Reza & Lavinia's Wedding

Recently attend Reza & Lavinia's wedding at the Lone Pine Hotel located at Ferringhi Beach, Penang. Not many people could afford to throw such a wonderful and romantic wedding, I think it would be most gals dream to exchange vows by a sun setting beach followed by a garden pool side dinner with the sounds of rolling waves hitting the shores. It was a great party apart from the usual old fashion and normal chinese weddings I attended. This is something fresh to me and Mrs$1, although the cost for us to drive up to Penang plus hotel accommodation was costly but it was very well worth it.

We arrived late a missed them walking down the isle to exchange their vows.

Groom's family & relatives.

Path to heaven

Beach photo shoot : Waiting for the sun to touch the horizon

Found out that I've got some talents in photography

Some shot of the garden and pool side setup.

Excellent table settings. Hand made gifts for everyone by Lavinia. All tables were named after famous beach paradise, we were seated at Tahiti. Sea shells shape fridge magnets with our names written on with a small photo frame of their wedding picture. Baby blue and white theme for the night.

Macro shot on some decorative.

Started early on fluid diet, there were red grape juices, golden barley juices and single malt juices. Swaying like the trees before dinner started.

Yum Seng!!!! Toast to Mr.Carls and Mr. J.Walker

Bouquet tossing. Reza's sister caught it let hope theres another wedding here again some time soon.

Newly weds dancing.

Party time!!!! We're all doing the bhangra dance. Especially the light bulb twisting action.

Hot and humid night. Luckily it didnt rain because it rained the night before and the next day. Thank god there was a pool and many got thrown into it. Reza was thrown in 3 times and lost his mobile to the water on the 3rd deep. Poor dude injured his toe and was limping around all night. Fantastic night, great food except for the extremely well done lamb. Only suckie thing was I had to drive back to my hotel in Gurney and most of them stayed in Lone Pine. And the damn shitty thing was there was a road block on the way back to my hotel. Had to make a turn and went back drinking till 230AM.

Malacca's Food

Some good food to share from my recent Malacca trip 2 weeks ago, been really busy to post this. They're not that all to die for but great food enough to satisfy my fussy tounge and tummy. Didnt had much time this trip to get all the good food, so we'll just have to eat what ever. I know there are more food around but these are just something we discovered ourselves from our previous trips. it always easy to spot good food anywhere, just look out for long queue or non stop busy cook.

Meet Jonker Street uncle popiah. Indeed the best popiah in the world rated by $1, its even better than Penang's.

Close up shot by Hiew's camera, its perfect to me cause the skin is not too thin like most other popiah sellers. Its not soggy soaking wet with the turnip's gravy and best of all, the main secret ingredient is lard. You can opt not to have it in your but there no point without it. A teaspoon full of lard and crispy fried fat chucks.

Uncle also sells deep fried spring rolls, no lard in this but he makes it all up with his crispy home made skin. Perfect! These sells off extremely fast cause its limited, I couldnt get it this trip cause I only went there at nite.Photo courtesy from Hiew again. So remmeber if you wanna get your hand on these, get to Jonker at 6PM on weekends.





Dim Sum stall at Jonker, nothing special but good snacks to eat while walking around Jonker. Used to be MYR1 then went up to MYR1.20 and now its MYR1.50 for any 4 pieces. Forget the rest just choose the white coloured 'siew mai' on the top right corner. Thats the best, infact better than some other dim sum places I've been to.




Didnt had time for this also sigh,..... if you have a sweet tooth like me, please help yourself to this small lil bowl of diabetic chendol. Ice is very fine shaved, quite generous with the coconut milk and chendol jelly but best of all the thick 'Gula Melaka' (palm syrup) will sent you straight up to heaven. Also found at Jonker, you'll see 2 shops in the midlle of the street selling laksa and chendol. Both shop serves good chendol, Anyway its the syrup that makes me come back over and over cause they leave the syrup on the table and you just help yourselves with it as much as you can.

Recent discovery after I stumbled into some blogs while I was doing some Malacca food research. Tangkak beed noodles at Melaka Raya, awesome beef stocked brooth served with tender beef chuncks and tripe and brisket. Excellente!! Half muslim friendly place, its not certified Halal but iits doesnt server pork and there was a sign for non Halal food is prohibited in the shop. Saw some malay customers while we were eating there.

Devan & Tharsa's Engagement

Tried to sleep after a long salsa night in KL but I had some task to finish up for Dave's engagement party. It took me a while to go thru my 2000 songs to select his music by the time I finished it was nearly 5am. Still couldnt shut my eyes after a cold waking shower. Felt like a few moment and it was 10am and it was time to get ready to leave, had to go to Reza & Lavinia's nikah ceremony at Reza's house. Mr&Mrs$1 was dressed in casual jeans and polo but that was really too under dressed compare to everyone else in Reza's house. We felt ackward, the ceremony was supose to be at 1030AM and the damn idiotic imam made everyone waited till 1250PM. Lucky I arrived late at noon and I didnt catch the nikah ceremony either, I had to leave to Malacca before my internal bio clock decides to shut down for rest. Bid farewel to Reza and off to Malacca, had to stop for fuel for my car and fuel for my tummy and something caught our attention.

As we all know that Malaysia is a multi racial country, but this is the first time we see a multi religion house. Highest level had this fat toaist laughing Buddha, then you can see the white statue of Virgin Mary carrying baby Jesus. Finally on the ground floor theres a ash coated Indian pumpkin to ward off bad omens. How bizzare!

Arrived, checked in and knocked out cold. Hotel service was rather crappy. Booked a single bed room and they fuckin gave me 2 single beds so whats the point of the booking for.When asked for extra shampoo they said "Sorry Sir we dont give extra" WTF??!! Damn room smells of ciggerattes. The room was fine after we aired iit for a while and the bed was comfy and clean.

Ceremony started at 8PM at the Church of Christ's kindergarden, all family members, friends and relatives were all present. Pastor Batumalai were giving a short sermon followed by some songs of praise. He then blessed the rings and engaged them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy ghost.

"With this cuffs, I bid my freedom and bachelor life goodbye"

Dinner Time! Awesome curries served. Not much left for second helping especially the mutton masala.

Simple and nice Rangoli (aka kolam) at the entrance to the hall where the ceremony was held.

Poor Ceasar. He was tied up to the pole outside. I still think he has small oriental eyes.

Kudi karans of CSA/CSC Advance Call Center.

Since we were on holy ground, Pastor already said that theres no spirits served because there were too many holy spirits around. So we had to rush off to Jonker St before our tables were given away to other customer at Ringo pub. And so it begins, endless flow of beers for the next few hours just like the Nordic halls of Valhalla. I was worried I would be knock out drunk with the whole kudi karans gang.

Nothing like a icy cold beer after a warm nite with curries. First round at Ringo pub.

2nd session at Libra just few doors away. Ringo was too hot so Raj went next door and started another session. Cheaper booze here too, MYR30 for a bucket of 5.

Toasting aomng ourselves at Libra before Dave came and join us.

Still at Libra waiting for Dave & Tharsa.........lost count of bottles.

Back at Ringo, Jay (with camera) came all back all the way from Miri for the ceremony and celebrations.

Dave & Tharsa dancing.

Ringo entertaining us,... real talented fellow runs a decent good pub and sings well.

Goutham came from India to attend this function.

Bunch of happy aunties jollying themselves, line dancing to Ringo's songs. Happening aunties.

That's it,...... if I go on posting more pics it will never end. later thos aunties came in and started picking us young guys and formed a very long conga line. next thing I know our whole gang and the aunties were doing the conga on the street. Good fun!! Said farwell to the whole gang as Ringo sang his last song for the night. Me & Mrs$1 left as the whole group went back to Libra to continue drinking. We didnt really count how much beers we purchase on both sides. My guess is a good 50 buckets that make 250 bottles of beers. Non of us were drunk and everyone was sober like hell. Dont need to get drunk to have fun, we all drove safely back to our own hotels.

$a1sa

Well since the Malaysian Salsero was in town and he wanted to go dancing, I went along with him. Me and Mrs$1 never gone to a real dance club before so it was a good opportunity to check out the scene. We picked Allan and Stephanie up from his house and off to Little Havana in KL. Its quite hidden in town and I just so happened to passed by it last week to get myself some good beef noodles some where near there. Otherwise it would take us forever to search for that place.

Little Havana is really a very unique place, reminds me of those pubs in Cuba on Discovery travel channel. The setup is very plain simple and it gives the warm feeling and some pleasant cigar smell in the air. They serves great variety of cigar at reasonable price according to the online menu. Cover charge to go upstairs to salsa only cost us MYR10 each, my ears grew into trombone size when I heard they guy said 10bucks!!!! Best of all it comes with 1st drink and the choices were either a bottle of mineral water, soda or a draught beer. DAMN!!!!!! Hell no I'll take the first two choices, no kudi karan kupek(drunkard in Tamil) like me gonna be sober when theres alcohol around.

You could feel the heat rising as you walk up the stairs toward the dance floor upstairs. WOW its a great place, not much place to sit around and I was welcome with sweaty people spinning away on the dance floor. They look like they were having so much fun, I wish I could move like that but my fat body is too stiff.

Allan didnt waste time cause we arrived late and its closing soon. He danced his life away! Damn he has good stamina. I need to stop my weights lifting and get back into cardio machines.

Meet the gang, from left to right Michelle & Michelle, Allan & Steph, and this hot chic posing. WOooooo suits the temperature of the room.

Lovely couple from Kansas City, MO. You should see the passion they put into their dance, its more than passion, it was LOVE.

More Salsa in action. According to Salsero Allan, Salsa dance got its name from the dip sauce Salsa. DUH! I assume its because the dance and the sauce both have its alikes. Hot!

Stephanie giving Allan some tango lesson. She's good at tango, atta' girl!

We had a fun time even I didnt dance much, got a crash course at Merengue from Allan and Stephanie was giving me lesson on the dance floor. I couldnt stop moving my upper body, too much rave dance from my younger days. Went dont t get myself a icy cold Mojito, the best I tasted so far. Why is this the best? Because the bar tender used all the proper natural ingredients. Fresh squeezed lime juice not cordial or lemonade, lotsa mint leaves. He put alot of afford into pounding the line cutlet and mint, top up with a lil syrup and rum. Shake with ice and whola!!!! Perfect mojito. I really had a good time even though I wasnt high on alcohol, in a way I liked the crowd alot because not many smokers and not many drunkards making noise and causing trouble. Cheap nite, good company, great friends, superb dance performace by everyone much better than live ballroom dancing.

I still dont know who this hot chic, she looked so bored. I think she needs my company.AHAIKS!!

All the sweating and dancing got me hungry so we all went to Alor Rd to get some supper. Lucky its just a stone throw away from where we were.

Yummy Claypot Tom Yum Goong. Suits the heat from Salsa! PSSSSSsssssttttt!

Went home with a full stomach at 4am. Had some preparations to do for Dave's engagement, couldnt sleep then off I went driving down to Malacca. Will post that tonight.

July Updates

Busy July. Happy Birthday to Doris my old college mate on 1st July, she's now flying with SIA in Singapore. I never fail to wish her belated birthday. 3rd July would be Suben's birthday, my old primary school mate. Quiet celebration this year with him this year, 2 years ago we celebrate his birthday in Malacca and last year he got pissed drunk and puked in my car. This year he celebrated quietly with his dear one. Last but not least 4th July, Hoorayy Independence Day in US and my pal Enghooi living downunder in Australia celebrated his 28th birthday.

Lotsa event happening this month, Reza & Lavina's wedding in PJ on Saturday 7-7-07 morning. I did drop by to say hi before left town for another function in Malacca. had to leave because me & Mrs$1 were seriously under dressed for a nikah session at Reza's house. I just got back from Dave's engagement party in Malacca on yesterday. Supah pack scheduled weekend. Got to scoot off to Penang for Reza & Lavina's wedding next weekend in Penang at Lone Pine Beach resort. Sighhhh.... a good short getaway though.

Battle of SLR

Battle of the Single Lens Reflex camera its messing up with my head and stirring up my pockets. I gonna get a SLR camera and pick up photography skills, SLR cameras were never this cheap. I've set my eyes on the Canon EOS 350D, its old but its cheap and on top of that is not much difference compare to its newer brother EOS 400 besides its megapixels. Alas my long waited Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy out of my budget. The damn super Leica lens cost more than the camera. SIGH!

Shortlisted cameras are as following :

Pentax K100D

I saw this on great bargain yesterday in Midvalley going for MYR1,999!! Its a fucking steal! It was a one day sale promotion else it will be back at MYR2,499. K100d feels good when it was held up and the dial designs and buttons are all nicely put to my fingers. I was held back by its 6MP capability even though I know that a camera doesnt not fully rely on the MP for its quality pictures. But my camera should at least last me till some new models come out in the next few years. DPreview highly recomended this model, then again he also recomended most of all the entry level SLR on Malaysian's shelves.

Nikon D40

I've always like Nikon camera, although their lower end point and shoot are never impressive but the SLR range has always been famous and favourite by many professional photograhpers whom prefere the cheapper Japanese compare to the western brands. Only draw back about Nikon is that their lens are slightly more expensive if I'm not mistaken. Any how D40 is a remarkable camera with 6.1MP and all the techincal yadas and blahs all pretty much similar to any other brands. I am more impressed by the less noisy pics at higher sensitivity that Nikon SLR produces.

Canon EOS 350D

Very old model launched back in 2005, but still matches and in someway out perform the newer models. Canon gives very good crispy pictures compare to the 2 rivals above maybe because of the CMOS sensor instead of the common CCD sensor most camera uses. Best of all its the cheapest among the 3 at MYR2,399 till end of August this year. More reviews are available at my favourite camera site DPreview.

Final battle would be Nikon vs Canon actually, mainly because of the after sales service and parts available are every where and the main offices are in Klang Valley both are just a short drive away. I guess i might need some sales convincing by the camera shop sales person.