MRCOG Part One

Passed. Yahoo!!!

Satu kali cuba mau RM 2000 tau. Whew!

The answer

By the way, if you have read the earlier post and is still scratching your head for the answer... which portion of the pig is best meat?

Click HERE.

Thank you

You know who you are. We know who you are (some of you la).

If you are reading this...

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.
Thank you for your valuable inputs.
Thank you for helping us make our wedding a wonderful and memorable occasion.
Thank you for coming over from near and afar to share in our joy.
Thank you for your lovely gifts and generous angpows.
Thank you for coming to read this blog and see the photos. Hope you enjoyed them.
Thank you for being friends to Mr and Mrs Hoong (tak biasa la panggilan ini macam).

Do continue to keep in touch.

Click HERE for a summary of the photo albums taken during the wedding week.
Have a nice day and God bless.

Cheers!

Honeymoon

Do you know how the words 'honey' and 'moon' got linked together into this one beautiful word? I am still wondering. Bringing your 'honey' for a walk under 'moon'light? Hmmm.

With much thanks to Auntie Liz of SIB Likas KK for her valuable input, Irene and I decided to head to the Kinabalu Mountains and Kundasang for cool air, relax and unwind.

It was raining all day from when we left Sapong till we reached Kundasang. Spent a night in Zen Garden Resort (last resort since the other decent hotels were fully booked) which had quite nice surroundings, but so-so food.


The next day we visited Mount Kinabalu Park, then drove up to Mesilau Park, and back to Kundasang. Click HERE for the photos. Spent the night in Hotel Perkasa Kundasang, which was a real splendid place. At night it was chilling cold and mist enveloped the hotel. Really nice atmosphere. Highly recommended :-) Did some outdoor shots at Hotel Perkasa. Click HERE to see more photos.

Left the mountains and came back to hot and humid Kota Kinabalu. Since we still had the bridal costumes with us, we headed to Tanjung Aru Beach Resort to take some outdoor bridal shots, before returning the costumes. Click HERE for photos.
Then it was back to Keningau, and then Tenom for a friend's Lundayeh wedding on Saturday.

Rest

What is the best thing to do after a busy day?

Rest.

Day one... played with kids. Click HERE for photos.
Day two... cleared up the stuffs to bring the place back to normal. Click HERE for photos.

It's wedding day!

My sleep was interupted early by loud voices and sounds of clobbering. The men had started their day before dawn, cutting up the huge chunks of pork into smaller portions for the cooking pot. You would have thought I would wake up to take photos... nah, I was too sleepy.

When the sun was out, the meat was all done up. Click HERE to see more photos. Pork is the essential dish for every Lundayeh wedding. Of course there would be consideration of dishes for Muslim guests. In a typical Lundayeh wedding in the village, usually 5 to 6 pigs would be slaughtered, and the meat dominates the menu. As for us, Irene's family got 3 pigs for the feast, and the rest being non-pork dishes, since our guests were more varied. Want to know which portion of the pig is best meat? Look at the pics for clues. Hint: the best portion is reserved for distinguished guests.

Was hoping that my Vi would arrive in time to be used as the wedding car. But the shipment was late. Thankfully, Irene's auntie loaned us her new Toyota Spacio, which was really spacious inside true to its name.

About 10.30 am, we all went to the SIB Sapong Church for the wedding ceremony. It was a bumpy 10-minute ride on gravel from Irene's house.

The ceremony was a simple one. Started with opening prayers, then a few songs, followed by the exchange of vows and rings. Follow the earlier link to see more photos. Ended with photo session and shake-hand session. We had Pastor Sim from Tomani (very interior Sabah) to be our marriage registrar.

After that we headed back to Irene's house for lunch. The guests had already started makan makan. I'll let the pics do the talking. The luncheon was mainly for folks around Sapong and friends and relatives who attended the church ceremony.

Towards the end, Irene's relatives beat the bronze gongs and we had a brief round of dancing (and playing the fool). My relatives arranged a Chinese tea-serving ceremony, while Irene's relatives handed over colourful hand-woven rattan baskets and a sack of home-grown rice as gifts. An exchange of two cultures; a merging of two extended families across the South China Sea. A special moment in national integration.

Whew. Finally got some rest. Thank God that the day had gone well with no major hiccups. Weather was perfect, far from the preceding rainy days.

In the night, we had another round of feast. The dinner was mainly for invited guests from near and afar. Makan time again! We had a live band from nearby Kg CintaMata to provide entertainment. Forgot the group's name... Band Boys or Bad Boys or Naughty Boys something like that. They were good and really livened up the occasion. There was the cake cutting ceremony, traditional dances, solo performances... and the Poco-poco crowd dance. The Poco-poco was a difficult one for me. Ended up pening kepala. Everybody else seemed to catch on fast and had a good time, especially my dad.

My relatives left for Keningau before midnight. They would be leaving for Kota Kinabalu early the next day to catch Gaya Street Sunday Market. As for those who stayed on... it was Saturday Night Fever all night long. All night long...

Pre-wedding preparations

The timeline up to the wedding day...

On the 7th of March, village folks from Kg Baru Jumpa, about 20km away, came over to Irene's house to put up the zinc canopy for the wedding feast. Those men were pro. The whole canopy was up by noon. Irene's dad figured that the canopy was not big enough, so he arranged for an extension of a canvas canopy at the side, where traditional Lundayeh wedding food (read on) would be served. There was also a smaller zinc canopy beside the house, built for the folks who would be preparing Muslim food. Non-Muslim food would be prepared at the adjacent neighbour's house. I wasn't on scene; was shopping for tech stuffs in LowYat and SungaiWang KL.

On the 10th of March, Irene's parent's relatives and friends from nearby villages of Kg Baru Jumpa, Sapong, Kongsi Lundayeh and Tenom came over in the morning. God bless those helpful souls. First thing was they made nasi bungkus (fragrant rice wrapped in leaves) and some dishes, which will be their meals for the rest of the day as they work on the wedding preparations. Click HERE to view the photos.

There was much camaraderie. They prepared coconut milk from real coconuts (no no... instant powder packets from the supermarkets were unacceptable). That was for the cooking of kuih kelupis (glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and then wrapped in leaves), the must-have delicacy in every Lundayeh feast. The cooked kuih kelupis were then tied together in rows like fire-crackers, and were hung overnight.

Meanwhile, I went back to Keningau to receive my relatives who were coming from West Malaysia. After arranging for their meals and lodging, rushed back to SIB Sapong Church for a brief rehearsal.

When we got home, the workers had already hung up huge chunks of the pigs which were slaughtered a bit earlier. The men then stayed up all night and chatted away, while keeping watch on the meat. I stayed up late too, to complete the PowerPoint presentation.

Urrgh... exams!

Was in KL on 6th of March for an exam called MRCOG Part One. The first step towards becoming an internationally recognised ObGyn specialist. Pretty tough exam. My second attempt liao. Hope for good outcome soon.

Picked up some stuffs in KL and Seremban. Then had to rush back to Keningau. Reason coz I am getting married at the end of the week... and haven't thought out the wedding in much details yet! Thank God Irene's family has been very helpful in the preparations. Planning for a wedding feast (kenduri) at home is truly challenging.

I am back

Finally.

It has been a hectic month. Will tell you more later. Let me clean up the dust on this blog first.