Federer wins, completes good weekend

Every weekend we look forward to our sport. Sometimes there are many different sporting competitions going on at the same time, for example, football, tennis, Formula One racing, rugby. We enjoy following each sport and our favourite sportsmen and women. Sometimes there are good weekends where all of our favourites win; and occasionally we endure the disappointment of a bad weekend, where the teams and individuals we yearn for, end up on the losing side.

The weekend just passed could be classified as a good weekend, though it wasn't a perfectly victorious one. Allow me to explain.

Firstly was the Barclays Premier League on Saturday night. Any team which is half-good and poses a threat to Manchester United, will be cheered on in all of their struggles. Tottenham, who are rapidly improving and just beat reigning European Champions Internazionale in midweek, suffered a terrible hangover as they went down 4-2 at Bolton Wanderers. That was a good start to our weekend, not to mention a very entertaining match for the neutrals.

By the way, Kevin Davies should definitely keep his place in the England squad

Things almost took a turn for the worse when later that night an absolutely wretched performance from Man.Utd almost resulted in more dropped points. It was only thanks to a stoppage time winner from South Korean winger Ji-sung Park, which gave us the 3 points in a 2-1 win over unlucky Wolves.

On Sunday, there was football, tennis and F1. Let's deal with the one disappointment first, shall we? Lewis Hamilton could only finish fourth in the Brazilian Grand Prix, behind title rivals Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso, who carries a slim lead into the final race of the year in Abu Dhabi. Hamilton needs a miracle comprising of him winning the race and his 3 main title rivals all not finishing in the points. Oh well. . . there's always next year.

Meanwhile, things were going great at the Emirates stadium where Newcastle put on a magnificently disciplined performance to beat Arsenal in their own backyard by a single Andy Carroll goal to nil. Arsenal to win the league? No chance! Not when you've lost games at home to newly promoted teams in West Brom and Newcastle.

Further joy came at Anfield where a resurgent Liverpool powered past Chelsea 2-0 thanks to a rejuvenated Fernando Torres. Chelsea's second BPL defeat of the season was sweet. ManU are just a couple of points behind the leaders now. Thanks Liverpool, for helping us out yet again.

Meanwhile, on the continent, in a small town named Basle in Switzerland, a home-grown star was lifting ATP title number 65 of his glittering career. Roger Federer, the G.O.A.T, beat Novak Djok-strap in 3 sets, sealing triumph with an amazing half-volley backhand winner on match point, taking the decider 6-1.

Enjoying a pizza party with his fellow ball-kids after the match

Malay Wedding in Kuantan

We were invited to a Malay wedding here in Kuantan at the Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Ahmad Shah. My English tuition student Karimah, and her husband, celebrated the marriage of their daughter Rosmaliza (Rose) to Nahar. We received this elegant invitation card about a month ago from Karimah:

This is a beautiful piece of calligraphy in Arabic of a verse about marriage from the Holy Qu'ran

Here are a few views of the Dewan Jubli Perak Sultan Ahmad Shah, where the Malay wedding was held:

The garden surroundings bore some lovely images of nature:

We entered the building and took our seats at an empty table, and I began snapping away as guests and VIP's arrived intermittently, some on time, some awfully late.

A rose petal-lined carpet led to the marriage seat

The garden theme continued inside the building where the names of the wedded couple were crafted with white flowers

The stage was decorated with candles and lanterns

A water feature, snazzy bridge, and a couple of (real) swans completed the decorations

REAL swans! Yes! I was amazed that they didn't just fly away during the ceremony. It was almost as if they had been trained to specifically stay exactly where they were.

Meanwhile, these are the pictures taken from our table before the bride and groom made their entrance:

Lauren was a little bored at first...

...but she soon puckered up once we got her new stamps out!

Terry the tortoise came along of course, and took his seat!

Lauren brushed her hair so that she could look her best!

The walk down the aisle began, culminating with the arrival of the couple, Rose and Nahar

Photographers thronged the carpet to get the best shots

Accompanied by bridesmaids and smartly dressed boys in bow-ties, Rose and Nahar make their way to the marriage seat

The actual ceremony was quite short, which was nice, and then the food was devoured by all in attendance. The dessert, a chocolate fountain with assorted fruits, was my highlight!

Next came the time to cut the cake. Rose and Nahar had a five-story cake to get their hands on, back on stage:

The groom prepares a slice of cake for his wife

She pauses for the cameras before eating it up, to his delight

Nahar gives his bride a kiss on the cheek

They stop on the bridge for more pictures

They must have been tired of all the smiling as a constant stream of photographs were taken of them at every opportunity

There were some other little decorations which added a beautiful touch to the entire wedding ceremony:

The lighted lanterns beside white roses were an exquisite touch as the bride and groom partook of the food on offer, as is seen on the giant screen in the background

The swans were a big attraction

Budgerigars observed the events quietly before being released to their freedom after the wedding ceremony came to an end

Eggs in miniature buckets were given out as gifts for those in attendance

Me with my lovely batik shirt, just before we left at the conclusion of the wedding ceremony

A final family picture in the car park area

Zenith Hotel November 2010

It's been a while since I took the short walk down the road to the Zenith Hotel. I have been somewhat disillusioned ever since I witnessed the Marina Bay Sands Singapore. But gradually I've come to the realisation that Singapore is a much more advanced, first-world, clean, tidy and beautiful country which the Marina Bay Sands hotel beautifully compliments. Malaysia, and in particular, Kuantan, is a lot more modest, small, third-world, struggling with garbage disposal problems, relatively unknown when compared with the mighty Singapore. 

So the Zenith Hotel fits right in perfectly. A 24-story hotel may be tiny in Singapore terms but for Kuantan, it's now the new tallest building in this town. And whereas the design of the Zenith Hotel may not be strikingly amazing like the Marina Bay Sands, it is unique in its own way and is certainly an eye-catcher around these parts.

One hopes that the Zenith Hotel is just the start, a good beginning to even greater and better things for Kuantan.

View of the Zenith Hotel across an open field

THE ZENITH HOTEL is up in letters as work on the hotel surroundings hastily goes on