Last weekend I went to Kuching with Eileen, Ken, Andrew and Koon to attend John and Ah Ying’s wedding.

John was Andrew’s housemate when we were in Hull and we got quite close since we’re always close as he is the first “mat salleh” that welcomed us with open arms in England. He is a PHD candidate doing his graduate program in Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University in the US. He is also working in NASA Ames Research Center. His aim in life is to extend human’s life expectancy, or something like that.

I’d like to talk more about John as he is a very different person but I’ll leave that for another day.

So on Saturday, Eileen and I took the RM10 KL Sentral – KLIA shuttle bus to KLIA and boarded the plane. We went first as the flight that Ken, Andrew and Koon booked was full.

Reached there, went to the hotel and checked in. The hotel was Hotel 360 and I highly recommend it. It costs us RM155 NETT a night, including breakfast and unlimited supply of bottled water. Some pictures of our room.

Look at that! TWO beds, one Queen sized and the other double, flat screen TV, huge space, nice and clean bathroom! How the hell can you get a room like that for RM155 in KL? The best part is, it’s only a 5 minute walk from where the wedding dinner is held.

We rested for a while and waited for the others to arrive. Ken and Koon went for a swim the moment they checked in while Andrew was sick like hell. He rested in the room.

It was the first day of Kuching Fest, an annual event where they race boats and stuff like that. There was an open air market place just 5 minutes away from our hotel and we planned to have our dinner there. We walked there, waited for 1 hour but there were no seats.

Actually there were PLENTY of seats. It’s just that these people just wouldn’t leave when they are done. Even when we were standing there and waiting for the tables. These are mostly teens in their funny clothes. At least have the tendency to tell us that you are not leaving!

We were angry and left that place, took a cab and went to some roof top place for seafood dinner.

While waiting for the cab.

Rachel and Jasmine from China joined us for dinner at the seafood place. The dinner was OK, not as good as I expected but it was cheap. VERY CHEAP! We had 7 dishes and the bill came up to RM130. Less than RM20 per dish, for 7 people!

Their “Or Chien” is different from the ones in KL. Not too bad. That’s Koon’s finger.

After dinner, we went to a backpackers’ hostel where John and all his friends around the world are staying. Rachel and Jasmine stayed there as well.

It was a really nice place and at the top floor, they constructed a small little bar with plenty of games inside. They decorated the place in Sarawakian style. Really nice! It’s a little hot though.

We then took pictures!

We decided to call it a night and went back to the hotel after a few drinks a the bar.

The next day, we woke up quite late and took two cabs to a place that’s about 5 minutes away from our hotel. We had some local food and decided it’s not enough. We then walked back to the lane adjacent to our hotel and had chicken rice there.

We rested, AGAIN, after the lunch and waited for night fall.

At night, we walked over to Lok Thien Restaurant, where the wedding dinner is at. John asked me if I can translate whatever Mac, his best man, says from English to Chinese as there are plenty of non English people at the dinner. I hesitated but I was dragged on stage by Andrew. So I did it. Not a good job but I heard laughter so I guess I passed.

Mr. and Mrs. Cumbers pouring champagne.

Customary “Yum Seng”.

Eileen and me.

The Malaysian “Hull-igans”.

Andrew, Rachel and Ken.

John’s friends were REALLY excited as most of them have never attended a Chinese wedding dinner before this. They kept asking for more “Yum Sengs” after the first one. After that, they went “Yum Seng” themselves. With Vodka. On a sauce plate. Every table.

Us Chinese usually have the obligatory karaoke session after the “Yum Seng” sessions, where aunties will give their “best” renditions of Hokkien songs. At John’s wedding dinner, a cross culture between the East and West, they have this:

NINTENDO WII ROCK BAND!

This is new to me! I’ve never expected to have a video game at a wedding dinner!

John’s sisters and friends dancing to the tunes from Rock Band.

Anyway, we called it a night and walked back to the office hotel, not before taking a picture with the bride and groom.

The next day, we had breakfast at the hotel’s cafe and checked out. While Andrew healed from his sickness, Ken caught the flu bug. Back in KL, he complained about body aches and fever. He went to the doctor and the doctor told him he contacted A(H1N1). He did the right thing and went to the Sungai Buloh Hospital but the doctors there didn’t swab him but said that it’s confirmed Influenza A, not sure if it’s A(H1N1). Apparently he’s fine now so we don’t have to quarantine ourselves.

That’s it. My first time in East Malaysia. A nice experience.

Congratulations to John and Ah Ying, Mr. and Mrs. Cumbers!