Weddings bells ringing in Houston...

Day 6

The day of the wedding. The whole reason for this trip. And it was such a perfect day. The weather was fine, even slightly cooler as if to accommodate to those forced to wear suits. Speaking of which, I looked good in my new suit. Definitely a good investment.

As with the Chinese weddings, the morning began with the traditional tea ceremonies. For those unaware, this involves the bride and groom paying their respects to their elders by offering them tea in exchange for their well wishes (and often money and gifts). Call me old-fashioned but I like these little traditions. It’s a nice homage to my Chinese heritage, and honestly, a nice way to pay respects to our elders. I look forward to the day when I get to do this at my wedding, and then further down the track, when I am the one being offered the tea.

As my grandma, my dad and my aunts and uncles took their turns to drink their tea, in the back of everyone’s minds was my aunt from Switzerland. A last minute bungle which resulted in my aunt missing her flight the previous night meant that she was only flying into Houston that morning. As the ceremony went on, it became clear that she wasn’t going to be there in time for her allocated slot in the ceremony (tea is offered in order of seniority in the family). However in dramatic style, she arrived just as the ceremony was about to end, and even though she wasn’t in the correct spot, everyone was just glad that she managed to make it into the ceremony at all. Once all the formalities were done, it was simply a case of eating and then relaxing while the bridal party went to take photos.

Fast forward several hours and it was time for the reception where the family gathered early to set up the restaurant. And that’s probably where I realised how much my extended family and I had in common. I love taking photos. And it seems so does the rest of my family. It was all about getting in as many photos as possible, with every possible combination, as well as making sure that each photo was captured by at least four different cameras. Not gonna lie, it was an odd thing to see – now I realise what everyone else sees when I go into photowhore mode. But it was great to see the family so excited, and I guess it’s because we only see each other every few years or so when a wedding comes around to bring everyone together. Anyway, millions of photos aside, the reception itself was fun and the food was good, and it was a great night to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Ginny and her new husband Herman. I wish them all the best in their new life together and I’m sure they’ll be so happy together.

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Day 7

Day after the wedding was recovery day, mainly for the bride and groom but also for the family, even though we hadn’t really done much. For me, I felt that now that the wedding was over, I could finally time to relax. And that’s exactly what happened. We gathered everyone at Hibachi (a buffet) and did what we do best – eat, and make sure we get our money’s worth. After that, it was simply a case of souvenir shopping and then back out to enjoy a massive banquet dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. I realised that as long as I was with family, it was going to be a pretty chilled time with not much happening except eating. I spent seven hours of Day 7 simply being in restaurants. While not the best use of my travel time, definitely not the worst I could do. I mean who doesn’t love a free meal?

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Day 8

As was often happening on this trip, I would skip breakfast and just head out for lunch. Today lunch was at Guadalejara, a Mexican restaurant which had pretty good burritos. Lunch done, we headed over to Top Golf, an awesome driving range which had private booths with drinks service, as well as a whole games room downstairs with pool, shuffleboard and video games. It definitely was like no driving range I’d ever been to. I even signed up for lifetime membership – who knows when that might come in handy. I realised that I wasn’t as bad at golf as I thought. My swing improved with every shot, and that crisp clear crack of the ball was just music to my ears. I may or may not try my hand at a round of golf when I get back – we’ll see if I have the patience to go 18 rounds. For some reason, I see myself smashing my clubs. After we had exhausted ourselves from golf, we headed over to Rudy’s, a rustic BBQ joint which specialised in ribs and slow roasted meats. It was sooooo good. So much so that they ran out of ribs since I didn’t think they were expecting so many people to be ordering on a Monday evening. There’s not much else to say. Like I said, hanging with family means that you don’t really get to do as much sightseeing as you’d like and you’re pretty much relegated to eating all the time. Oh well, at least I’m well fed (and not spending my own money haha).

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Day 9

This was my last full day in Houston and I just had to do my own thing. I didn’t mind not doing much sightseeing in Houston, but I knew that if I left without seeing NASA, that was unacceptable. And I was glad I went to see it – it was amazing!! All the space items and vehicles on display, as well as the live interactive shows and displays really made for a great day. I was never one to fantasise about going into space (the thought of going on a space walk, losing the ship and then drifting through space alone until you die scares the hell out of me). But I gotta say, after seeing NASA and everything in it, it did spark a tiny interest in me. After all, being in zero gravity looks like it’d be so much fun! On a side note, coincidentally, in the Mission Control room, I just happened to sit in the same seat that the Queen had sat in when she was observing the moon landing. Obviously that wouldn’t have meant as much to an American so it was just downright lucky that an Australian had sat in that seat when the tour leader pointed that out.

My only thing to see in Houston was done, ticked off my list. I could now leave satisfied. I spent my last night there enjoying a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant with my cousin Linda and her boyfriend Arnold (who had been my personal tour guide for my time in Houston – thanks!). The rest of the night was spent packing and ensuring that I had everything ready to go for my flight to Orlando the next day. Harry Potter World, I’m coming for you baby!!

HBL signing out of Houston, Texas

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Previously: Viva Las Vegas and howdy Houston...