I'm certainly missing the holiday atmosphere, despite having enjoyed only 2 weeks' worth of rest and relax. Granted, my holidays had been filled with plenty of family engagements most of the time, but who wants to miss out on holidays all the same?

[*Sidetrack: Youth Day holiday this coming Monday, as well as a half-day on the Friday due to the MOE Excel Fest.]

Speaking of family engagements though, an uncle in the maternal side got married during my vacation. His wife hails from Batam and I had the privilege to attend her wedding ceremony in her hometown, held some 2 weeks back on a lazy Sunday. I'd never been to Batam before, but the prior trip to Tanjung Pinang served as preparation to what might follow.

I'd received no sleep at all on the night prior to the Sunday, as I'd been really excited and eager to see my uncle with his lawfully-wedded wife (they'd been solemnised a week earlier in ROMM), sitting on the dais. Also, I was ecstatic to meet up with my relatives and cousins again, especially the little ones.

Having boarded a ferry not too long ago, I was cool and composed in the water vessel. Here I am, with cousins Adlan and Jannah.

I was slightly sleepy but somehow, the ray of sunshine floating through the window managed to camouflage my eyebags. Oh, and did you notice the guy who was asleep? He was ultra-hot and looked like he could be a member of an Indonesian band, the guitarist or singer perhaps. He was really cute but that picture didn't do him any justice. ;-)

We reached Batam in an hour's time and after going through the customs and plenty of waiting, we finally made our way (in 4 separate cabs) towards the bride's sister's house, where we were scheduled to be at first. I didn't know why initially, but after arriving there, I realised and fully appreciated the reason.

There was a female hadrah group, decked in an all-white assemble, ready with their drums and what-nots to shout out the arrival of the groom. From what I observed, they positioned themselves right at the back of everyone else, while my uncle, being flagged by his elder siblings on both his right and left, stood right at the head of the group. The rest of us found places behind my uncle, caryying the gifts for the bride.

Anyhow, I'm thinking that as the groom symbolises a king, he probably has to stand right at the front as a sign of power and authority. His elder siblings who are by his side probably represent the next in authority while the rest of the group behind him represent his loyal subjects. Finally, the musical entourage or the hadrah will position themselves last since they have to be walking loudspeakers and announce the arrival of the groom. Also, they probably aren't supposed to stand first in line for fear of overshadowing or overcrowding the king for the day.

At least, that's just my theory.

Well, a groom cannot set off to claim his bride without taking a shot with his "ministers" first.

That's my 2nd uncle there in the middle, with my 1st uncle and 1st aunt (also known as my ibu). Notice the "crown" on 2nd uncle's head.

Right, so everyone readied themselves to head over to the bride's house.

Of course, we were going on foot. Thank God for wearing sports shoes that day, even if it had looked out of place with my kurta top and long blue skirt. (I had the sense to wear a comfortable pair of cotton pants underneath the skirt, for I'd simply removed my skirt after the entire event. And I'd even done it in the van that arrived to ferry us around on a mini shopping spree.) Nobody noticed anyway. I don't think they did.

We walked..

..and we walked..

..before we finally reached the bride's place.

Notice how 2nd uncle was in the shade while almost everyone else had to stand in the hot sun. Oh, don't be fooled by the picture. You can't tell the intensity of the sun from a picture alone until you actually get burnt from the scorching heat! My cousins and me squirmed and squirmed the entire time in the sun, for the bride's family had decided to follow our so-called Malay tradition in reading out poems or pantuns, whereby the groom and his entourage will have to answer a few questions versed in poetry, given by the other side. This custom is not practised much nowadays, as far as I know, and even if it is done, the mak andam or make-up artiste to the bride will only stop at 2 questions at most.

However, my new aunt-in-law's family had prepared a series of questions that could probably fit in a 10-year-series assessment book! The whole Q & A session lasted for a grand total of 15-20 minutes! Imagine that, 15 minutes standing in the hot sun with beads of perspiration trickling down your neck and spine. Bleah! I know it's supposed to be light-hearted and done in jest but still, 15 minutes is pushing it too far. I remember Adlan kept mumbling, "Lincah, lincah! Orang dah panas nie!" It means: "Hurry up already! We're feeling hot here!"

Yours truly felt the heat burning up my face as seen in the next shot:

If that's not a cramped face, I don't know what is.

Anyway, the bride's side FINALLY allowed my uncle to meet his bride and thus, they were reunited on the seemingly-high 2-step dais.

That dais covered the whole living room and was really higher than the daises used commonly here in Singapore. In fact, the bride's relatives had even covered the walls of the living room and entrances to the bedrooms and kitchen with that glittery orangey-gold cloth. Don't ask me what kind of material it is because in that kind of heat, I could only think of sipping cool Pepsi Twist. And while everyone clamoured at the door and window openings of the house (the door and windows had been removed for easy access and viewing), I sat myself outside, where it was cool and breezy.

Yes, I am smart like that. Hurhurhur. But of course, I had to step inside for the obligatory family photos. Won't bore you with everything but just this one with the cousins who had been there:

That's my 2nd little darling Haikal (after Aisyah, the little girl in the tudung, who I'm sure most of my friends know about) whom I'm carrying. He's so adorable and cheeky!

Right, so after the photo-taking and what-nots, we were all invited to feast on their famous nasi padang. Mmmm mmm. There wasn't that many a variety of dishes, I'm afraid, it being a wedding and all. However, I won't complain about the food as everything tasted really good, especially with the green chillies sambal (a condiment that is a staple like sambal belacan, but consisting green chillies, onions, pepper and cucumber) accompanying the rice. It really gave an extra kick to everything else. Oh, and do you know that there were no tables to place our plates of food on?

Yeap, there were no tables. Only chairs for sitting on and placing our cups of mineral water. The custom there is to hold your plate while eating, so hold we did. And they didn't use plastic plates either, but huge ceramic microwaveable types! Alas, there aren't any pictures of the plates but maybe you can spy a plate or two at the buffet table?

Of course, there must be some form of entertainment right? Fret not, for my new aunt-in-law's relatives had provided a stage for people to come up and sing.

It wasn't Mogwai but hey, at least my food was good!

And to end this ridiculously long post (I know it's been overdue), here's a snap of my 2nd darling, Haikal, who had woken up from his nap:

Isn't he just adorable?? :-p