Uncle's Wedding

10:45 / Posted by TL / comments (0)

As usual, a chinese-tradition wedding is always hectic but excited. I am not commenting this based on what I have experienced, but based on what I have observed recently. My uncle and aunty hosted their wedding ceremony in their 10 years anniversary (I think they have not officially gone through a wedding ceremony before). Their wedding ceremony involve a more traditional and typical chinese wedding style. This means they have to go through tea pouring sessions etc.

Caption: family tree (mom's relatives)

1. first row from left: Samantha and her sister (my cousin sister / aunty catherine's daughters), karen and Adam (my 2 cousin siblings / uncle and aunty's kids), my grandma, my grandpa, my aunt's dad and her mom.
2. second row from the left: My aunt's sister, my mom, aunt catherine, aunt christy, uncle and his wife, a long lost relative (grandma's relative), aunty christy's daughter, eldest aunty.
3. third row from the left: my sister, myself, my dad, aunty catherine's husband, the two cousin brothers (eldest aunty's son), balerie and her brother (aunt christy's daughter and son)

I have been reducing the number of images found on the camera, from approximately 350images to 80. However, making this post is relatively difficult since I have to resize the images on the template and uploading it on blog would consume plenty of time :S Please click once on every image to view the image in a larger size.

Caption: uncle going to pickup the bride

The story begun like this.

It should be approximately 10:00 AM when my uncle's cousin brother drove him to pick up my aunt. Time is an important aspect for Chinese, and this should be applied to every possible perspective in a marriage such as the time to pick up the bride, time for prayer, time for tea-pouring sessions etc. Upon reaching, he was not allowed to get down from his car until someone (a younger guy I assume) open the door for him. For some reasons, my uncle has to pay this person a red envelope (we called that as Ang Pao in Chinese).

Caption: before getting into the house

If you see clearly, there were few people blocking his way into the house. Well, for this reason, he has to encourage these people to open the door with, again, red envelope (of course the envelop would contain some money). Then, my uncle went into the house, and we started taking photographs.

Caption: meeting my aunt's relatives

This is the first time meeting my aunt's relatives, quite a number of them, but definitely will not outnumber my uncles's relatives. We went to the second floor to meet the bride. According to my uncle, my aunty's sister is a make-up artist. I wonder how my aunt would looks after makeup.

Caption: meeting the bride and my cousins

OMG! Two total different person in term of look (before and after make up)! I am not saying my aunt don't look pretty 'before' the make up, but she definitely look better in the pictures. Based on my aunt's facial expression, I think it is visible that she is feeling extremely happy on that day. My aunt's sister on the other hand is an extremely shy person. She left the room immediately as soon as I positioned the camera at her. Lol.

Caption: meeting my aunt's mother

Suddenly, someone asked us to get ready with the tea-pouring session. Oh, my aunt's mom just finish setting a nice hair in the salon. I believe her intention was to make herself look prettier since she know there will be many camera-mens around during that time :O Anyway, everyone is getting ready with the tea-pouring session.

Caption: tea-pouring ceremony for higher position family members

I think this is the most exciting moment for both my aunt's parents, and my grandparents since its an extremely important session in the chinese wedding culture. Okay, here is how tea-pouring session works. First, both my uncle and aunt would have to serve the tea for my aunt's relatives at higher position (i.e. parents, then elder uncles / aunties, followed by elder siblings). First, they started with my aunt's parents, then their aunty, followed by my aunt's elder brother and sister-in-law (the guy in pink coloured shirt) and finally their elder cousin brother (the guy in white coloured shirt, I think). After the relatives drink that cup of tea, they have to give 'something' to my aunt and uncle. I think the parents gave their daughter a golden necklace. Her sister-in-law gave her a golden bracelet. The rest gave her a red envelope that contained some money in it.

Caption: tea-pouring ceremony for lower position family members

Then, the lower position family members served them with tea. My aunt's brother (the guy in the yellow coloured shirt) received a red envelope from both my uncle and aunt, followed by my aunt's sister, and other relatives' children. My aunt's sister looks young isn't it? Besides that, they are quite dissamilar in facial texture, or perhaps, we would call that as 'difficult to believe that is her sister' (my aunt would kill me if she read this, lol). here is something funny. My aunt's chinese name was pronounced as Goh Mei (in Chinese, it represents United States) whilst her sister's name was pronounced as Goh Ying (we pronounced that as England in Chinese if you read it backwards), lol. So cute.

Caption: taking photo in groups

We spend some time trying to capture some nice photographs in groups. Suddenly, my uncle looked at his watched. It was half past 12, which means we have to dash immediately to my uncle's house for the next tea ceremony over there. According to my aunt, they have read through some chinese books, stating that they have to start the tea ceremony at my grandparent's home before 1:00 PM. It is extremely, hectic, really.

Caption: at my grandparent's home

Initially, we thought we will be late due to the short traffic. Glad we managed to make it on time, phew! The moment I entered the home, I saw massive amount of people, preparing for the tea ceremony, I assume. I even met some long-lost relatives and cousins, or perhaps some who I have never ever met in my life. What a precious moment.

Caption: praying session

They started the tea ceremony by praying to their god and ancestors. This is a relatively important task for Chinese people as symbol of honour to them.

Caption: my aunt with weird but funny hand positions

I wonder why is she so happy after the prayer, lol. Not like she has not pray before (again, she will kill me if she read this section, lol) .

Caption: tea ceremony for my uncle's higher position relatives

Similar to the previous tea ceremony, except, this time, they are pouring tea for the male's relatives. The entire process is just similar. My grandma gave her daughter-in-law a golden bracelet. It looks heavy :O This shows how much she love her daughter-in-law :) On the other hand, my mom gave her a golden necklace, and wore it for her. The necklace fit her neck perfectly (she is wearing it all the time now). Other relatives gave her some red envelopes.

Okay, the 1-hour-plus tea ceremony finally ended. I have been sweating for few hours continuously on that day since the weather is extremely hot. Then, chit chatted with England (aunt's sister) about UK, lol. She is a pretty nice person to speak to :) Later, we left home.

Caption: the wedding dinner

We reached to the clubhouse for their wedding dinner at around 6:00 PM when everyone was already there. I saw my mom's siblings. Do they look similar in the image above? (from left) my youngest aunt, my grandma, my second-youngest aunt, and my mom. They all look extremely similar to me, lol.

Caption: taking photographs for relatives

Busy! Busy! Busy taking photographs and talking to everyone, lol. Suddenly, they turned off the lights. The time is showing me 8:20PM. Oh, time for food, lol. They served the first dish.

Caption: the first dish

I reluctantly ignore the first dish, and went to the main table (first table where you will see the bride and groom and their parents on that table) and captured some images. Next, I will just clutter all images in a bundle since I do not know most of the people over there on that night. All I did was to 'only' capture images from one table to another, and eat, and thats about it, lol.

Caption: photographs from most tables

I should have taken more pictures (but Liz has been doing the job for me) since I was busy eating at that time, lol.

Caption: the foods on that night

Delicious! I like the food pretty much.

Caption: wedding toast

This is probably the most exciting moment in a wedding dinner when all the relatives from the main (first) table were invited to the stage for the wedding toast. That is also the moment when you would see "at least" 5-6 camera-men snapping photographs simultaneously for at least 15 minutes when everyone shouted "Yum Xing" for three times.

Caption: before the dinner ends

I missed the wedding dinner pretty much, and my aunt's relatives since they were all very nice people. This is one of the most glamourous wedding dinner I have ever attended, not due to the food or environment, but the people over there, giving me an extremely comfortable feeling when speaking to.

Caption: Liz

Finally, my uncle and aunty wanted to warmly thank Liz and Roy for helping so much in phograph taking. As a complimentary gift for Liz, I have posted your 'beautiful' photo over here to let people know that you do attend the wedding dinner on that night, lol.

Congratulations to both my uncle and aunt for their wedding.

Ginseng: An Unconscious Toxic

10:14 / Posted by TL / comments (0)

I got a shock when a friend emailed this article to me.

Caption: article

Whether or not, I would still suggest the same thing over and over again. People (especially Chinese) would usually treat herb as a drug to them. This may due to some chinese believers who believe the ability of herbs that would be able to cure some significant diseases such as diabetes or perhaps cancer (tumor) etc. However, overdosing 'something' should normally produce some side-effect, so be extremely careful when consuming herbs and medicines.

iPhone 3GS in June 19, 2009

07:49 / Posted by TL / comments (0)

Apple has announced to release the next version of iPhone (3GS) very soon, by 19th of June this year. The design of the iPhone has remained the same but the software has been improved drastically. According to Apple, this new iPhone uses the OS 3.0 and provide at least 100 new features, which would significantly benefit users who aimed at mobile phones technologies.

Caption: iPhone 3GS (i)

Caption: iPhone 3GS (ii)

There were few important features upgraded from the current iPhone version. Since there were at least 100 new features, I will only specify the few main features in this upgraded version of iPhone. The images were copied from the Apple's official website.

Caption: digital compass

(1) A digital compass emerged the 3GS with the reason of aiding Google Maps. I think they going to utilise the digital compass for other purposes in the future, at least in other applications.

Caption: 3-Megapixels camera

(2) Apple just boosted the camera of the iPhone, from 2.0-Megapixel to 3-Megapixels. Additional features of the camera include auto focus. This is an extremely important feature of a mobile phone. T3 suggest the auto focus function "brings that element (i.e. person) into focus, but tap away from that object - like the background". This feature is mechanical rather than software, so the current iPhone (not the 3GS) will not has the possibility to upgrade this function. Although the camera in the 3GS will not have a built-in flash, however Apple has worked hard to increase the quality of the photo produced during low-light situations.

(3) Apple has improved the function of the video recorder. T3 indicates to "load the camera application, and slide the new toggle from photo to video, and then push the red 'record' button. Video will start recording instantly, at 640 x 480, 30fps, and 30fps". On the other hand, the user may edit the video recorded and scrubbing the frames recorded individually. This function is relatively beneficial for people who love to record and edit video with his mobile, with the exception that once the frames are deleted, it will not be stored in the memory permanently.

Caption: voice recorder

Caption: voice control

(4) The 3GS would be able to recognise human voice with its voice control function. You may now ask your iPhone some simple questions such as "What time is it" or "What song is this" or perhaps more ambitiously, you may ask the iPhone to "Play unchained melody", and the mobile will fulfil the task automatically!

Caption: increase of performances

(5) Apple has upgraded the speed of the 3GS in performance. This means in performance wise, the loading speed etc. can be performed twice the speed than the current iPhone. Thought the weight is 2 gram heavier, but this is not an important aspect at all.

Caption: accessibility

Caption: efficiency of searching

Caption: cut, copy and paste function

(6) Other improved features include the accessibility of the mobile for focus group (i.e. disabled users), more effective in searching method for friends in the phone book, and the 'cut, copy, paste' feature that would significantly contribute to people who uses the mobile for writting.

The iPhone 3GS will come in a both the memory of 16GB and 32GB, in either black or white in colour.

Bionical Eyes

09:26 / Posted by TL / comments (0)

I was totally impressed with the current technologies where blind people may have some hope to be able to 'see' something visually in the coming future. According to the RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind), blind people is referred to as people whose vision was loss / severely impaired. They will not have the ability to tell light or dark, which also means that their impaired vision reaches below 20/200.

Caption: the 73 year old blind man

Okay, here is the interesting article that I have read. It says the upcoming technology (known as the bionical eye) will provide blind people some sight. Here is the story.

Caption: transplanting the device into the retina

A blind person of age 73 had participated the experimental surgery few months ago at London's Moorfield's eye hospital. He had total vision loss for at least 30 years, and surprisingly, after this operation, he would be able to see flashes of light. This means he could walk on the road, following white lines on the road. I think white colour items should be visible to him. According to the eye sergeon, the most difficult part of the operation is the transplantation of the device into the retina.

How could he do that? Simple. He utilises the so-called bionical eye technology, fitting the device directly into his eyes through the operation. This sunglasses utilises a camera and video processor and has the capturing function to send and receive images wirelessly into the device in his eye. When the receiver was turned on, a tiny cable transfer the data to the electrodes. The electrodes will sit on the retina of the blind person, outside the layer, and that thing will respond to light found on the back of the retina. In other words, the electrode will stimulate the optic nerve in the brain, and allowing the receiver to perceive to patterns of light.

Here is the process.

Caption: perceiving the letter 'E' from the board

Caption: perceiving the 'E' by the device

Caption: the 'E' has successfully perceived by the device

Caption: the retina and the device

Caption: the interaction of the device and the retina

Caption: the 'E' was successfully perceived in the device in the retina

Caption: the information ('E') stored in the retina for some time

Caption: The 'E' was published to the retina, and then to the brain

These pictures were captured from BBC.

To date, this research has managed to surmount related to blindness, especially for people who have been blind through retinitis pigmentosa (retinis pigmentosa represents a group of inherited eye disease that cause degeneration to the retina, and then leading to blindness). According to BBC, this research will at least be beneficial for 25k residences in the UK. The 18 people who have fitted this device on their retina commented: "I can actually sort out white socks, grey socks and black socks", which I seriously think it is an entirely amazing piece of project. The contribution of this project has encourage blind people to (1) do some washing (2) be able to tell white form coloured items. I think researcher should continue the progress of this research to NOT only allow blind people to perceive 'white-coloured objects', but many other colours.

A Good Friend's Wedding

20:17 / Posted by TL / comments (0)

Yay, it's weekend again. This means that I do not no need to work on my research for the next 2 days :D We attended a friend's wedding dinner on that night. Anyway, this is going to be a relatively short post since I don't have the mood for blogging, probably too much stress from work, and that altered my mood :O lol.

Anyway, here is the story.

Caption: arrived at the restaurant

At first, we thought we will be late. My dad's friend informed us by asking us to reach to the restaurant at 8:00 PM sharp and I think we reached there at 8:15 PM, lol. Damn, does this mean that we have missed the first dish? :( lol

Caption: dad's friend and my dad

When we reached to the restaurant, we saw him standing at the front of the entrance, giving us a very thankful smile. I think he is really happy to see us attending his wedding dinner :)

Caption: Liz at the staircase near the wedding ballroom of the restaurant

Surprisingly, the environment of the restaurant has changed significantly when compared to the first time visiting the restaurant for dinner. They include decorations everywhere to make it looks more like a wedding hall, but to me, it is still a restaurant afterall, lol.

Caption: the ladies taking picture with the bride

The first thing that we do when reaches the first floor of the restaurant is to sneak into the so called 'private room' for the bride. As usual, I am the camera-man whilst the ladies will stand beside the bride for picture shooting. The bride may look ill to you, but to the fact that she just gave birth to a baby boy in less than 3 weeks! So that is the main reason for looking so pale.

Caption: Enoch, the baby boy

Enoch is so cute! Poor Enoch for surrounded by at least 8 people in that room on that night. Let see, Enoch don't look alike both his mom and dad, he looks very different. Frankly speaking, he looks much cuter than his dad :O Lol.

Caption: the first table (groom and bride, and their family members)

Caption: the couple's friends

Glad we are not the last one to attend the wedding. There were at least 5 tables of people (approximately 50 people) not arrived yet. While waiting for other people, I start taking pictures everywhere. The number of people is not alot really, but I can predict those who have attended the dinner are the groom's best friends.

Caption: parent's friends

It has been a while since parents have been so happy chatting with their old friends. I am really glad their friends have really entertain both my parents well on that night.

Caption: the first dish

Okie, this is extremely important :O that is, the food lol. The first dish is the 'donno-what' four season dish. It consist of 4 different types of foods in a plate. Tastes really good. This is also the reason for not able to capture the foods in the dish entirely since I am busy eating, lol. Liz should be blamed for not reminding me, lol, just kidding.

Caption: the second dish

Caption: shark-fin soup

Yummy! The second dish is the shark-fin soup! It tastes really good.

Caption: the third dish

The third dish is the steamed fish. I think it don't look like a fish at all. The taste of this dish is just acceptable, which means they could have improved their method of steaming a fish. Plus, they splitted the fish into 2, making it looks bigger. Afterall, the portion of the fish is still little for 10 people, lol.

Caption: the groom singing

Out from no where, I heard some weird voice. Its from the groom. He was singing! 'We' (most of us who attended the wedding dinner on that night) could reluctantly accept his singing style on that night, where he received ample of critisizes from his friends lol. Sorry mate, looks like singing is not suitable for you, lol.

Caption: the forth dish

The taste of the prawn dish is special. The combination of sweet and sour juices, with garlic, ginger and onion, and maiyonnaise tastes really well, especially for people who really enjoy eating garlic, ginger and onion like me :)

Caption: the fifth dish

I would like to critisize a little on this chicken dish, because we did not eat the chicken entirely due to the level of rawness. Basically, the entire chicken is raw (raw is a level where the red blood around the chicken is still visible), lol. Yucks!

Caption: the sixth dish

This is basically a vegetarian dish. One of the aunty sitting on the same table as me is a vegetarian. So we just taste a little on this dish, and the remaining portion goes to her.

Caption: anchovies fried rice

I don't feel the fried rice is special, especially tasting some over-frying taste. Besides salty, it is just a simple fried rice. I am not being choosy, but the taste of this dish is really simple. I think the taste could have been improved by adding more garlic. Anyway, I won't comment much since I'm not an expert in cooking :)

Caption: the pouring champagne session

Caption: The groom and bride, and their family members on stage

Before the last dish, the groom and bride were invited to the stage for the 'pouring champagne session'. Then, his and her family members were asked to join them at the stage. This is also the moment when everyone will yell 'Yum Sing', a very exciting session in all wedding dinners.

Caption: the dessert

Before the wedding dinner ends, we were served with red bean soup and some pancake as dessert. Too sweet! Diabetes! I hope you understand what I mean by that term, lol. Overall, I would only rate the food as moderate (5/10). The next few post will be my uncle's wedding dinner that I have recently attended.