Yes, as my post title suggest (actually, reads), I was at the Malaysian Tatler Ball 2008. For those not in the know, Malaysian Tatler is a popular magazine – it’s tagline The Spirit of High Society actually tells you everything about it.

The Ball was held at the Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur. Besides being a good excuse to dress up, the Ball was also a great place to have a great meal, and have lots of booze. It was a several course meal (I don’t remember for sure, I was walking around so much) – but the images below is from the very interesting starter (I forget what it’s called).

I loved the details of the table arrangements. The flowers were gorgeous, and the big candles were a nice touch. But what i liked most was how the base plates were half black, half white (cut across the diameter) and was arranged alternately in each table. Which means that if my plate had the black at the top of the plate, then the two people beside me had the white on top instead.

What’s more, they even had alternate-coloured napkins – black and white, of course – so mine was white, and those next to me had black. The same was the case for even the bread! Mine was wholemeal while the others was white bread. Such details!

I was invited to attend by a relative of mine, Vivienne Lee Iskandar who beautifully graces the cover of the November issue (I daren’t say how we are related, lest I get disowned!) alongside Rita Shum. What I didn’t know, however, was that she would be the recipient of the Quintessential Woman of The Year, one of the few awards which serve as the highlight of the night.

Later, I would find out that the table we were seated at would win two awards – Zainah Anwar, who lead Sisters In Islam for two decades, was named Activist of The Year. I sat on the table with some of Vivienne and Zainah’s friends, contemporaries and colleagues including Marina Mahathir and Women’s Aid Organisation’s Ivy Josiah.

(From left) Zainah, Ivy, Marina, me and Vivienne)

The party ended late – lots of dancing and mingling – and I only got home at almost 5am. I had to struggle to wake up for the Terry Fox Run a couple of hours later, but that is another story – and a blog post for tomorrow, with pictures as well!

11.36pm Malaysian time (+8 GMT)