The Wedding of Haris and Ju Li in Penang - The Day After

Nicole and I rode around Georgetown on the bright red Vespa we rented. I can't think of a better way to end our Penang escapade than cruising around on the scooter.

 Nic beaming!

 Can hardly wait to hit the streets.

 Cenotaph in memory to the fallen soldiers of WWI and thereafter

 Famous Teochew Cendul

Time to say goodbye!

The Wedding of Haris and Ju Li in Penang - Part Two

The wedding dinner was held at Eastern & Oriental Hotel - another gem of Penang. Established in 1885 E &O had hosted a glittering array of celebrities like Rudyard Kipling, Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks.

The groom being a good sport

Champagne flowing

The Wedding of Haris and Ju Li in Penang - Part One

It is 3-days and 2-nights in Penang Island. We left on December 29 around 8.30 am and arrived in time for the first instalment, Wedding Lunch at Suffolk House in Jalan Air Itam. The mansion was was built in 1804 but prior to that it was a simple timber and attap house occupied by Francis Light.

The lovely couple

Ju Li in the garden

Christmas Dinner at Hubba Hubba

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! The familia gathered at Hubba Hubba at Mont Kiara - a small cosy joint.

Family Holidayat Lexis Hibuscus, Port Dickson

We had three days of fun at the Lexis Hibiscus in Port Dickson. We participated in a number of activities like water sports - the 'Bandwagon' (second pic)was a lot of fun as we requested the boat to go fast. I really had to hold tight in the bends or risk being thrown into the water.

 All the seafront suites has a mini private pool. The one featured below was in the larger suite thus the pool was maybe triple the size and has a sauna too.

There were lots to do for both young and old - we rented bicycles - they had tandem bicycles too, self-balancing 'Segway-type' electric rides, archery, helicopter ride and more. For indoor fun we let loose in the karaoke room. The food was good too and I especially liked the nasi lemak.

Gong Xi Fa Cai - The Year of The Monkey

We spent the holidays in the city feasting daily. 

Day One

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Island Holiday

Hard Rock Hotel Penang

China House 

 

'Black Dawn'

Chinese New Year 2014

We celebrated in PJ - yay! No long arduous drive to Penang. (Above) CNY Day #1 Dinner at The Cheahs home.

 CNY Day #2 Lou Sang - day two lunch in Lee Hong Kee, Sungai Buloh

 Poon Choi (Big Bowl Feast) - our first time eating this dish dating back to ancient China's Sung Dynasty.

To Penang for Mama's 75th Birthday

When Nicole learned that we were flying back to Penang for Mama's birthday she was ecstatic. After all she had never flown before. We were booked on the 0910 flight from Subang and Nic did not need any coaxing to wake up unlike every school day.

The aircraft was the ATR-72 twin turboprop which is the smallest I had ever flown in. Nic sat with Sammie and it was an absolute adventure as far as she was concerned.

 

Mama's 75th birthday!

Time really flies and we found ourselves at Penang airport for our flight home at 1910.

Our Family Tree

My mom handed me the death certificate of my father Lee Hon Kheong (name was misspelled in death cert, pic) yesterday and it got me spending hours online. Mom was going though her stuff and upon checking the document realised that Nicole's Chinese middle name was similar to her great grand father's. I was attempting to uncover any information about my paternal grand parents, Lee Yen Fat and Yap Nyet Tai. I knew it was a long shot but the fact that my grandfather's name was spelled Fat instead of the more common Fatt meant I had a chance.

Mom shared whatever information she remembered about both grand parents. Yen Fat originated from Kuala Kangsar where his family was in the charcoal trade. On my dad's death cert it states that Yen Fat's occupation as auctioneer & financial agent. Mom does not know how he ended up marrying Nyet Tai in Kuala Lumpur (KL). As for grandma, she was one of the Yap Kwan Seng's daughter - the Last Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur. The famous Kapitan died in 1902 and had by then amassed a fortune from his tin mining and other businesses. 

Grandpa worked in one of the late Kapitan's company handling property management and finance. Mom also remembers that he worked in the now defunct Lido cinema in Brickfields. It was named Cathay cinema up until 1951 when Shaw Brothers bought it and renamed it Lido. In fact Brickfields got it's name from the Kapitan's brick kilns - he had an eye for business and realised that  KL was flourishing and that bricks were going to be in great demand as more houses and commercial buildings are built.

I had no luck in matching grandma's name online (bummer) which was no surprise since the Kapitan had only five wives (or more). My guess is my grandma's mother was one of the secondary wives. Grandma died in the early 1970s at a very old age. I remember visiting her a few times in the house around Jalan Peel (Peel Road). I must have been about eight or nine years old then.

Next I googled "Lee Yen Fat" and I got two pages matching my query. Thanks to the fine job by Singapore National Library in archiving Straits Times and other dailies. If (emphasis added) this is my grandpa, he was Honorary Secretary of Selangor Recreation Club and represented the club in lawn tennis - Next I searched "Lee Yen Fatt" as Fatt is the common spelling and chances that his name was misspelled would be likely. Bingo! The smoking gun as it detailed a proclamation of sale of properties by auction dated 10 march 1924, seventy-one lots of properties belonging to the late Kapitan. It has to be my grandpa - he was an auctioneer!

The one article that fascinated me most was one where he wrote to a daily, The Weekly Sun chronicling his holiday in Indo-China (territories make up Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam today) a French colony up until 1954. It was titled The Far East - An Impression dated 4 February 1911. After reading his article I must say his eloquence is top class - very Victorian. And herein is another clue that he may be my grandpa. In paragraph three, he wrote "Having determined to make a start of my trip from the Northern Settlement, early in October I proceeded by rail from Kuala Kangsar to Penang." In 1911 he would definitely still be in Kuala Kangsar.

My grandad died from a heart attack during the Japanese occupation of then Malaya. As the country was in flames a coffin was not available and his body was wrapped in a mat and buried. I only managed to locate one photo (below) date unknown.

As this is only one branch of the family tree, I shall continue updating our family tree as and when more information becomes available.

Baby Seb

The Wongs were in town for the weekend and we got to see Sebastian (5 months young) for the first time. (Above) Nic and her nephew Seb.

 Nic got her wish to 'sit' in the trunk of a SUV. Lots of room there too.

Terrence & Elaine's Wedding in Johor Bahru - Part Two

Saturday (March 16); Time to go to the wedding dinner @ Grand Straits Garden in Danga Bay.

The newly-weds!

The dinner ended around 11 plus and guess where we are headed to? More food - kway teow kia for supper. Omigosh, while waiting for the food we were already planning for breakfast. Venue? Restoran Ho Seng Kee for wantan noodles.

Sunday (March 17); We heard so much about the wantan noodles that we had to try it. Waiting time is a minimum 45 minutes. We were surprised when we reached the place at 9.30am  to find it not crowded - I'd say maybe 5 tables occupied. This can't be a 45-minute wait right? Wrong!

The restaurant had loads of information like 'Take Aways collection time 2pm to 5pm'. Well we waited and waited as genius was busy packing take-aways. I reckon they were for VIP customers who get to collect before 2pm.  The verdict was unanimous - it ain't that good let alone great! The end of our weekend in JB.

Penang Break!

Sunday (Nov. 18) We headed north to Penang for Mama's birthday lunch in Seberang Perai - originally named Province Wellesley, after Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, Governor of Madras and Governor-General of Bengal (1797–1805).

 

We left home around 7am and stopped in Ipoh for breakfast. Both popular kopitiams (traditional coffee shop) Nam Heong and Sin Yoon Loong were packed with patrons circling tables like vultures waiting for clients to vacate their seats. As we did not want to waste time waiting we went to the kopitiam next door, Sin Yuan Foong (pic above) which was also starting to fill with other like-minded customers. When in Ipoh kopitiam, it is almost tradition to order the famous Ipoh White Coffee, toast and dry curry noodles. To our surprise the curry noodles were good.

Next stop Mama's place in Simpang Ampat for a brief visit and then on to Chai Leng Park for lunch.

 (above) Mama with 13 grand kids (Chee Seong's wife Jeni - extreme right)

(above) Mama with children and spouses.

For dinner we opted for the hawker food in Chai Leng Park. Main attraction was lok lok - our local version of steamboat. They had like seven different spicy sauces - fantastic! Nic chose the Angry Birds edition.

We didn't get to go for the assam laksa in Penang island this time - well, next visit then. We stayed a night and had a late lunch the next day (Monday) in Batu Kawan - a sumptuous seafood feast before leaving for home at 7.20pm.

Happy Birthday Mum!

 

 Cosy joint with good food

Cake time!

Setia Alam

Grandma was in town from Penang and we met up for dinner at Setia City Mall in Setia Alam. After dinner we adjourned to the mall's park which had a well-equipped kids playground. Nic and cousins, Brandon and Shannon had a blast, naturally.