Hainan Batam Huiguan 9th Anniversary Dinner 巴淡岛海南会馆9周年晚宴

Together with members of Singapore Hainan Tan Clan, we attended Hainan Batam Huiguan's 9th anniversary dinner celebration in Batam.

It was held at the ballroom of Crown Vista Hotel with guests coming from various parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore filling up all the 100 tables.

We were given a table for ten. On our table was the auspicious Hainanese yi buah (glutinous rice cake with sweet coconut shred filling). There were two types of sweet fillings; coconut shreds and coarse peanut paste. We could help ourselves to the cans of assorted beverages and bottles of red wine placed on our table.

The first course of our dinner was a plate of fried mee sua (vermicelli). We were pleasantly surprised that the noodle dish was served first. The explanation given was : since it was the anniversary of the clan, the mee sua was served as a congratulatory dish.

Other dishes served were steamed white chicken, braised pork trotters with steamed buns, crab meat soup, smoked duck, fried prawn rolls, braised mushrooms with spinach, sweet and sour fish. Most of the dishes were delicious.

After the cake cutting ceremony, it was a karaoke session where participants have to donate a token amount of cash to sing on stage. I was fascinated when people walked up to the stage to give ang pows (red packets containing cash) to the singer.

I thought the singer would receive the cash but all the cash received was donated to the clan. I guess more than 100 million Rupiah was raised. It was a successful fund raising event.

The representative from our Singapore Hainan Tan Clan sang a Hainanese song and received much applause from the audience.

星期日, 新加坡海南陈氏公会受邀出席印尼巴淡岛海南会馆九周年会庆晚宴。我与8位海南宗亲们一早就搭渡轮前往巴淡岛。晚上的会庆宴会就在我们住宿的酒店楼上 - 新香格里拉酒楼。

一到现场我们就拍了团体照和个人照留念。我们的桌上摆了传统海南粿 - 薏粑, 有椰丝馅和花生馅两种。宗亲们可能饿了, 就先品尝薏粑。

除了当地乡亲之外，宾客中有来自印尼其他地区、新加坡、马来西亚等地的海南乡亲。

巴淡岛晚宴上菜的次序和新加坡不一样，第一道上桌的竟是炒面线。原来当晚是会馆九岁生日，所以得先吃面线庆祝。接下来的菜肴也很丰盛，有白斩鸡、酸甜鱼、虾枣、扣肉包夹元蹄、烟熏鸭、香菇炒蔬菜、蟹肉羹等等。饮料除了红酒、还有罐装凉茶、汽水、冬瓜茶、菊花茶、仙草水等！

宾客们一起唱生日歌祝贺巴淡岛海南会馆, 然后蛋糕切了都分给大家吃。

卡拉OK时间，嘉宾唱歌时, 宾客纷纷上台献红包。红包里面可是现金喔! 大家都把红包捐给巴淡岛海南会馆作为活动基金, 表现了乡亲们互助互爱的精神。