Another Year, Another plate full of crackers

Well it is the time of the year where everyone pays some money for a plate full of nicely colored crackers with a few pieces of raw salmon. Then with long chopstick they will mix them all up high high while shouting "LO!!!" "LO!!!" and at the same time spilling about 15% of it on the side of the plate. It is considered a lucky thing to do in the Malaysian Chinese society. I do not think they practice this anywhere else in the world other then maybe Malaysia and Singapore.

I went dinner with my high school friends with the main intention to have Lo Sang. Initially the plan was to have it at Duck King in Jaya One. However because of our late booking, we could not get a table. Michelle and Ee Von called various restaurants and all were met with the same response "We cannot take any more phone booking but you are welcome to walk into the restaurant"

After many calls they managed to get a booking at Jaya Palace. However I hate that place. The food is good but the way they do business is just rotten. I have been there 3 times and all 3 times I got conned by them. They always say that all their normal menu items are sold out and the worst is when my cousin pre booked the table and menu and half way through the dinner they told him that the fish he ordered was out of stock and they only had the super expansive "rock" fish....

Yes that is one ugly bugger of a fish but that stupid ugly fish caused 500 bucks a pop cooked. It tasted pretty good but for 500 bucks it is crazy.

Lucky I managed to convince the girls to change from Jaya Palace to Paris. They were worried that we didn't have a booking but I was pretty convinced we should be able to get a seat by just walking in.

 

We managed to reconnect with some long lost friends (Vijay, Kevin Chua and Jerry Ong). We ate, drank, be merry and laughed till our hearts content.

I didn't take much pictures during the dinner because the ceiling was blue. Since I was using a bounce flash, everyone would turn blue and I worried it won't work. Just to show you what I mean....

That was what came out of my camera without any editting at all. Crazy huh? If you look closely right at the middle at the bottom of the picture. There appears to be a pair of boop like things. Do not ask me what the heck is that. It was me who took the picture and I was standing right below the camera's point of view. I can assure you I haven't grown a pair of boops. :)

Curious thing about photography

The curious thing about photography is that you will never know what to expect until you lift you camera to your eye and you press the shuter button. Even then you can never expect anything because nowadays all photos are digitally editted and never look the same as the original.

Recently during Chinese New Year while I was in Sitiawan, my parents and Kelvin Choo's parents decided to go the temple for a visit. Actually it is almost a ritual for us to head to the temple at least once during the Chinese New Year season. Just to relfect, to pray for the less fortunate and also to give a little donation. Being me, I decided to bring my camera.

Note the really nice blue sky that day. Unfortunately because of the blue cloudless sky, it was also extremely hot. It was sweating about 5 minutes into walking around. The parents ran to the first shade of tree they could find.

Opening your eyes wide and have having a sense of imagination does help a little like.....

When I shot this the only thing that was running through my mind was that you need a Castle to build a Castle. However in this case it was a Castle to build a temple.

Can't just take non-human subject. Most people will get bored after awhile. So no choice lar. Had to cam whore very slightly only.....

 

Yes I was feeling very email towards my cousin. Like my colleagues says, got a wide angle? Abuse the heck out of it.

Now this is where the photography because curious again. When walking around with a camera in your hand, your actually see more things. Thing nature leave for you but in this case of course it was man made.

Here is a message to all of us that we should love everything big or small and we should cherish our loved ones because you never know when you might not see them again. 

Next time you are out and about, take your camera out. You never know what you might snap.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone

The morning after

Nothing happened lar. All you dirty minded people.Anyway the morning after the celebration at the Goh's we all met up again for breakfast. Initially we were all crazy enough to even contemplate going for a jog at Subang lake at 8am in the morning. Lucky at around 2am in the morning we all realised that none of us can actually jog in our sleep deprived and drunk (mostly the guys) self. So we settle to head to Green Leaf restaurant in SS 15 for some nasi lemak instead.

My alarm rang at exactly 9am and 1 minute later, I got a sms from Steph saying "WAKEUP!". I crawled off the bed and started getting ready to head for breakfast. As again me and Amy where the first one there and later to be joined first by our good Dr, followed by Steph, Sharon and De Way. Bee Chin FFK us and Saw Wen came in De Way's car because he was too drunk to drive himself home less then 7 hours ago. Last to arrive was Mark and Felisha.

Even at a simple breakfast we cannot stand not cam whoring....

After De Way showing of expression yesterday, Saw Wen really "beh" "tahan" overnight already. So after some nasi lemak she also let go of all her multiple personalities....

 

 Contemplating Saw Wen

Agreeing Saw Wen

I am watching you Saw Wen

Now i am watching the other side Saw Wen

I am wathing the other side while smiling Saw Wen

Althought not as animated as De Way, Saw Wen showed us that she also has many multiple personalities. The rest of the girls started to feel left out so they joined in the fun.

Is it Fiona or Steph?

Caught in the Act Sharon

Ninja Steph

Half way eating Sharon while Dr Kelvin looks on

Thong wear on the face Sharon

We all had our fill of nasi lemak and our drinks and all we did was sit around and talked till everyone decided to leave. It was a great morning after and guess what I didn't get a handover. I seriously thought I would get one because as I was going to bed I had this thrombing headache and I felt like puking all the time. 

 

Door is closed to end of the morning after already. However realise something, in the 2 mangkuk-itis  gathering recently, we all forgot to take group pictures. Oh well till next time. Happy Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Celebration at the Goh's

Since a couple years back it has become a tradition for all of us to gather at the Goh family house for some good company, good food and some gambling. I am telling you the Goh parents are the most sporting parents i have ever known. They pretty much put up with everything we do and also join in our festivities. A couple of times they actually came to my place for some BBQ and Wii action. Let me introduce the Goh family.

Mr Goh

Unfortunately i forgot to take a picture of Mrs Goh. I trully regret that next time i should take a picture of everyone in attendance. Sorry Aunty.

Miss Goh

Mr Goh Jr

Future Mrs Goh Jr?

Festivities was suppose to start after 8pm but we were a little late because we had dinner at home first. We only reached the Goh's family place at around 9pm and guess what we were still the first one there. We waited for about 30 min and everyone started to arrive one by one.

 

 

Before the gambling could begin of course we had to have some great food and great drinks. Steph's mum cooked a fantastic bee hoon for supper. It was trully fantastic tasting and initially i was not that hungry but after Amy gave me a bite i asked for more.

After a couple of cans of Guinness, De Way started to become more animated and he revealed his multiple personality.

Cool De Way

Hyper De Way

Angry De Way

Scared De Way

Glutton De Way

Molested De Way

Saw Wen "beh" "tahan" all the attention De Way getting so she also decided to get into the act by being rapper Saw Wen.

 

We drank and gamble and ate our way through the night till around 1230am or 1am where mini Genting decided to take a rest and we changed to the PS3 to play some Beijing 2008 Olympics. We wound up the night with many shots of the Chivas and I am telling you that is one fantastic bottle of Chivas. I can never drink Chivas on the rocks but this 18 years was so smooth that it just goes down super easy.

We continued to enjoy the company till close to 2am when I got really drunk and felt the need to head home for some sleep. Some extra pictures I took during the great night.

 

 

Thanks so much to Mr Goh for being the banker for our mini Genting ( I played for 2-3 hours and won 3 bucks), Mrs Goh for making the delicious pineapple tarts and cooking the mouth watering bee hoon, Miss Goh for inviting us over and Mr Goh Jr for providing lots of laughs and lots of beer.