A memorable birthday (A special moment with my family)

I carried the beautifully wrapped present gently in my hand, afraid to crease the wrapping paper. Everything has to be perfect today. A year has passed and once again, 10th January has arrived again. What? You do not know what day it is? It is my cousin’s birthday of course!

Today is my cousin, Jia Liang’s birthday. We decided to book a restaurant for dinner to celebrate this special occasion. For the past few years, his birthday has been celebrated by going overseas with his family or organizing a party with his friends. However, this year would be different. They wanted to have a ‘gathering’ instead. All my relatives would be coming for dinner. (Except for my grandparents who have passed away and my 2nd uncle who is away for a business trip) We would be having a sort of ‘reunion dinner’ together. This was not something that happens everyday, looking at the fact that we were always so busy nowadays.

I was sweating profusely, hungry and thirsty. We have been walking for 10 minutes since we arrived at Bugis MRT station. My uncle said that the restaurant was located inside a hotel and we would be meeting there for dinner. I looked around but there were so many buildings. I dug out the invitation card from my bag and searched for the hotel name. After scanning through, I found it. Then, my eyes darted around, finding a building with the name ‘Swissotel Hotel’. Finally, I saw it. The hotel was huge and white. If not for the signboard with its name on it, I would have thought it was a hospital.

“If it looks like this on the outside, I wouldn’t be surprised if it looks like a hospital on the inside” I thought. However, when the sliding panels of the sliding doors slid open, I finally understood the meaning of the idiom ‘Do not judge a book by its cover’. The ‘Swissotel Hotel’ was the grandest hotel I have ever seen. There was a fountain in the middle of the hall. A huge clock was hung on the wall to tell the time. As I walked, I realized the floor was covered with a carpet. Paintings which looked as though they were real were hung on the walls and statues of animals greeted me wherever I looked. Tourists were making a beeline at the registration counter while a bellboy could be seen pushing a trolley full of luggage.

Seeing all these, I could not imagine how the restaurant will look like. The restaurant was on the eighth floor and we did not want to climb the stairs. We got into the lift and what I saw shocked me. Buttons from 1 to 66 indicated that this hotel was 66 stories high. I widened my eyes to make sure I was not dreaming. The HDB flat I am living in was only 12 stories high! The lift gave a ‘ting’, telling us that we were on the eighth floor. The moment the lift doors gave way, I saw my cousin waiting outside. He broke into a smile as I wished him a ‘Happy Birthday’ and gave him the present. I greeted his parents and Jia Liang led me and my parents into the restaurant. He told us to take a seat and we would start when everyone has arrived. As i did not want to waste time waiting, I took out my book and started reading so as to pass time.

Sometime later, my cousin came looking for me and asked me to take a look at his new yo-yo. He said it was a present from his parents and he really wanted one as it was very popular at his school. To show off his yo-yo, he started showing me tricks despite my warnings that he might hit diners in the restaurant.
As I expected, he broke a wine glass when he was doing a loop with his yo-yo. The yo-yo got confiscated immediately and my uncle said that the cost of the glass would be deducted from his pocket money. I broke into silent giggles. I returned to my seat and kept my book as everyone has arrived and the dinner was starting.

We had a good time eating and chatting together. I had never eaten such good food ever since i attended my uncle's wedding ceremony. After the feast, a chocolate cake with the words ‘Happy Birthday” written with sugar icing on it was delivered to our table. I had never tasted anything as delicious before. When there were left overs, I asked for seconds immediately and I was even lucky enough to get a third slice. At the end of the day, the yo-yo was returned to him. However, it had a crack due to the incident that happened just now. What a waste! A brand new yo-yo got a hole in it just like that! However, that was not the only thing with a hole in it. The meal costed about $850 for just the 17 of us and this meal burnt a hole in my father’s wallet. Now that was the most expensive dinner I have ever had!