PART 1 - RAISED IN ENGLAND (1982-2002)
PART 2 - SERVING AS A VOLUNTEER (2002-2004)
PART 3 - MISSING MALAYSIA (2004-2005)
I came back to Malaysia for my second holiday in a year in May 2005. This time I went alone and for a period of 3 months. I had planned all the places I was going to visit and the people I wanted to see, including Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, Kuching and Singapore.
However, just a few days into my holiday, on the island of Borneo, a girl called Fidelia threw my plans upside-down in a matter of seconds!
Meeting Fidelia one night in Kuching was completely unplanned. I didn't even know she was around. It was her younger sister Florina, who made the call and engineered our meeting.
It was after 10pm and Fidelia was coming back home from work. She walked through the door of a friend's house and it was love at first sight!
I don't know how it happened but I just thought silently in my mind, "this is the girl I'm going to marry!"
This was a picture we took on that first night we met each other. We look good together already!
Just a month later we were engaged. Can you believe it? Neither can I!
Here's where I proposed to Fidelia with a poem I wrote. Can you tell she said "yes"?!
We held a very simple engagement party at Fidelia's home. Didn't cost much but it was a nice evening spent with family and friends
Can you spot the mystery hovering paper plate?!
I briefly went to Ipoh but didn't last long there as I missed Fidelia too much! I swiftly returned to Kuching! The rest of my holiday was spent with Fidelia in Kuching and then in Kuala Lumpur.
At church in Kuching
We came in 2nd place and won RM100 in a blowpipe competition in Kuching! (How good does Fidelia look?!)
At Mid-valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur
Our favourite picture together at KL Tower
We had a great day out at Sunway Lagoon water park. Later we spent some time on a children's train, and chocolate tasting at Sunway Pyramid, Subang Jaya, West Malaysia
Here's where my holiday came to an end. I was shortly heading back to England. Fidelia was returning to her studies at university near Kuantan.
I racked up a hefty RM12,000 phone bill during the period of August 2005 - April 2006. Gave my mum a cheque each month to cover it. At times it was worth it, but at times we drove each other crazy by calling at all sorts of hours (because of the time difference) and worrying about things that didn't really need to be worried about! These months were torture!
We decided to get married in May 2006 and we would find a place in nearby Kuantan as Fidelia's university was 30 minutes drive from there.
Here are the home-made wedding invitation cards I designed. Didn't pay a penny for them!
On 2nd May, 2006 we registered our marriage at the Kuching register office, and came back to sign the papers on 4th May
To celebrate our marriage we simply booked a nearby restaurant for a small sum of money. A good-sized group of family and friends attended and it was a very nice evening. There was no huge cake, no lavish setting, no photographers, no expensive clothing code, just us and close family and friends. That's all we spent and it was worth it because we needed the money for the start of our married life, paying rent and bills etc...
We took some great photos at a studio in Kuching for a good price, and here are a few of them:
In traditional Iban attire
The second part of our marriage took place in England. There we were married inside a LDS temple, which event is kind of like going to Mecca and circling the Kaaba for a Muslim. To find out more about Mormon temples, you can follow this link:
Here we are at the London England temple grounds
On the steps of the London England temple
We had a small gathering at my home in Leicester for family and friends and that was it.
My journey to Kuantan is almost complete!
Don't miss the final installment tomorrow!
