My Big CNY Feast 2008

February 10, 2008 1 Comment


(Photo Taken: Wahbiang CNY Reunion Dinner on 10 Feb / CNY Gathering at Auntie Amy House on 8th Feb)

For the past 5 years, I haven’t been spending enough effort to meet up with my relatives, especially my favourite cousins and elders. Ever since Granny’s death, the whole clan lost their togetherness as one big family. When I was young, CNY is the most anticipated festival for me. It was a time when all the big 7 families gathered and the bonds were very strong. When Granny is gone, no elders manage to lead and continue our family’s tradition and legacy. Over the past 9 years, we celebrated our own CNY in our own micro family. We only visit one another and it is so difficult to get the big family back together again.

This CNY, I decided to pay all of them a visit. One house after another, the feeling was really good. I guess everyone miss the good old days but no one ever think of rounding up the families together. When I visited Granny at Bright Hill, I told her my little wish – that is to rally the families together in 2009 CNY. Let’s bring back the old glory of one big family. Or should we want to wait for another funeral / wedding to gather?


(Photo Taken: CNY Gathering at Xuejun’s house on 12th Feb / CNY Gathering at Gugu’s house on 12th Feb)

It is on the dinning table where we chat our lives and share our joy. When I dine at Gugu’s house, I tried so hard to hold back my tears on the dining table. There was one particular dish that reminded me of Granny. It was that special taste. Each bite brought back memories of my childhood with Granny. Sigh…I am getting sentimental again. (I guessed I will look really stupid if I cried that day – my dad and mum would think I choked on some bones or what!) I excused myself in the midst of dinner, went to the living room, clear my eyes and throat and came back with the camera.

I wish I can expressed more that day. I want to tell them how much I miss Granny’s cooking and those days back in Koon Seng Road. It was simple family-cooked food but the feelings are so different. No other food can compare with this. It is a family recipe, passed by word-of-mouth from mothers to daughters. And soon, all these will be lost and our new generation will have nothing to pass to their next.

The best thing in life may not be the most expensive one. Like the animation “Ratatullie”, it is the reminiscing of one’s fondest memory that completes the perfect taste of that signature dish. It is not made up of the best and most expensive ingredients but it consists the “taste of pure love” which touches our hearts.


(Photo Taken: Lunch Gathering with Qianqian and Alvin on 16th Feb. / Chalet at Downtown East on 17th Feb.)

Filed under Family, Life in Singapore, Wahbiang

A happy and foggy dreamy birthday

January 8, 2008 Leave a comment

Elkan was jumping on the bed. Felicia went and picked up 2 wrapped gifts from the living room. Tracy was “preparing” something in the kitchen. Me? I was arguing with Elkan on the actual timing.

It was the eve of Felicia’s birthday. 2 mins to 12am, 7th Jan. Felicia showed me a e-Greeting photo done by Joanne on Facebook. Elkan was singing his own version of Happy Birthday. I told him that it wasn’t 12am yet, he pointed to the super-fast clock in my bedroom and he was right – it showed 12:10am.

I dragged Felicia and Elkan out to the living room. Tracy came out just in time – with a cake on her hand – singing happy birthday. There were only 2 candles (double 3) on the cholocate cake – that excite Elkan – who couldn’t wait to blow out the candles. We had the usual cake-cutting and gift-opening. 4 good gifts on the first hour of her big day. (From Meiling, Tracy, Jovel and me!)

It was a very foggy day. I would say it was the most foggy day I ever see in Shanghai. It was like walking on clouds. Low clouds, super foggy and magical. Felicia received a mystery flowers from an unknown sender. Tracy MSN me and told me it is from Felicia’s secret suitor. Haa…. I thought it was from Meijie.

We had a very nice birthday dinner later that day. Echo, Francis, Grey and family (mum and dad) joined us at Ruijin Hotel. We had good food at a very “heritage” place. The weather, fog, old building and atmosphere created a mixture of magic for our night.

This is Felicia’s 2nd birthday in Shanghai. The third one in this house. And possibly her last one in this city.

Filed under Family, Life in Shanghai, Wahbiang

My 50th Visitors

December 30, 2007 2 Comments

"This is likely to be my last Shanghai visit" said Joanne. She has been here for almost 4 times! And with her, Sherane is my 50th visitor!

It is so strange to meet Joanne and family in Shanghai. Afterall, we just met in Singapore less than a week back. Joanne and I were dining at Caffeine Christmas lunch and now we were drinking red wine at Xin Tian Di. It felt like a walk around the corner. The memory of flying 3800km never occur in my mind. Man, now I remember my flight from Hong Kong to Singapore. The feeling of flying home is truly great. (Sigh…now I am back in Shanghai once more.)

Anyway, I had a fantastic night-out with the ladies. The 2 crazy wanted to dine outdoor at Xin Tian Di. With strong wind and temperature as low as 1, Tracy and I have to endure their crazy demand to sit outdoor for 2 bloody wee hours! (Good thing Feli and Elkan were spared from this torture). The 2 crazy girls were of course enjoying themselves. They were giggling, hyper-active and super cozy friendly. Many men walked past our table, thinking I am a pimp…trying to "sell" of these 3 sexy girls. (Seriously, Xin Tian Di is a whore street at night. You got "desperate" ang mohs and chin-nas everywhere!)

The story is I got the best of night! We drank, hugged and laughed. From 12am to 5am, we explored many drinking spots – from Hengshan Road to Park97. I brought them to Guandi and realised it is under construction! Then, we went to Xin Tian Di to drink. At 3am, we popped by BabyFace but Joanne couldn’t breathe, so we ended up singing and drinking at PartyWorld. (Anyway, I am the only one singing…Tracy and Sherane slept!)

We took many huggy photos…so the girls can used it to make their men jealous. Opps..my wife is not going to be very happy about this. Heee..sorry. 


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And the award goes to…

December 26, 2007 Leave a comment

This year, Wahbiang celebrated their 2007 Christmas 5 days before the big day! Jimmy and Serene played host to another great party. The food was great, the venue was ideal. Our party was getting more eventful. Kids were crying, parents (MC & Charlie) stranded at home, adults working the next day, lost handphone woes and old friends just touched down Singapore.

This year, folks in Shanghai (Felicia and Tracy) added a new item in our Christmas Party. We organised the 1st Wahbiang Awards (maybe the last – cos we do not want the same people winning every year!) The voting received 90% of the participation. And the award voting was fair and open. Karen Loo was our Guest of Honor for the night and she gave out all the awards.

Here are some of the winners:

Busiest Man of the Year: Jimmy Teo
Best Supporting Role: Wang Meijie
Best Male Singer: Gareth Tan
Best Female Singer: Kalinda Low
Worst Singer: Huang Yifu
Most Popular Female: Felicia, Lusia
Most Popular Male: Duuk, Meijie
Best Couple: Duuk and Juliana
Fighter of the Year: Juliana
Best Comedian of the Year: Gareth Tan
Single of the Year: Wang Meijie
Flirt of the Year: Joe Chua (I hid the award..so no one can “swan” me that night)
Best Christmas Party: Kalinda’s House 2004
Newcomer of the Year: Kaylene
Naughtiest Kid: Elkan
Top Winner: Wang Meijie (3 medals)

As the night was getting late and parents-with-kids were leaving. We broke our tradition of “gift-exchange” games and did a quick gift-exchange. Lusia was very sporting that night. She encouraged the games to go on. We played 3 rounds of “really funny” games.

Filed under Life in Singapore, Wahbiang

Wahbiang Christmas 2007 – “Award Gala”

December 9, 2007 Leave a comment

The term “Wahbiang Clan” is often debated. Who is in and who is not?

Back in June 2003, Yifu and Wendy had a huge email wars over the definition of “Wahbiang Clan”. Yifu was very upset that he saw many new unfamiliar faces in the clan (people from DCS, Lasalle – well, he was fine with the babes from Temasek though!). Wendy tried her best to make him accept the newcomers. And Jimmy and gang also joined in the debate. Sounds like building a very complicated cult. This big debate lasted only a week. Life has to go on. Eventually, “Wahbiang” has its own unwritten membership rules. And that works very well for the past 5 years. There were of course “members” being ruled out by Mr Dictator Joe and “members” who went missing after they found love & money. In fact, “wahbiang” has its share of regular guests (Karen Loo & Charlie, Scott, Bettina, Hovman, Francis Goh, Jasbir, Bishan, Kendrick, Manfred).

The clan is growing at a super-speed (with new inclusion of marriages – Serene, Lilian, Ernie, Echo and those babies). The spirit of “wahbiang” is very strong. Despite my “super absence”, a new group of leaders took over and organised gatherings for the group. There is no need for voting or internal politics, every one has such great bonds and come together. I am touched, really.

Guofeng messaged me 2 weeks ago about Christmas 2007. He expressed his concern about this year’s Christmas party. “Where got people?” he messaged. Yixi is stuck in Australia for training. Tracy, Echo, Francis, Felicia, Joe and Joanne will be in Shanghai for god-knows-what. It is so similar to Christmas 1998 when Yifu, Meijie, Jimmy were all overseas studying. Where is the crowd? Like Guofeng, I miss the old golden days (like Xmas 2004/2005). Those are really the golden days of our clan – Meijie even had a girlfriend!

Every year, without fail, all wahbiang friends will get a special xmas card (special theme). To many envy eyes, we are a super-connected clan of people (outside church/temple groups). Our unity is special and the bonding is always unique. (We do have wars and fights). Wahbiang Xmas Party is beyond the biggest Wahbiang gathering. We used to drive a donation drive for the poor. Boh Tien Home for the Aged has been receiving goodwills from our clan since 1997. We have stopped this practice in 2004. (Man, we got to renew our Operation X Mission).

So, this year, join me to organise another “golden” xmas party. Let it be bright, big and funny! In the coming days, you will receive more messages from Tracy, Guofeng and myself! This year’s theme “Wahbiang Academy Award 2007” – when we will be giving out 16 medals – all based on your online votes!

The nominees are out! Check your email link to take part (Tracy has picked a smart system – you can only vote once!) If you aren’t nominated, dun feel dry and sad. You be the audience and you see how we “sabo” this winner.


Watch out for the date and venue!

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The One We Miss So Much!

November 3, 2007 Leave a comment

Photo Only Exclusive at the Wahbiang Blog. (The brand new Kal-lendar)

Yes, she-STAR is back ~ after 1 month of traveling, putting weight and staying young! Our favourite next-door poster girl is back with a brand new makeover. She is not just more sexy, she came home a happier person! From Shanghai to Hangzhou to Hong Kong, we had so much fun with Kalinda throughout her short stay. (I bet she did!) Time flies so fast…living together meaningfully and fruitfully.

She certainly made a huge presence here in Shanghai. She left people crying for her. She touched their hearts and her absence is greatly missed (at both Singapore and Shanghai). I was surprised that she even got an escort on the day she arrived at Singapore.

“Will you miss me?” she asked many times, days before she departed Shanghai. I gave her a very typical Joe’s reply. “Yah yah..we will miss lah!”

On a serious note, Kal. I am beginning to feel her absence. Elkan and Tracy were sad that morning Kal left our house. The words in her cards touched our hearts. Though she hardly add any “noise”, we seems to lose that bit of “life” and “laughter”. We miss her a lot. (Sniff, sniff)

(Kal, Guess you are going to have many requests (from Gareth, Yifu, Duuk and Yixi) for your new photos. Remember, I have the exclusives. Dun share with those nuts. For more photos, visit my PICASSA.)

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Our 7th Wonder – Kaylene!

September 22, 2007 2 Comments

Our "Manchunie" couple, MC and Erny (finally, I got her name right) welcome their 1st cute and healthy daughter, Kaylene on Thursday 20th Sept. It comes as a very very blissful news! I almost ask Juliana "Huh, since when?" I remember writing about Erny expecting a baby back in Feb this year. Wow, time really flies…and my memory of "Wahbiang" still stuck back in 2006 May (the day I left).

MC, congrats! Haven’t got the chance to congrats you! Fatherhood is going to be really fun for you. I am so happy for you. I just can’t imagine you are already a father! Life is going to be really exciting throughout the next 12 months. Cherish those moments. And yeah, send me the link to your photo-album! Okay?

The clan is really growing… our 7th wonder! Yeah…finally a young girl for our baby boys to court. (Claudia, Elkan, Xavier, Jacob, Grey, Isaac and now Kaylene!) The 2nd girl in our clan and what a Lucky 7, I bet.

p/s (MC has sent me the link: Guys! Click here: http://public.fotki.com/mycoolipod/)

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Caffeine on News ~ Again

September 9, 2007 Leave a comment

 

Randy, randy. He has been putting Caffeine on the news every few weeks! This is their latest press clippings! Visit their website: www.ilove.sg

(Missing in this photo: Richard and Joanne)

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“Facebook” – The new e-Addictive

September 9, 2007 2 Comments

FACEBOOK.COM – Guess this is going to be the next biggest internet sale (other than YouTube) of this decade! Someone (Yahoo, MSN or Google) is going to buy over this entity. And people like us are going to be help the creator to achieve multi-billion sale. Imagine, every new Facebook account we setup and maintain is worth USD$50 and you have about 20 million users. Do the maths. (We provide the network and content for free and someone makes all that money! Smart!)

Beside the $$$-talk, Facebook offers more than Friendsters and it is super addictive. I was on my round inviting people to get on the Facebook and I got "ticked off" by Juliana. (Haaa..surprise, surprise). She snapped in disgust "no..no…not FACEBOOK again! It keeps people off their daily jobs!"

She is right. Facebook is as addictive and disruptive as MSN Messenger. Look around you, how much time we spent on MSN Messenger everyday at work (if your company hasn’t ban them yet). It is a great communication, bonding, social networking, be-in-the-radar, be-popular and online dating tool. Like Friendster, it opens doors faster than you pick-up chicks at "Baby Face".

Nevertheless, it is a good community. Even old-timer conservatives like Jimmy, Meijie and myself are on this "bad wagon" (yah, it is bad). It is really fun and super-interactive. And it makes us realise how small our world is. (Scary…I just found out that my HK client is a friend of my Shanghai headhunter!)
  
See you at www.facebook.com. For Christ’s sake, please register with a nice cover-shot of yourself.

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2 Birthday Stars – Kalinda & Duuk

August 31, 2007 Leave a comment

 
(For more photos: please click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mkheng/DuukKalindaBDay07)

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