Fireworks at Putrajaya

In conjunction with 50th Malaysia Independence from the Brits, the government has made a fireworks competition at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). They are 5 participants namely, Team Malaysia, Team Australia, Team Italy, Team Japan and lastly Team Global.

The event was spectacular that pull ten of thousands of crowd to Putrajaya. The traffic flow was massived and jammed all the road towards PICC. I told Arc if we want to watch the fireworks, we shall set our mind that we going to face massive traffic jam, that we would not be able to arrive to our home within half and hour like we usually did when we get back home from Alamanda.

On the first day of the competition, I wasn't sure whether or not to get too close to PICC as I am not sure how massive is the jam. So we decided to watch the firework from Taman Desa Pinggiran Putra, about 7km from PICC by road or about 4km view (agakan aku la;- if you want to know exactly the distance, why dont you go to google map and measure the distance). We went out like 9.00pm or 10 past 9.00pm and we arrived at Taman Desa Pinggiran Putra about 35 minutes later.

By the time we reached there, the traffic to PICC still ok but a lot of people chosed to cross the curb toward the opposite direction to Alamanda back and we did the same (nasib la perbadanan putrajaya, hang punya green belt tengah tengah hiway byk rosak kekekekeke). We parked along with many other spectators by the road side. 10.00pm sharp, Team Malaysia start the show. I am quite impressed that Team Malaysia is able to match their capability with other contestants come from abroad. Team Malaysia has worked on flowers formation like Bunga Raya and Lotus. Other showcase just ordinary fire works.

On the 2nd day of competition (which was 2 days after 1st show) we watched the fireworks from different view. We watched the fireworks from Cyberjaya near the flyover that has 4 towers in which Tun Mahathir plant his will inside the time capsule. Yummy and my colleague mentioned that view from Cyberjaya is amazing. I made the double park which in no time later it became quadraple park that only allowing 1 lane open for those people who wants to go to Dengkil.

The second contestant was from Australia. I am not really eager for that show since the performer was from Australia but when Azfar and Shasha keep reminded us about the shows, its a signal that they really want to watch the show. As we watched the firework from quite a distance, I cant really appreciate what they showed. Well to me its merely ordinary fireworks although The Aussies likes to fire the fireworks to highest altitude. Nevertheless we became frustrated because our view are limited by either others people head or the trees. They blocked our view. I said ok, well, in our mind we believe people from the east like China, Korea or Japan can do much better than Aussie. So we could not careless. As for my kids, as long as they can see 'Kembang Api - Indon Punya Bahasa' they happy dan aku pun ok ajer la.

The following day, my friend who lives in Putrajaya adviced me to get close to the PICC. The view is fantastic as we can see from where the fireworks were projected. Furthermore, some fireworks did not go high, they just burn about 20ft high above the ground so we cannot see from Desa Pinggiran Putra, Cyberjaya or probably from Masjid Putrajaya.

We followed his advice and on the 3rd event, we watched Team Italy showcase their fireworks. It was fantastic, Azfar and Shasha hopping in joy, Bibik was also mesmerized with the fireworks. Never in her entire life people put fireworks that bigggggggg. When they fire, the fire blossom in the sky and lights the ground. The sound ....... hmmmmm wallaaaaaa, very da noisy until Liyana scared to much. She afraid that fireworks fall to us and burn us all. She cried when the Italian fire the fireworks the sound exploded like a bomb. She scared until she shivered all body. Kesian dia. She scared when the fireworks exploded and made huge fire ball in the sky. Bibik Inem confort Liyana and telling her everything is ok, that the police has made the safety line. Liyana still crying.

Amongts other formation Team Italy did is luv sign in the middle of the fireworks and the star. We tought that show was better than Team Malaysia and Team Australia.

Last Thursday night, my grandma made kenduri doa selamat at Local Masjid in Sepang. So my mum wanted to take Inem together with her when she balik kampung. Knowing that her services are needed in Kampung she felt she missed the long awaited event, the fireworks from Team Japan. We can see that she felt dissppointed for not been able to watch Team Japan. However my mum called me Wednesday night and informed me that my grandma only needs help on Friday night for the kenduri cukur jambul which is held on Saturday night and tell me that she will straight balik kampung without Inem (Kenduri sambut Puasa di Masjid malam Jumaat dan kenduri Cukur Jambul Malam Ahad). Inem was happy with that news.

On the 4th event, we watch Team Japan showcase their fireworks. We were at PICC at 9.00pm and we were wonder why there are not many cars surrounding the PICC. So we tought probably people want to watch concert and fireworks at KLCC. Usually 5 or 10 minutes before the showcase, the team will test with their fireworks and we saw nothing that night. While queing to pee, we overheard that there will be a count down and Team Japan will only fire after the countdown, well, exactly after the Negaraku la kan. (Yang ini pun aku kagum tengok Cina dan India semangat nyanyi). The truth is they have published in the paper that there will be a countdown, it just us, assuming that the fireworks will starts at 10.00pm. While waiting for the event, terpaksa la pakcik 2 round beli Cornetto, just to kill the time. Hampeh ajer aku rasa.

I tought it was fantastic when Team Japan did Niagara Fall Formation (ala bunga api yg menjurai macam air terjun) and double luv sign. Nevertheless Arc didnt seem to agree with me as she felt that the Italian did better. Above all everything was superb. Azfar and Shasha with their big mouth open with WOWWWWWWWW and Liyana still scared of the sound and the fireball. She asked us to go farther away from the PICC. Adik suka tengok yang kecil ajer, Liyana cried.

And last night was the Final showcase between Team Japan and Team Global. This time around I wasnt be able to get close to PICC. Putrajaya and Bangi rained until 9.00pm. When the raining ceased at about 9 we decided to watch the fireworks. I reckoned not many people will watch the event as the area still drizzling and the soil is damped. Sangkaan ku meleset. I was stucked in the traffic jammed 5km away from PICC. The 5 lane hiways was jammed with all sorts of vehicle. The cars were parked at the 5 lane hiways. No one can move. Azfar and Shasha grumbled while Liyana was happy because we were quite a distance from PICC. Adik suka tengok yg macam ini, kecil ajer. Liyana smiled.

Well, I think this event is great. If ever they do this again, I hope the Ministry will make plan of the logistic aspect, i.e. the parking area, the commuter services, portable toilets, gerai gerai and what not. This event have pull ten of thousands crowed daily and I believe it could generate some income to certain quaters of people.

Meanwhile friend, I did snapped some picture and I feel mines wasnt good. so I scout around and found there are some people who have downloaded the picture to their web. Picture below were taken from http://nismoclub.6.forumer.com/ and http://fotowarung.bazuki.com/. Give credit to them:

By the way, Team Australia has won the competition for something they did somebody else cannot do. Tekaan aku dan Arc meleset sama sekali, wakakakakakakaka. To all Malaysian, Selamat Menyambut Hari Kemerdekaan; Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka