Marina & Harold's Wedding Reception at our Kampung Kota Belud

My sister and her husband had their wedding reception at our village house in Kota Belud on 12th April 2008. Really fun but really tiring. Have to "tampi" a few gunny sack of rice to get rid of leftover rice skins and unwanted debris. Then, have to gut a huge container of fresh fish (have never gutted so many fish in my life :p). A cow was sacrificed in the evening after the heavy rain stopped and the men (uncles and relatives) carried out the task of cleaning and chopping it to bite size pieces. Banyaknya kerja.. I am really thankful to the SIB's Women League under the leadership of Auntie Kilin (Uncle Saran's wife). They were the ones who did the cooking, prepared and served all the food for the reception. I could only help them until 4.00 a.m. cause my head started to spin and I had to go to bed.

In the morning of the reception, my sister was asked to hang the "Sepak Manggis" with an elderly gentleman at a designated location. It was customary that the "Sepak Manggis" was to be hung during odd hours. My sister's was at 9.00 am exactly. It looked cool dangling on a string from a bamboo pole with my origami peace birds "flying" by it's side hehe. It looked like a bird cage (complete with a small door). Candies and keropoks was hung on artificially made flowers at the bottom and real paper money on top. The objective of this game was to kick a rottan ball (bola raga) really hard and whoever manages a direct hit to the flower located at the centre bottom of the "Sepak Manggis", would win the prize money and a sarong. Relatives were not allowed. Only outsiders. Mr Harry, our neighbour won and my sister presented him with a hamper.

There was a good turnout of crowds. My dad came so did his brothers and sisters from Kampung Tenghilan. Guests who came from Tombovo (Harold’s side) and Kota Belud were entertained with food, drinks and karaoke competition. The downside was the hot midday sun. The weather was really warm and everyone was sweating.

Anyway, everything went well with a little tunggang tebalik and kelam kabut time of course but ok la. To this day I am still feeling worn-out. Haven't had a full day rest yet. Went straight to work :p

My sister in her 7th month pregnancy. Sangat gemok hehee..

Sian baby underneath all those layers of belt :p