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Ipoh - Wedding Chronicles
posted : Saturday, September 24, 2016
Oh in the midst of all the Europe posts I suddenly remembered I haven't even talked about Ipoh and Penang yet.
Plan was conceived late last year I think. MHEH wedding in Ipoh and CVE kakis were invited (or maybe self invited) to the dinner and I thought it was a good opportunity to pop by Penang which I always wanted to. Luckily the rest found the plan viable too so we settled on that.
Wedding dinner was on a Saturday, plan was to fly in on Friday, drive to Penang on Sunday, and fly back to SG on Monday night. Ideally I wanted an extra day in Penang but the rest don't have that many days of leave to spend so we had to make do with that.
Booked tickets around feb, accommodation for Ipoh was settled by EH who booked an entire house because her entire family is coming (she has 5 other siblings most of which are married with multiple kids so it's a huge family). Airbnb-ed for the Penang leg.
Uh a bit guilty coz didn't do much for planning as usual. In my defense when planning started proper in April I was busy with Europe :x Anyway didn't do much in the end, just scouted out some websites for food recommendations and off we go. Initial plan was to drive to Penang but couldn't find any car rental companies that allows us to pick up at Ipoh and return at Penang so ended up buying HSR tickets from Ipoh to Penang (didn't know there's such thing in Malaysia) and renting car at Penang itself.
Took the entire Friday off even though flight was in the afternoon (so technically I could have just taken half a day). Oh well. Didn't want to rush. Short one hour flight to Ipoh where we also bumped into another uni classmate on the flight. Small world. Received by the couple, and let the food fest begin!
Literally. EH's continuous attempt to feed us (coz when her family drove up from Muar, they made many pit stops and bought way too much food). Night time was dinner with the entire gang courtesy of Mr Chow senior who wanted to welcome the Liaw clan to Ipoh. And as usual, being the only table with young adults (4 of us plus 5 of EH's sec school friends), all the excess food came to our table.
Must mention that food was good though.
Some of the less commonly encountered dishes. Peking duck - ok this is common - but gets a mention coz I like roasted ducks hahaha.
I can't tell which veggie is this..it's like some variation of sprouts. But it has a good crunch.
Now this is interesting. I think it's like a variation of beggar's chicken....but it's curry chicken inside a layer of bread. The bread is really really yummy (yes it's just bread but still). Not sure if it has to do with the way it is baked.
Unveiling the curry chicken in within.
Curry was pretty good too.
Clearly pleased with our work.
From the back.
Next morning - wedding day! Chris and I were earlier enlisted as drivers of the bridal car and the accompanying car and we very ad-hoc-ly (if that's a word) took up the roles of brothers too even though MH had earlier insisted for no gatecrashing (which EH agreed - come on! Where's the fun in that?). But the 大妗姐 had lots of things to do which needed brothers assistance so two of us and two of MH's cousins were roped in. Went over to MH's place earlier, were supposed to leave MH's place only after 10am and be back before 11.30am.
Meanwhile the girls were also roped in as sisters LOLOL. Actually come to think of it...expected la.
Went through the whole proceedings at the bride's base with minimal disruptions. Because the two of them have already agreed on no gatecrashing beforehand mah so even though 大妗姐 tried to stir it, all the brothers needed to do was 30 push ups to be shared among 4 ppl hahahahah. And for EH to allow MH into her room to pick her up, MH just provided a pre-recorded message and for EH's ears only. Wahlao this MH had it way too easy man (lol not too sure whose side I am on).
Setting off to the groom's!
A few wedding photoshoot albums. I particularly like this one. More natural.
The unplanned gatecrash session.
The last pseudo-hurdle.
For tea ceremony.
We have the bride!
Went back to MH's place after that with EH's entourage and that's the end of our roles. Buffet lunch while the couple went through tea ceremony etc for the groom's family. The duo wanted to head out for a short photo shoot session too but the rain came and they decided against it.
Idea was to rest up in the afternoon for dinner at night but we decided we had to check out Ipoh (a.k.a food) and there's no other time to do it. So Winnie, Chris and I headed out again while ML stayed in to rest. Managed to cover a few "attractions" such as 芽菜鸡, Ipoh Hor fun and coffee. Oh and fulfilled our driver roles too by sending them to their bridal studio to prepare/make up for the night. And made a trip to the airport to pick up Sam who only flew in on Saturday because she had DB training on sat morning.
The only picture from the food stops in the afternoon. Coz designated food photographer ML wasnt around.
Wedding dinner at night was the standard affair. After which we headed out for more drinks - wanted to check out 雪花啤酒 which turned out to be a gimmick la honestly. 
Setting out for the dinner!
Dinner menu. Old school Chinese restaurant style.
The most elaborate 冷盘 presentation, ever. So much work.
One with the couple. They have came a long way...but they made it!
With the SG gang.
After party. Kind of.
It's just apple cider (or other fizzy alcoholic drink) chilled to a certain temperature such that it is at a point of freezing, but not actually frozen. Watch.
Woke up at an ungodly hour of 5.30am on Sunday morning because we decided we couldn't leave Ipoh without dimsum and Sunday morning is the peak of the peak where queues at the two famous dimsum restaurants (Ming Court and Foh San) start as early as 6.30am. 
Ming Court! Coz Foh San we tried the day before (they ordered delivery before the morning ceremonies)
Yums.
Still have some time to kill so visited a couple of attractions in Ipoh, on EH's recommendation. Temples and Kellie's castle, which is about half an hour drive off Ipoh town itself.
Temple hopping.
Winnie and I went around 拜拜, while the rest roam around taking beauty shots.
From the top!
Kellie's Castle.
The Malaysians with their respective state flags! FML I almost couldn't recognize mine. #fakemalaysian
Us in front of the castle.
Part of the ruins. Never mind about the history, you can go read up yourself. Google is your best friend.
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