A mere one week after the California Reception, we jetted off to Hong Kong for our third reception (actually fourth, if you count the dinner banquet in China with Mae-Ling's grandmother and other relatives) at the JW Marriot. Interestingly enough, a Hong Kong tradition is to have a room for mah-jongg playing prior to the reception. My father's friends from Taiwan gleefully embraced the tradition. We had a wonderful 10-course Chinese banquet, with the obligatory shark fin soup.
We toasted each of the 13 tables with tea in brandy glasses instead of champagne.
Mae-Ling changed from her wedding dress to her chi-pao (Chinese dress) to her evening gown, with matching hair and make-up changes.
The two MC's (Alistair and Annie) played games with us, as is the Asian wedding custom. Annie customized the games for us, first having Alan wear a Hawaiian hoola dress and paper triangles bra (made by Flora's sister) and dance to hip-hop music on stage (she must not have known that Alan not only is not embarrassed by this activity, but in fact is well-trained through many a prior parties).
Then, she had us go to each table and made Alan say 1 thing he liked about Mae-Ling and then answer a question from the table. Luckily, the wine had lubricated Alan's mind so he was able to pull out some winning comments, like for the question, "What undergarment does Mae-Ling take off first at night?" he responded with, "None, since I take them off for her!"
After dinner, there was a mad rush for the door, and we had to fight past our guests to form the receiving line. Afterwards, we had a mello dance with Mae-Ling's closest Hong Kong friends before retreating to our suite to celebrate with champagne and a whirlpool bubble bath.