crocodile Farm. This is opposite the Melaka Zoo.

We were quite a sizable lot, hence we ended up going in several cars. Fortunately, KS Ng had a Toyota Innova, so 7 of us managed to pack ourselves inside, with room for 1 more in the third row! :)

We booked ourselves a private room situated somewhere in the rear of the building, for an enjoyable, uninterrupted lunch. Somewhat a CNY custom here in Malaysia (and also Singapore) is the tossing of the "Yee Sang" or raw fish. Everyone gathers around the dish and uses his / her chopsticks to toss the "Yee Sang" up (similar to tossing salad) while exclaiming good things, best wishes and likewise.



After the Yee Sang was set up and in position, ES Wee came over and "energized" our dish, more blessings for all of us!



After the opening dish, we then proceed with a filling course lunch, with dishes such as lotus leaf fried rice, steamed fish and "beggar's" chicken. I found the food to be quite good, though the waiters seemed a little fresh and inexperienced (no worries, just a little slow on serving the food).

I was happy to have been able to join the team for this celebration, which in its own little way helped to foster closer ties and camaraderie amongst members of the team. Thanks to ES Wee for the invitation, and to Vivien who as usual did an excellent job organizing the event!

Farewell to Tiew HT

I found that having to stay back late in the office for work on one particular day was actually a blessing. Last Friday, as I set about clearing some work before heading home, my long time colleague and friend Tiew Hin Teong stopped by my office and shook my hand, as it was apparently his last working day. I was a little surprised, as I had asked him the night before if I would be able to see him next week. When he said yes, he did not mention that he meant "yes, of course you can see me next week - outside the company"....

So in a way, I was fortunate to be able to bid farewell to my friend in person. We've worked together for nearly ten years now, since the owner of my company bought it over from the previous owner, who still has some manufacturing presence in Batu Berendam, not far away from here. Tiew was a hardened veteran in his field, and was a great contributor to the Maintenance Team where he had worked. We rarely needed to approach him to help out on problems, however, when the occasional "impossible mission" brought us to a grinding halt, Tiew more often than not manages to help us pull through.
I missed several farewell events organized by some of our colleagues, so I had nothing more on the spur of the moment save a warm handshake and some words to offer. Didn't even have time to snap a parting photo together.... :(

As I understand from Tiew, he was moving on to pursue his career elsewhere, but he'd remain in Melaka still, with the occasional business trip overseas. As this part of town was such a small place, chances are that we'd meet again someday, perhaps while shopping at Jusco or maybe during dinner one of the many restaurants?

Regardless, I'm happy to have made the acquaintance with Tiew, and I wish him well in his journey onwards!

Line Transfer Appreciation Dinner @ Rooftop D'place, Aldy Hotel

For a fair bit of 2009, a sizable group of engineers, executives and technicians were involved in a huge transfer project to successfully move a product line from one of our sister plants located somewhere in Mainland China down to our humble factory here in Malaysia. The sheer logistics involved alone already proved itself a mind-boggling task, with hundreds of individual machines being shipped over in several shipments, some by air and some by sea. Once the pieces of the puzzle were in place, we still had the challenge ahead of us to make it run like a well-oiled machine once again (or at least, make it run the way it was running before the transfer). All this through 2009, the year of global economic crisis / cleansing.

Finally, as the cloud of dust settled, we emerged into the near year with the sweet fruits of success in our hands. The transfer project, for the most part, a successful project by any standards, and thus the Upper Management gave their blessing for an appreciation dinner to thank the team.

The venue of choice was none other than Rooftop D'place, at the top of the Aldy Hotel, which was situated next to the old HSBC building, near the Stadhuys (the famous red buildings in Melaka town built by the Dutch in the mid 17th century). For our dinner, we booked the entire rooftop of the establishment, which was uncovered, so luck was with us that night as it did not rain.

Our Plant Manager ES Wee gave a short speech at the start of the event, and then it was a buffet dinner for all. Food was a typical assortment of Asian-style dishes, which more than appealed to our palates. I especially liked the satay, which I had not eaten in quite some time, as well as the fried rice.

The rooftop was ours for the night

Expecting some heavy traffic, due to the presence of the current Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib, I carpooled with Zufri, my friend from HR. The PM was in town for a one-day visit to launch newly upgraded airport in Batu Berendam in the morning, was in Jonker street in the afternoon and at Klebang at night. Luckily, the roads were not heavily congested, and parking spaces were readily available on the hill in front of the Bamboo Hut. Throughout dinner, we basically entertained ourselves with the available Karaoke facilities as we had the rooftop all to ourselves.

L-R: Mr Yeo EK, Chong SC (hidden) and Vivien

From here, I could see the Menara Taming Sari, a popular tourist attraction, and in the distance, the dark and dormant Eye on Malaysia (which is temporarily closed as of the time of this writing, due to some ongoing legal issues).

Well, that marks the conclusion of yet another successful large-scale project by our team, with deserved recognition from Upper Management. It just goes to show that when people from various departments and skill sets join forces and focus on a common goal, there is nothing that we cannot achieve (so far)! :)

Looking down into the compound of the Police Station next door

Just beyond the Police Station was the Menara Taming Sari, and further beyond was the dormant Eye on Malaysia

Here's a closer look at the Eye on Malaysia as it is today

Farewell to Shazlie

Sigh. Yet another entry in my "Farewell to...." series, it seems!

Shazlie and I weren't directly involved at work (which probably explains why we could get along without fighting over yield, output, etc..). However, I did have the opportunity to work together with him in several of the committees in the company, notably, related to Environment, Health and Safety, as well as our Recreation Club.

I was notified of the farewell dinner somewhat earlier, and, though I marked the date and time on my calendar, a last minute rescheduling of my almost weekly teleconference with Germany resulted in me arriving nearly 1.5 hours after the starting time. This was by all means late, even by our fabled Malaysian standards...! :)

Some of us had chipped in and put together a farewell dinner for Shazlie, at the Dragon Deluxe Restaurant in Batu Berendam. Unknown still to many, this "Chinese" restaurant actually has a halal certificate, so it is Muslim-friendly (thus the ideal spot for our dinner). We booked a large room upstairs, which was large enough for a couple of tables, and comes with a karaoke set, so you could sing the night away.

Met up with a couple of ex-colleagues there too, which is a good thing to keep in touch with true friends. As opposed to, say, those who "bakar jambatan" (burn bridges) the moment they leave.

Shazlie's last day wasn't until sometime later in the month. However, due to my unexpected business trip in the following week, I shook hands with him for the very last time as an employee of the company that night. It's not yet known to me where his endeavours will take him, but nonetheless best wishes to my good friend. And thus do I brace myself for more resignations in the weeks to come (keep checking here for updates as they become official)!