The Bub in the Belly

We were invited to an open house on Friday evening at Dalvey Estate. It was at the family home of one of Singapore's ex-presidents. The invitation was for 6.30 pm so we thought we'd drop in for about an hour or two after work, before picking Ryan up from his nanny's. We certainly were not prepared for what was to come!

It was not just any open house - it was a massive buffet dinner for about 400 people! We walked up to the (beautiful) house to find a huge platform outside the house. It had a tent roof with chandeliers and ceiling fans and there were about 30-40 round tables for the guests. All this fit in the driveway leading up to a 6-car garage.

Walking up to the bungalow. The lighted balloons were put up specially for the occasion.

Still a little stunned.

The 4D number given by the lions - depending on how you look at it, it is 9618 or 8196.

Before I get to the last leg of our Chinese New Year holiday in Malaysia, I thought I'd do a separate post on the reunion meetup with my secondary school mates in Ipoh.

I schooled in an all-girls school in Ipoh for four years and made some pretty strong friendships which have lasted through the years. Some of my mates have stayed on and built their lives in Ipoh, while others are now in KL, Johore and various places overseas, including Singapore, Hong Kong and Riyadh.

I don't get to see much of them but everytime we get together, time falls away and it's as if it was just yesterday that we were in our school pinafores. We call ourselves "budakkampung" which, in Malay, means kampung kids. We were all part of the same uniformed group - the 5th Ipoh Coy (girl guides) - and I was the coy leader. We spent all our time together, in and outside of school. So many memories in those four years - camping trips, dance/sketch performances, inter-coy/troop meetups, teenage parties, tea dances, boyfriends, secret crushes, gangfights (not us, the boys), overnight stays at each others' houses, studying together for exams, going on travels together - it was a fantastic four years for me.

It was a difficult time for me at first because my family split up geographically and only my brother and I came to Ipoh. My life, as I knew it then, had completely disappeared. So you could say that I lost one family but gained another.

In many ways, I was an outsider, as I moved to Ipoh when I was in Form 2 (in Singapore it's called Secondary 2) and most of these girls already knew each other from primary school. Yet they accepted me with open arms and shared everything with me, as if I'd been there from the very beginning. They never made me feel as if I had to prove myself or as if I had to earn my place in the group. I left Ipoh after sitting for my SPM (equivalent to "O" levels) in Form 5, when I won a scholarship to come to Singapore. Most of my mates stayed on to do their STPM ("A" levels). So I was the last to join the group and the first to leave the nest. My time with them was short yet I've always felt a strong connection to these ladies. We're bound by history and genuine love.

All of us try to make it home to our families in Ipoh for Chinese New Year so we usually arrange a meet up or two for ourselves as well. Not everyone can make it every year, but what we lose out in member numbers is usually made up with "mini budakkampungs", ie. our children! This year, there was a meetup on Friday afternoon and one on Saturday afternoon. I went for the one on Saturday, after getting back from Uncle Peter's place. Here are some photos (taken by Kar Yee and Cathryn).

A few of the budakkampung

We gathered at Strawberry Moment at de Garden

Ryan in his Gong Xi Fa Cai top (a birthday gift from Ting Shern)

We're back! We spent a week in Malaysia visiting family and friends and celebrating the Chinese New Year. It was a week of good company, good food, lots of love and lots of cheer.

Our holiday started last Tuesday night when we drove up to PJ/KL. There wasn't much traffic on the highway so we made it in about two hours. Ryan slept most of the way. When we got into our condo in PJ, we went straight to bed.

The next day, Wednesday, was the eve of Chinese New Year. The reunion dinner for the husband's side of the family is traditionally held on this day. In our case, it is a small affair because Richard is the only son. His married sister, Margaret, and her family go over to her husband's parents' house for their reunion dinner. So for our reunion dinner, it's just our little family, Richard's parents and Richard's second sister, Mary.

We had the whole day to ourselves before the dinner. We drove into KL in the morning to check in on our condominium unit in KL, which is presently vacant. We plan to carry out some minor renovations there and lease it out.

After a short look about, we went for lunch at Yut Kee. This is a pretty well-known restaurant which has been around for as long as I can remember. The place is always packed and, if you are in a small party, you usually end up sharing a table with another party.

Richard usually orders the pork chops while I usually get something Chinese. The restaurant serves both Chinese and western fare. They also sell cakes and other stuff, and during Chinese New Year, many people order roast pork from here.

The set up on every table.

I had pork ginger rice - good stuff

Richard's favourite -  pork chops

The water was so cold, it was like ice!

This is getting to be a standard pose - Ryan has been refusing the high chair lately

Our first yee sang - what's left of it.

Doesn't he look so tiny here?

Vroom, Vroom!

Playing with his aunty Mary