when someone invites me to a certain function...
The recent wedding lunch at the KL Tower was planned well beforehand and I was well informed about it. Initially, because of a phobia of heights, I thought it would be easier just attending the pre-wedding buffet at the home of the bride's parents, which is within walking distance from our house. Then I thought it was an excellent trip because a comfortable coach will take us to and from KL Tower - no worries over finding the place, parking space and so on. So I asked the hosts about it and the father said, 'I thought you were from KL so you would not be interested because you would have been there...' He actually had to contact his daughter to send an invitation from KL to BG.
Later, I was informed about my family's Ching Ming visit planned over the same weekend, Selangor Ongs' Clansmen Association's special prayers by monks for the ancestors, and my nephew's first grandchild's full moon, ... and I decided to stay for the whole week!
So instead of both of us going on a day trip to KL Tower, my wife went alone with the rest of her old friends and hosts, and I was to meet them at the venue which was appropriately dubbed, Wedding made in Heaven or something to that effect (cannot trust my memory).
I always say, 'in KL, you are either too early or too late because of the unpredictability of the traffic situation'. Well, I got a lift from a nephew and I was an hour too early! Having forgotten my mobile phone early in the morning and forgotten my changed clothes when I got off the vehicle, I was quite blur. It was my first visit and I was glad my nephew did not leave me at the main road! It was quite a long drive uphill to the entrance!
Getting in, guests of the wedding were given stickers and shown a separate lift to the tower. I was Numero Uno! While waiting, a young man who I later guessed must be the person in charge, asked, 'Do you drive?' with both hands gesturing the driving action. What crossed my mind was 'is he asking because he is going to offer me alcoholic drinks?' Yet my dumb answer was based on my mistaken notion that he thought I was a driver and I replied, 'I am a guest'! Then he said, 'I thought if you came by car, then you can have the parking ticket endorsed'!
The resident band consisted of a lady singer, keyboardist, bassist and a conga drummer. The last person later became my centre of attention... simply because I was trying to figure out how to play it by merely observing. It was only after the event that I thought about 'what if I was given a chance to play an instrument, which instrument would I choose and which song or instrumental number?' For just one number, I would choose to play bass to Black Magic Woman... but then again, the next question is its appropriateness given the occasion!
KL Tower as a venue for a wedding reception is definitely different from the usual restaurants no matter how posh the place. One feels on top of the world and the view of KL was very different from that at ground level. Even the Twin Towers seem shorter by comparison. Later at the Observation Tower level, I could see two schools which I presumed to be St. John's Institution and Bukit Nanas Convent. My wife took a view through a powerful binoculars and said she could see the interior of people's apartments too!
The lunch was stated to start at 1.30pm but actually started past 2 pm because we came out of the restaurant past 4 pm. It was almost 5.30pm when we left. Before that, we went to the coach to speak to the driver cum shareholder to ask if we could get a lift to the nearest LRT station. Then when he got a call from the host, he could not drive the coach round the corner to the entrance because of indiscriminate parking on both sides of the road! There were guards on duty yet they allowed that to happen. Even when one car drove off, it was a very tight squeeze through even for an experienced Manjit to handle.
For some basic information on KL Tower:
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