Yet Another One Hits The Big Four

This post is mainly for the benefit of previously Bangkok Lawyer, now Singapore Lawyer, and the Khaws since their presence was sorely missed at this function, the 40th of WIASO. (Woman I am Scared of).

On the 26th of May, we all congregated in the Unesco Heritage Town of Hoi An, an hour's drive away from Danang, in Vietnam. The journey had taken almost 24 hours, door to door, because Air Asia only flies to Hanoi at night, and by the time we arrived in Hanoi, we checked in to our hotel, there wasnt much else to do. And first thing, the next morning, we were on our way to the airport again, headed for Danang.

Anyway, on the first night (25th May) we were just chilling out, and had a lovely local dinner at a place called Hong Phuc... The highlight was the 1 litre buckets of cocktails, at very cheap prices. In retrospect, I guess the alcohol they used might have been a bit suspect, hence the massive hangovers suffered by some of the people.





With a great warm up on the Eve of the actual Birthday, we were definitely expecting to topple the birthday girl on the night itself. Alas, she was suffering a migraine, and therefore did not partake in much booze at all. In fact, I reckon it was a pretty poor show all round in the drinks department, because of the 4 bottles (2 gin and 2 vodkas) we lugged there at the behest of birthday girl, 1½ gins and 1 vodka remained untouched. In fact, due to inconsistent aircraft rulings on liquids, even in check in baggage, we had to forfeit all the bottles. I digress.

On the night of the birthday, we gathered (after earlier secretly gathering for a rehearsal for a "surprise presentation") for pre dinner drinks in one of the rooms. Verve cliqout flowed freely, and the dangers of drinking of an empty stomach were soon to become obvious, for me, at any rate.

Not sure if WIASO's other half or the hotel had arranged this....rose petals on the bed with a teeny piece of cake and candle. Looked very wedding budoir.

Guest had actually flown in from all over the world. Hong Kong, Perth, Romania....

The Malaysian entourage.

Dinner entertainment, at the restaurant (name now escapes me). The restaurant has fantastic ambience, by the seafront, and in yonder sea, a string of floating lanterns. Not sure if they were meant to be decorative, or squid bait. By this time, I have to say the verve cliquout had gone straight to the head. In case you're wondering what the heck I have donned on, it's an Egyptian galabia, deliberately given to me by HRH, so that I can look like his slave.

After dinner, which ended pretty early, we adjourned back to the hotel. By this time, I have no coherent recollection of the night's events, but am having my memory jolted by pictures taken on my camera. We obviously then presented our surprise presentation, a parody to the tune of Tom Jones' DELILAH.


Now by this time, I REALLY cannot remember a thing. We obviously were causing a ruckus, and other guests must have complained, prompting the hotel to move us to the bar, the Amsterdam Bar. A suitably loaded Ipod provided the much needed retro music.








Well, vows of temperance aside, the next day, (and an entire day in bed, wretching and nursing a major headache), it was a delightful experience. Wonder who's happening 40th will be next.