A Malay Wedding

I attended a Malay wedding yesterday.  A friend's daughter got married.

I got lost a few times because she lives in a kampung (village).  Was taken aback to see rather a huge crowd!  Not all kampung houses are as delapidated as the one in the photo.  Folks have become wealthier and most have concrete bungalows on their land now.  However, everything is built rather haphazardly and there'll be all kinds of design and all kinds of color (what? Siti painted her house green? Ok, abang, I want ours ORANGE or else!) and houses could be facing north, south, east or west.  That is typical of most things in Sabah.  Everything that God has made here is beautiful but everything that man has made is in dire need of improvement.  Oh, by the way, that branch jutting out on the top right corner is a curry tree.  The leaf is what gives curry that particular aroma.

 Here is the radiant bride in all her glorious splendour!

The kulintangan seems to be a necessity in every important function.  A guest was playing it and the music had the aunties and uncles dancing right away.

Please, can somebody watch my bag for me?  Oh, never mind...I'll just dance with it!

The groom looked rather nervous - well, there were a lot of people looking at this "raja sehari" or one-day-king and huge cameras were pointing his way.  Poor chap, I spared him another camera and shot his hand instead.  Brides apply "inai" on all ten fingers but grooms are only allowed three (for each hand, I should think).  Inai is a dye obtained by crushing a certain type of leaf.  You know someone just got married by the inai on their fingers.

The groom sports a keris (knife) in his waist, just in case ya all have any designs on my bride!  His gold necklace was also very eye-catching.  I was told that Islam prohibits man from wearing gold.  I guess the rule is relaxed on his big day.

On my way home, I dropped in at a Chinese temple (for photos, not worship).  If ever you are in Malaysia, do visit one because there are many interesting things inside and outside a temple.  Here's a dragon sunning himself on the roof and warning the gods if there are bad intruders.  I am a good intruder so he didn't say anything.

Every inch of wall is covered with interesting drawings.  This is legendary child god, Na Ja, slaying his own dragon.  Just look at that dragon's expression!  Love it!

The doors had angry-looking gods painted on it.  That ought to send bad spirits packing with their tails between their legs.

I am beginning to believe in the law of attraction.  There was a dog relaxing inside the temple.  What a godsend!  A pet blog post will not be complete without an animal in it!  He didn't bother me and didn't even get up to sniff the air.  The splendid aura around me (visible only to dogs) must've read feeder-of-homeless-dogs and rescuer-of-puppies-in-ditches.  She's one of us.  Hey, hey, you!  Are you pointing that thing at me??