The Forays of the Entourage starts with Mama’s birthday, a symbolic event that starts of an era or greatness to the family and all that it touches.
Mama's ( aka Pn Chew) birthday was on Nov 22 2010 and being her 60th birthday, a bash had been planned. It was a surprise, but of course Mama had found out, thanks to our many well-meaning relatives at home.
The Chinese believe that the 60th year is an auspicious year to celebrate and indeed, I intend to honour the roots where I come from. So on Nov 21, the four of us - me, Lin Say, Mengs and Nymph packed into the car armed with loads of Nescafe Ice, chips and a bunch of oldies I'd brought the day before.
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| Little Shanice |
We dropped off Shanice, our lovely kitten ( who has since been given away to a loving home) to our cousin and on the road we went, singin to our hearts contend and practicing our dance movies.
Oh I better digress. This was no ordinary birthday. The Entourage, save for Michael had gone for dance lessons to prepare a hilarious routine on Single Ladies to surprise Mama. Except for me who'd taken dance lessons in the past, the other 3 suspects were new to dance. Miss E, out Thai dance instructor had done an excellent job in teaching us a full routine in 2 long lessons. We were all gung-ho and waving wildly in the car following the beat of Beyonce as she went "Oh oh oh, oh oh oh, oh oh oh."
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| Here's a picture of Miss E and us and Pepper after our practice at Outkast |
So after a 3 hour drive ( well we stopped in Tapah for ice cream, tea and corn) we finally arrived in beautiful Taiping where the mountains stood tall and the air was a veil of freshness. Ahhhhh lovely Taiping where I came from. Mama wasn’t home, but Bisky greeted us like a mad dog. My beloved Jack Russel hadn’t seen us in weeks and boy was he excited. He’d grown too but his cuteness is undeniable and unending. Bish-ke-boo-boo I love you!
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| Mengs got a whole lotta talent |
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| Nymph's looking a wee bit disgruntled |
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| Mengs got his iphone not too long ago |
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| "Buy Jotech warrant!" |
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| Bisky fell asleep during our conversation. Isn't he a cutie petutie? |
The next morning was the big day. And the events began to roll!
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| Well, not before Bisky got some loving. |
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| Mama's Little Red Riding Hood |
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| Ah Em, our co-organizer |
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| Mengs practising his guzheng. He has a performance tonight teehee! |
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| Here come the red and yellow boys |
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| Heeheehee, the lead lion was cute in a 14 year old way |
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| We decided to go Oriental for the Lion Dance |
And of course when the dance began, so did the incessant barking of Bisky. 15 minutes of drum pounding and Bisky barking. Here are a couple of highlights.
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| Oooh, the grand beats have started! |
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| Do you feel the wealth flowing? |
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| The lion gallops to the stomp of positive qi |
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| Thats right! We reach for the highest heights! |
What a great performance! Great job to the Hua Lian boys :)
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| Little Bisk couldn't stop panting heehee |
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| Mama and friends who came to soak in the prosperity of the Lion Dance |
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| Doris, Mama's niece looking come-hither |
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| Ah Hock and Pek Kam, from Mama's side. |
Nightfall came and our Taiping guests began to show. The tables were laid, the candles were lit and the food was aplenty. The party started as our Taiping guests came. We had about 50 of em. See our happy night.
Mama was dressed in a red Victoria Beckham dress and she stood cute and proud as we speeched, toasted and sang Happy Birthday!
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| Mama beaming like a red candle as all of us sang Happy Birthday |
And then it came time for our dance. I clinked a glass and announced a surprise was in store. Immediately a palpable sense of anticipation filled the air. Mama was really excited as she knew we were quite capable of silly things.
We took our places and GOOOO!
Well, what can I say? It wasn’t perfect, some of us forgot moves, but throughout, it was filled with laughter and loads of entertainment. Miss E was proud of us. I showed her the video later.
Then we had Mengs on the guzheng playing Shanghai Noon. Boy oh boy, did he wow the crowd with his strumming prowess.
What a night!
Everyone woke up late the next day, and boy, even Bisky couldn’t wake up.
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| Zzzzzzzzzzz |
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| Snorrreeeeeee |
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| Look at these two lazies! |
Everyone reluctantly woke up but the thought of delicious 'niau chu hun' for breaky was pretty tempting. Everyone got ready, but not before Bisky got a little loving.
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| Beeeshkkyy |
So we went for our delicious niau chu hun where it truly was delicious. Yummeroo. Sorry, no pics here.
Anyways, we went shopping after that. Mengs loves everything Oriental so we headed to a shop which sold statues, incense, prayer items and plenty others. This was fun and we spend quite a bit of time here. Everyone bought something. I bought pink candles, Mengs a wulou ( gurd) and patterned paper, Nymph, yellow and pink candles and Mama, loads of trinkets as usual.
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| Mengs bought the most as usual hahaha |
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| We're supposed to be best friends :P |
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| "Pn Chew is like a second mum to me," Nymph was quoted as saying. |
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| Mengs and his prized wulou! |
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| Isn't this a grand picture? Here we are like happy holidayers! |
After that, we had to go to Yut Sun, our favourite coffeeshop. They serve great tea, an unusual pre-war platter called roti sayur and a variety of butter cakes that are yum-dee-dum!
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| Mengs going for a jammy tart! |
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| Nymph was truly a glutton in Taiping |
After a sumptuous meal, we came home and then we all just kinda lazed.
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| Bisky loves settling on a pillow. Isn't he regal? :) |
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| Thats my pretty painted toe! |
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| Of course Mengs went to play with his new paper wares he bought immediately |
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| Ah Pek, or First Uncle came to visit before we left |
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| Whiling away time at the kitchen we were |
Sadly we had to go soon. And so we did. We hung out in Taiping Central first where we bought some stuff and Nymph bought this ridiculous glasses which lasted only a day before it broke.
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| Hahahahaha, How desirable! |
We trooped back after that. The drive back was a little weary. Everyone was kinda tired from the rush of the past day.
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| This is Nymph's doing! |
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| Here we are at Shalala eatin really un-yummy stuff! |
And that was the end of our lovely Taiping trip. Had a blast hanging out and the birthday was quite a party for Taiping standards.
Till then. And off we go to our next foray :)
