season's greetings!

I had a good December and a good farewell to 2007. I went to Taiping, Perak which is my dad's hometown, with my family. Oh, Taiping. Food is pretty cheap there and so eating was what and all I did.

Firstly, dad's favourite Lai Fun at the Pokok Assam Market.

-the Lai Fun accompanied with super crispy roasted pork-

Mom will go buy the roasted pork from the market which is just next door. Erm, wait, we were IN the market but the market has an area where people sell food and everyone just cramp around small tables to eat. Well, at least the floor is dry on the makan side. The food is worth the wait and the crowd. I'll always have iced coffee here, kopitiam style - no less, and then become extremely active for the next 2 hours. The coffee is just so thick... like they don't care about costs.

And then like age old tradition, we'll go buy 'Apung' or 'Apam'. It's like crepe but cooked in tiny chinese 'wok'. It's plain, super thin and super crispy and light enough to over-indulge and still don't feel it around the tummy.

And they are RM0.20 per piece!

I usually eat like 5 pieces at one go. Erm, maybe more...

Then I went to Penang for a few days. I visited Kek Lok Si and all sorts of temples and all sorts of old buildings such as the Peranakan Museum, Cheong Fatt Sze Mansion and the Khoo Kong Si. All so rich in history and culture and most importantly Feng Shui. Haha. It is always about the Feng Shui. Anyways, I made a collage of some of the floors I stepped on!

-Really old tiles with some dating back few hundred years-

Then it was back to Taiping again to helpout and celebrate my cousin Andrew's wedding.

Congratulations Andrew and Jess!

-Just some of us from the Lee clan-

I don't have many photos at the moment. Maybe I'll put up more later when I get the really good ones taken by people with huge and "garang" cameras (as I quote one of my uncles). Two of them were my cousin's cousins who loved photography. Another is my cousin's classmate named Timo. Introducing Timo:

-Timothy loves to eat pork-

-Just one of Timo's cameras. This one was called "blender"-

Anyways, apparently Timo loves his cameras so much they were like his girlfriends. Apparently also, they had names. Don't know how true this is but we were guessing Cameron and Carmen.
Timo, who was supposed to just take really good photos, was also very helpful.

On the eve of the wedding, it's in the chinese tradition to hold a feast at home for relatives and close friends to come together and eat, drink, be merry and act like they were still young and drink somemore. Well, also to talk about the good old days. This night was called Lao Tia which I later got it translated to Old Hall. OK. So Timo was very helpful at the Lao Tia. He was carrying all the huge soup pots, he carried crates upon crates of canned drinks and beers....

-Approved!-

and he even helped out with the dishes! *clap! clap! clap!* My mom branded him "Well Trained". All the aunties were impressed. The Uncles looked on curiously. The cousins wondered whose son he was. Suddenly, everyone knew Timothy.

My cousin's house was so full of people. People in the rooms, people in the hall, people in the porch. Kids were everywhere! My camera was kidnapped and the little culprit was kind enough to take a photo of me. Most of the photos were from a little kid's eyeview level. Thankfully none up anybody's skirt.

-OK, so I upset some kids by hoarding the hanging rattan chair-

And then there was Jonathan, the latest addition to the Lee Family and my youngest nephew out of about 20. I can't keep track anymore.

-Jonathan, or more famously known as Jon-Jon-

Jon-Jon loves to eat.

-Jon Jon trying to get his mom to get him more bananas-

(After he had two)

-Jon-Jon being "rolled" on the bridal bed-

It is also one of the tradition to have a little(and virgin) boy jump and roll on the bridal bed (which must not be touched by anyone at all before the wedding). Jon-Jon seemed to be the best candidate but he was clueless and so he was just pretty much involuntarily rolled around. It was hilarious.

Home is where the heart is. Family always comes first.

-30 plus years ago, Grandpa and my uncles and aunts and their spouses and a few older cousins. Guess which are my mom and dad-

(Look at how retro their clothes were! The glasses, the dresses, the hair! Priceless!)

Now, just times 3 the number of people.

-Just the cousins (minus 6 who could not attend)-

It was great getting to know everyone. Some of us were even paying attention during the Tea Ceremony so we know people's names and what to call them. Will post the huge photo of everyone soon. It was difficult to get everyone into the frame even. Hectic, hectic week but I enjoyed each and every moment of it. It was difficult going back to reality (which was KL and work). Haha. Now I'll just have to think of some new year's resolution to get back into gear.