Silver Anniversary

All KL staff who were in Singapore flew home on Thursday to attend my company's annual dinner on Friday evening. This year, it was held at Setia Alam Convention Centre, a long drive away. Other than the usual makan-makan, it was to celebrate my company's 25th anniversary and the theme was "A Night in Old Shangai". Normally less than half of the attendees would dress to the theme and I am part of the less cooperative group. At least it was much easier than last year's costume party. The special thing about this year's dinner was the fact that KH and SK 'attended'. KH took time off and SK was on leave taking care of her granny after a fall had shook her nerves. At about 5:00 PM, she picked us up from the LRT station and we got there around 6:00 PM. Registration was much improved this year with the use of QR codes and our door gift was a selfie stick. The foyer was done up with all things old oriental and they even had a gu zheng performer. Strangely, I did not take any selfies with my colleagues, instead it was with KH and SK! And all three of us were in coordinated checkered shirts. Not quite old Shanghai. The enthusiastic came in qipaos, and one guy dressed like Patrick Tse from Shanghai Bund. As with all dinners, food would normally be served late. In my case, it was 100 minutes late. To appease my stomach. I joined SK and KH for dinner at Setia Palace where they ordered Peking duck and noodles. Like Maju Palace, it's halal, but with much less items on the menu. At 7:00 PM, KH and SK left for their movie, while I went to join my colleagues. All the VIPS arrived at 8:30 PM and dinner started ten minutes later. A big client from China attended which explains the theme. For entertainment, the management hired a wushu troupe and your usual live band (the shi da qu was ok, but I don't think Elvis doesn't quite fit the theme). There also a rojak entertainer group that sang, dance and performed magic shows. Even threw in a weird fashion show that up ended up like a bodybuilding event (I wasn't impressed). Food was average and we had two empty seats to boost the portion for us. No best dressed event this year, they replaced it with an IG selfie contest. As luck would have it, I did not win anything from the lucky draws, but several of my colleagues got a juicer, hotel stay and a 47" smart LED TV! Finished up around 11:00 PM where I met up KH and SK for our drive home.