It's finally time for my youngest sister in law to get hitched this month. I for once is relieved to know that this will be the last wedding in my immediate family that I had to attend. That is until the rest of my adolescent cousins started to get married. At least I don't have to worry about that for a while.
Anyway, the lucky man of her choice was a lad from Taiping, Perak and they met at the National Service camp that they both attended a while ago. From going steady to getting engaged and now married, they've been through a lot in all those years. When many others break up and found other love, this one survived the test of time. For the bride's wedding and reception ceremony, they rented a hall next to a restaurant called Selera Tepi Sungai not far from her home. The food and the hall was okay although many would agree that the emcee should have done better than to misspell the bride and her mother's name a few times.
For the groom's side, we had to travel all the way to Taiping. I don't believe I have ever been to that town before. Taiping is an idyllic town on the northern part of Perak, famous with its lake gardens, Maxwell hill and Taiping Zoo and Night Safari. The groom graciously rented a homestay for all of us to stay at although there's not enough room for everybody so my family and I had to sleep in the living room. At least it was air-conditioned. The wedding took place at the Taiping prison rest house which you guessed it, next to the Taiping prison. Apparently it is a popular place for a wedding do in the area.
Everything goes well that hot Saturday afternoon. We had our wedding lunch, hung around for a while and then left to visit the Perak Museum. The museum - first of it kind in Malaysia or so they say offers a pretty modest exhibit. About 1/5th of those in the National Museum. We get to see a seasonal bee exhibit, stuffed animals and the usual cultural artefacts. For 2 ringgit entry fee, I can't really complain much.
The next day we didn't miss the chance to visit the popular Taiping Zoo. I always insisted that we visit during the day because there's nothing much to see and snap at the night safari. We got a discounted locals ticket thanks to our new brother in law. Now Taiping Zoo is a proper zoo and place of interest. There's a lot of live animals to see from all parts of the globe - tigers, lions, elephants, giraffes, rhinos and zebras just to name a few. We really got our money's worth at the Taiping Zoo. Had time permitted, we would have hiked up Maxwell hill (Bukit Larut) next door. But it's a 6 hours return trip and we had to choose between that and the zoo. In the end the zoo wins because kids.
To my beloved sister in law Adira, congrats on your wedding. Syakir looks like a really nice guy. Polite and hardworking. I'm sure you'll have many happy and blessed years together.
