The timing of our Asian trip was meant to correspond with the wedding of Wei Hao, Christine's brother. He is marrying a girl from Penang, Malaysia, who now lives in Singapore. Her family remains in Penang. Hence, last weekend we went to Penang for a wedding, and this weekend there will be another wedding in Singapore. This also means Bobby, not yet 6 months old, now has his third set of passport stamps (entering/exiting Singapore, entering/exiting Malaysia, entering Singapore again).
Quick history of Penang
Penang, you may recall from when Christine and I visited in 2011, is an island off the west coast of Malaysia, with a city, Georgetown, founded by the British. The early history of Georgetown is similar to that of Singapore: port cities from the English empire, distinctive Straits colonial architecture, majority Chinese, prosperous and modern due their being entrepôts.
After Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965, however, their trajectories began to diverge. Singapore rooted out corruption and invested heavily, achieving steady economic growth, and is today among the wealthiest countries in the world. Penang suffered from the corruption and race-based politics that disfavored the Chinese of Penang in favor of the Malays elsewhere in Malaysia; whereas Singapore's colonial architecture is preserved (in places) and cleaned up, Penang's has fallen into ruin, with beautiful old buildings overgrown by trees. Penang is receiving a lot of investment these days and in parts is cleaning up its facade, but it is still disheveled and disorganized compared to Singapore. It is also much poorer on average. Around Penang, however, you can see high rise condominiums and huge boxy factories labeled with international brand names, such as Intel, Honda, HP, et cetera.
Wedding march
A legacy of political mismanagement needn't stop us from having fun, however!
A quick rundown of events leading up to the wedding: We flew TigerAir, a budget carrier owned by Singapore Airlines (I know my mom wouldn't want me flying a Malaysian airline). Bobby had fun on his flight and took a short nap. He's a flyer now. In Penang we stayed in a clean, modern, new hotel on a road full of international restaurants. The many new buildings (even a Starbucks) near our hotel attest to the wave of new investment. The first night in Penang, we had Japanese food. Bobby dirtied three diapers during dinner. Of course in Malaysia it is rare to find a changing station, so I changed him three times on the floor of a very small bathroom stall in the restaurant. Christine and I always carry a travel changing kit, and I made good use of it, thrice cleaning Bobby's bum.
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| He's happy to go anywhere in his ErgoBaby carrier. |
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| Trying to determine what sushi he wants. I wouldn't recommend eating raw fish in Malaysia, boy. Shortly after this photo was taken, he dirtied another diaper. |
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| In the hotel room, getting ready for adventures |
After dinner we visited the family home of Eileen. Eileen has two sisters with several children between them. The little girls were quite excited to meet Zekai. One of the girl's nicknamed him "ang moh didi," which translates (from a combination of Hokkien and Mandarin) to "Caucasian little brother." I like that name for Bobby.
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| The girls who coined Ang Moh Didi |
Wedding Time
My mother shopped long and hard for Bobby's perfect Chinese wedding outfit. Bobby, I guess, wasn't appreciative. He bombed it out on the way to the wedding.
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| Mrs. Chen helping Mr. Chen to get ready for the wedding dinner. Xiao Yuen speculated it may be considered spousal abuse. |
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| When we just arrived at the wedding venue, he looked good from the front. |
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| Not so much in the back. |
Chinese weddings consist mostly of a dinner and a tea ceremony. Younger relatives pour tea for the bride and groom and welcome the new family member; the bride and groom pour tea for their elders, and the elders welcome the new family member. And like that, they are married. Later, the bride and groom make a triumphant arrival to the wedding dinner venue, and then everyone eats eight courses (eight, of course, being the luckiest of numbers). The bride and groom go around to each table and share an energetic toast with their fellow diners.
Only Eileen's family participated in the tea ceremony with Wei Hao and Eileen because Christine's family will do it in Singapore. Wei Hao and Mr. Chen were feeling a bit cross-eyed after the wedding after all of the toasting. It's tough to describe the music that was played -- I would call it recorded renditions of old, popular Western and Chinese songs played with an electric organ. We don't have an equivalent US style.
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| Eileen's nephew preceding into the dining room before the bride and groom. Check out his traditional silk outfit. |
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| Candid snap of the tea ceremony. |
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| I wouldn't say that shark's fin soup is the most delicious dish, but it isn't bad. Maybe it's morally wrong to eat it, but who am I to judge these Malaysians on what they like to eat at weddings. How naive are we Americans to think that individual consumer choices alone can right all moral wrongs? Anyway, it might have been sourced sustainably. I didn't ask the kitchen. I had enough trouble just ordering beer. |
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| Christine's cousin, Jay, lives in Penang, so he attended this wedding rather than come to Singapore. No, he didn't drink that bottle himself; it was shared by all wedding guests. I had... several glasses. Christine, a few sips. |
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| Bobby stayed up past his bedtime to party at the wedding. He grew very antsy, so I took him into the hallway where these kids were running around like crazy, swatting at balloons. He seemed to like watching them. |
I would say that the wedding is so much fun I would do it all over again. Hopefully next time Bobby can keep his shorts clean.
Afterward
The morning after, we shared a dim sum brunch with Eileen's family before flying back to Singapore. Bobby was passed around the table all morning so that everyone got to hold him. There were not so many ang mohs in this less-touristed part of Penang. Bobby and I attract a lot of attention.
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| From left to right, Eileen's mom, Eileen's niece, Bobby, Eileen. |
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