Guo Dai Lai

As promised, hahaha here comes the updates, one at a time as i recall them.

There was just too many things to do the last few days, and late nights and all. So we start from 2 weeks ago when i had my Guo Dai Lai.

First of all all the things for exchange had been planned in advance, a big huge roasted Pork, those wedding cakes, liquor, dowry and more has been arranged and Guo Dai Lai basically is the dowry sending day. Hmm, dowry include, The main dowry, angpow for mother in law for bringing up, and also one to grandma, and ang pows for the unmarried siblings of my wife. I think that was all...hmmm...something like that :P

Most of the time nowadays people use ang pow to represent most of the stuff. But if you have elderly in your family, they most probably will still want the presence of a big big roast pig in the house for the event.

It definately was a nice addition to the event to see everyone trying to butcher the pig Hahahaha, not easy for first timers.

At first, we asked our local butcher in KL how to get the pig and all. We were recommended to ask the In Law's family to buy it in Melaka and then we'll give the ang pow for it. This will definately save you alot of time to have to carry it over and all.

So on the day itself 18th November, My 3rd Uncle + Wife, my 2nd Aunt and my Bro + Family followed my wife and I down to Malacca as my entourage for this event. We were greeted by a big big Roasted Pig, Wedding Cakes, Fruits etc etc at the entrance of my Wife's house and an altar for offerings to the dieties.

First thing we did was to pass the dowry over to my In Laws, then we did some prayers. Then my In Laws were to chop up the two sides of the Roasted Pig, leaving the Head/Shoulder, Backbone, Hip/Rear part Intact for me to take back to KL.

What a chore it turned out to be as no one has chopped up a Roasted Pig before, my brother in law had a real good workout and was sweating non stop while trying his best to severe the two sides of the pig's ribcage. His uncle and aunt was also helping out and it took a good half an hour to 45 minutes to at last manage to carve the two big pieces of rib/meat out.

Then came lunch at my in laws, they prepared some food for us and for all the relatives who attended the function, there was a few plates of the Roasted Pig earlier for us to eat, which i was then informed that My wife and I are not supposed to consume any of the food used for today's event, meaning i can't touch the Cakes, Roasted Pig Fruits n more.....ARGHHHH!!!!! and the pig smelled nice too :P So i just made do with the fish, some fishballs, and some vege...sob sob, no roasted pig and it was just in front of me.

Ah well, after lunch, we didn't want to go back to KL first since i wanted to bring my Bro and Uncle to town for a short walk, so we didn't load the pig into the car, and went downtown to Jongker's street to enjoy some sightseeing and some traditional food.

Firstly we parked at Jalan Tokong, then we went into a temple there, first time i entered the temple, It was serene and beautifully maintained, the wooden beams, the golden paint on the carvings in the ceiling wooden beams, the clay tiles of the roof were all very beautifully maintained. I forgot what was the name of the temple though...hehehehe, dropped some donation into the donation box and walked around the courtyard and the compound of the temple. Wifey told me she's been to this temple alot of times when younger and they used to have a turtle pond on the right side of the entrance. That place is now turned into a washroom and no more turtles liao. Oh well. But the temple's still a very nice view.

After visiting the temple we walked down the road to the corner, walking past a gula melaka shop, my uncle stopped sniffed and bought 2 whole bags of gula melaka, hahaha he says the gula melaka here is definately nicer than KL as they are genuine without being diluted first then hardened. The smell was definately great. Walked somemore to the corner of the road and we stopped at No 1, Jalan Tokong, those who know this place will know the wonderful wonderful smell of pineapple tarts. This place is famous, hahaha one of the smallest shops in this area and also the most customers. Luckily we managed to grab some boxes before they were all gone.

Then we walked over an alleyway to Jongker Street, in the alleyway, my Uncle n Aunt went to buy some Aik Cheong coffee too, well known coffee in this part of the country. It was a hot day, so as we were walking back up Jongker Street, i took them to the 88 Restaurant, hehehe, this place serves really good ABC and Chendol. The main thing which makes it good was the Thick Thick Gula Melaka & coconut milk lacing over shaven ice balls. Bwahahah, first time my uncle had it and he was hooked, my brother and sister in law agreed too that it was very nice. The shop was packed when we went in, managed to secure a place though. LUCKILY.

Well after that was about time to go home, my uncle, aunt, wife and i went back to my in law's house to pick up the roasted pig and other stuff while my bro took his wife and my other aunt to A-Famosa resort, he already booked to stay there 1 day in advance.

On the way home, the roasted pig smell was really quite overwhelming in the car hahahah 1 and a half hour journey later, we reached home, and my uncle helped my mom butcher up the final parts of the pig to be given away/frozen/kept to make the spicy 'choy kiok' dish. All which i still cannot eat SOB SOB, really rugi bersih here. Hahahaha.

Oh well, it was a tiring day indeed and luckily i took a day off the next day to rest since i drove all the way there, then to the town and back to KL. :) 2 weeks after that would be my wedding. Which just passed. Next few posts will be on my final 2 weeks of wedding preparations and also the wedding day. WHEW