A song that will forever be etched in our hearts

The Stranger in Bangkok and Co's special wedding surprise for Li Li!

Everyone who has made the effort to drop by this blogpost, please give this video a chance and share our joy. I would like to hereby give another round of thanks to Jay, Daniel, Chye Hou and Aaren Tan for making this possible!

歌曲/Song Title：我给你幸福 (I give you happiness)

歌手/Original Singers: 动力火车 Power Station

深深爱一个人
原来可以改造灵魂
不再做率性的人
讲什么都认真

宁愿像个神灯
你的梦都想去完成
你是我的美好我的责任
真爱让人无所不能
给我全世界也不在乎v1
失去一切也不想要被弥补v2

chorus
我只要你靠近看清楚
我的情感到什么浓度
当你眼睛起雾
感动会在心里跳最美的舞

我只要你在爱的沿路
感受一个晴朗的国度
当你脚步停住
情绪都被照顾不再起伏

我给你幸福

只给你幸福

The Stranger in Bangkok is honoured to have 250 'official' wedding photographers

I have always said that Thailand has been good to me. A year has flown by and I am still relishing every moment of this exotic journey in the Land of Smiles. However, after 2 weeks of joy and jubilation having finally written the full stop to my marathon-like wedding festivities, life has gone into an absolute anti-climax following my return to Bangkok. It has been a bad week at the office, the worst week I have had here in terms of emotional and mental turmoil. Worst thing is, I have a bad feeling that this week will become a 7-day work week, talk about never-ending mental torture......

But it's Friday after all, and I am determined to put the frustrations behind me for an hour while I compile this blog post which continues to recount the steps of my marriage. Planning a wedding banquet in Singapore from Bangkok was like building castles in the air. No matter how novel my ideas were, I knew that with me having only 6 full days in Singapore before my actual wedding day to prepare for it, I had to compromise, compromise, compromise.

I just did not want my wedding dinner to become a monotonous film of march-ins and yam sengs, therefore, I invited all my guests to become my wedding photographers!! It was kind of a 'gamble', but judging from the fun they had and the pictures that came with it, I would not have chosen any other way to involve my guests on my big day. Here's some evidence why this move of mine gave me a load of priceless memories I otherwise would not have witnessed:

Kids trying to emulate monkeys, looks like they had a good time.

Princess Candra beaming at the spread of interesting-looking dishes prepared by Peony Jade.



Yiling looks as stunning as I last saw her 4 years ago, but Charisse is a big girl now,she likes the wedding favour!



How else would I catch my coordinator and official photographer taking a break? (??!!)

How else would I catch such a nice smile from the beautiful Eleen with Bihua standing demurely behind her?

How else would I catch Junxiong trying his best to pull off a funny face (epic FAIL attempt).

It gave me proof that my guests enjoyed the free flow of beer.

It gave me some great candid moments to savour.



It gave me a perfect shot with my best brothers.



My song team is REALLY took the song segment SERIOUSLY, thanks guys, u're the best.



Disposable cameras do have limitations, but it resulted in a nice silhouette of the singers.

 I would like to thank the WowWowWed team for gracing my wedding and making this possible for us, and also all my great guests who made the evening so meaningful. I hope we did enough to make it an enjoyable night for you too. You are most welcome to own these wonderful memories as well, viewing/downloading all 262 pictures from www.wowwowwed.sg/eddie&lili. It's a pity only 20 out of 26 cameras could be recovered though, so anyone reading this who is still holding on to a camera, please let me know so that I can retrieve the missing pictures from you.

Lastly and extremely devastatingly, someone managed to take me in the most AGUA (阿瓜）pose I have ever seen myself in. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR DOING THIS ON MY WEDDING.

Laugh lor... Laugh lor.... $%^&*(*&^%

Picking up the pieces after 911.....

The first real official Yii family outing -- Bak Kut Teh.

It's been a long week, juggling sleepless nights, meetings, gatherings, family outings and a wedding....

911 is finally over, but I need to brace myself to face another potentially gruelling week to complete my wedding festivities in my native Kuching.

I am in no position to share about the actual 911 yet, as it's such an amazing day, it deserves more than just a slip-short mention. However, what makes it even more memorable is how so many of my friends from different parts of my life got together to make it possible for me even though I am stuck in Bangkok remote-controlling this event most of the time. Which other couple can boast such a wonderfully-crafted wedding when they only came back ard a week before their big day (without the help of a professional wedding planner)?

I shall now recount this fantastic experience by sharing my memories of the week leading to 911, which in a way, was crafted as well by the wedding-organising team as well....

Li Li made it a special birthday for me, inviting a special little guest into the party, though her tiny brain was obviously focused on the yellow creamy mess displayed in front of her.

In return, I worked hard on my hatchday to make her room more interesting. She's nearly 80cm tall now!

Following that, my dear brothers celebrated my bday with me yet again, on this Bachelor's night-turned-Bday KTV session. I had a lot of fun, you guys are the best. 2 Mango bday cakes a day, can u beat that?

The next day, I wore my favourite dragon to cut my hair as short as it has ever been in preparation for the big day.

Last, but definitely not least, after enduring a rock version of 我问天and some ridiculously-bad-tasting organic Jaz beer, my ears were literally blasted into pieces by Gilbert and his band during my real bachelor's night.

As I look back at every step taken for my wedding, the only things I see are a beautiful lady submitting her life into this marriage and the work done by my family and friends to make sure I receive her in the most perfect way possible.

Thanks guys...... your efforts have not gone to waste, and my thank yous will not end...

Re-living the story of our wedding solemnization (aka ROM)

This is the second segment of my blogposts leading my readers towards my wedding on the 11th of September. As I mentioned briefly 2 posts earlier, none of my friends were invited to my ROM as it was a very low-key event shared amongst the closest of relatives, I think it is only fair for me to finally reveal what exactly happened on 14th of November 2009.

Unfortunately, the first thing that came to my mind was a disastrous preparation. I just started my new job in Bangkok, and after a couple of whirlwind trips to Singapore, I was beaming in delight having found a perfect place for my event and also ironing out the details way before what some other couples would. The planned location was My Humble House (more famously known as 寒舍）, but alas, a couple of weeks before the event, my coordinator dropped me a bombshell by telling me Esplanade would be sealed off from the public because of APEC, and I had to start planning all over again. They did find a new venue for us in the end, but seriously, both of us were inconsolable. I was trapped in some rural villages in Thailand during that period of time, and I hardly slept for 3 nights worrying how everything would pan out.

My Humble House was going to be such a perfect venue for us, but sigh, it was not to be.

Eventually, our ROM was held at Tung Lok Signatures at The Central (the one at Clarke Quay MRT). Honestly, the food was great and the service not too shabby, it was a well-managed event, but the last minute grenade thrown to us by My Humble House (when they could have at least warned us about what could potentially happen) left a pill too bitter for us to chew, and we decided not to go for any Tung Lok restaurants for our banquet itself.

Happily posing at the camera before the ceremony started, I was really nervous at the moment.

Saying vows to each other.

Luckily, in spite of all the turmoil during preparation, the actual day went smoothly, and we were supported by Michel Tay, my dear brother at church and a highly talented photographer who has just ventured out on his own. Aside of capturing wonderful memories during the event, he agreed to walk with us around the area to continue taking pictures later in the afternoon, all the way till we walked from Clarke Quay to Ritz Carlton. It became some sort of a preview to our real pre-wedding shoot and we were even worrying whether our bridal boutique would do as good a job as him, haha!

We walked first to my brother's Settler's Cafe at North Canal Road, followed by Victoria Concert Hall, Supreme Court and finally Ritz Carlton Hotel. To our astonishment, we were even banned from taking pictures at the lobby of Ritz Carlton because of some APEC seminars. Our ROM effectively became a day of compromise, damn APEC.

In case you have not seen them on Facebook, I will now share with you some of my favourite pictures taken on the day and hope you can feel some of our joy.

Trying to enjoy a game or 2 at my brother's Settler's Cafe before departing for more shoots.

One of the doors at Supreme Court

Another one of my favourite shots at the same door.

Yet another door at the Supreme Court, it was a tale of many doors on that day!

This door is our hotel room door at Ritz Carlton Hotel, thanks Uncle Lee Wah for the free room!

A very classy shot taken at the hotel corri-door

Despite my complaints above on all the obstacles we faced, I must admit that we thoroughly enjoyed the actual day itself. My advice to all wedding couples would be that shit happens, but regardless of all the angers and frustrations, it is YOUR day and you have to keep a cool head, take things easy and make the best of it. For us, thanks to our kind family and a great photographer, we managed to turn it into an unforgettable day, in a good way.

Wedding trivia of the post:
Li Li and myself share the knowledge of playing an obscure instrument, the erhu (二胡）！

Hammering our way towards 911

The rainy season has finally come. It's come a little late for many farmers in Thailand, whose baby crops have already died before the heavens opened, but at least it has come. It's been raining mostly at night though, so I would like to call this a rainy-after-sunset season.

Unfortunately, my business is seasonal, and the lowest season arrives when the rain comes. Therefore, while being happy for the farmers, I am struggling to make ends meet for the company as a result. Thankfully, there have been small but consistent orders coming in, so the blow isn't catastrophic-YET.

Back to the main point. Though I am physically in Bangkok, my heart and mind are well and truly elsewhere these days, because I am tying the knot (I know, many "finally"s are ringing in your minds) soon and I am frantically trying to put together as good a wedding day as I can though I am not in Singapore and Malaysia, where I will be holding 2 separate banquets during back-to-back weekends. It's been mission impossible so far, but I have to make it work!

As a countdown to the big day, I shall bother my readers by preparing you guys towards the wedding itself, including some important information, pictures, updates and all. Come on, it's once in a lifetime for me, share this joy with me for the next 7 weeks ok?

Firstly, yes, my wife-to-be is the lady who has been supporting me through thick and thin for the past 11 years, Li Li, still her, and will always be her.

Secondly, for those who do not know, we have had our ROM on 14 November 2009. It was a simple ceremony and lunch shared with immediate family and close family friends, so it was quite a low-key event.


Thirdly, our wedding in Singapore will be held on September 11 at Peony Jade- Keppel Club this year (yes! 911! you can't forget now! you have to come if you receive my invitation card!), followed by another one in my hometown, Kuching on September 18 (the following Saturday).

So, we're well into preparations and I am sure it September 11 will be a great day for us and all involved. That's all for a start, more to come!

Because we're hammering our way towards 911!

Wedding trivia of the post:
My banquet location in Kuching is called Bangkok-Thai Seafood Restaurant, really apt man!!