Merdeka
Ok, some factual stuff now, I arrived in KL yesterday (tue 30 aug), checked into my hostel, which is ok but has an incredily slow pc with win98 (hence need for alt net cafe). I decided to come here now to check out hte National Day celebrations - this is when Malaysia gained Independence (Merdeka) from British rule on 31st Aug 1957. There are like tons of national flags around town, I think each town has their own mini celebration type thing, but the main stuff is in KL. I went into town (on the monorail) to the Dataran Merdeka (town square) where all the stuff was happening, and there was just tons & tons of Malaysian absolutely everywhere, and all the hawkers on the sides of the streets selling their wares to the crowds, half the food stuff I wasnt even sure what it was.
The square was beautifully decked out, with lights all round the historic building, and a fancy flagpole where they first hoised the Malaysian Flag, and a grassy area with a concert stage and vip section. There was a free concert, which was cool, but everything (all the announcements/songs/commentry) was in Bahasa Malaysia, so I only had a vague idea of what was going on/being spoken about, but it was evidently very funny in parts, as everyone else was laughing & cheering. The female performers seemed to go down especially well with the men in the crowd - theres a surprise - with everyone singing aong to the words of the pop songs. It was a really great atmpshere, with everyone waving these little Malaysian flags and shouting 'Merdeka! Merdeka!' at oportune moments, and waving at the tv? cameras as they swooped past.
There was also lots of cultural style dances, as well as more modern pop songs (albeit all sung in malaysian), little plays that (i imagine) depicted memorable moments in history, and a little boy & girl reciting a poem/story about somthing that got a lot of cheering & clapping from the crowd. There was over 4hours of this, I got there at 8pm and it had already started, and nearer to midnight there was an english annoucement introducing/welcoming all the local & foreign dignitaries who were at the event. There was a huge countdown just before midnight, loads & loads of fireworks (and a mini blow up zepplin thing floating about in the air) and everyone started singing what I can only imgine was the national anthemn over & over again!
I kinda wish I had a better camera with wide-angle lens etc to capture the mood better, but this is what I did manage to get:
The square was beautifully decked out, with lights all round the historic building, and a fancy flagpole where they first hoised the Malaysian Flag, and a grassy area with a concert stage and vip section. There was a free concert, which was cool, but everything (all the announcements/songs/commentry) was in Bahasa Malaysia, so I only had a vague idea of what was going on/being spoken about, but it was evidently very funny in parts, as everyone else was laughing & cheering. The female performers seemed to go down especially well with the men in the crowd - theres a surprise - with everyone singing aong to the words of the pop songs. It was a really great atmpshere, with everyone waving these little Malaysian flags and shouting 'Merdeka! Merdeka!' at oportune moments, and waving at the tv? cameras as they swooped past.
There was also lots of cultural style dances, as well as more modern pop songs (albeit all sung in malaysian), little plays that (i imagine) depicted memorable moments in history, and a little boy & girl reciting a poem/story about somthing that got a lot of cheering & clapping from the crowd. There was over 4hours of this, I got there at 8pm and it had already started, and nearer to midnight there was an english annoucement introducing/welcoming all the local & foreign dignitaries who were at the event. There was a huge countdown just before midnight, loads & loads of fireworks (and a mini blow up zepplin thing floating about in the air) and everyone started singing what I can only imgine was the national anthemn over & over again!
I kinda wish I had a better camera with wide-angle lens etc to capture the mood better, but this is what I did manage to get:
posted by Patricia @ 11:15
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