20 Minutes Of Splendor, 2+ Hours Of Traffic Jam

Picture Source: Courtesy of E. Click here for more pics.

Out of an impromptu plan, I joint E to Putrajaya on last Saturday (25 August) for the Malaysia International Fireworks Competition 2007 which is held from 18 August 2007 till 2 September 2007 at Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC). It was Team Italy performing. Checked the event official website (http://www.mifc.com.my/) before deciding to go, for it was a 20 minutes session. If it was a 10 minutes session, I would have passed it for it's not worthed the hassles and jam for just 10 minutes of fireworks display.

Though the event started at 10pm, having heard about the jam, we departed as early as 7 something in the evening from PJ and headed for Putrajaya via LDP. It was a bit jam, but the traffic was still moving and tolerable.

Reached PICC around 8:30pm. There was still 1 & 1/2 hour of time to kill before the event started. We wandered around to identify a good spot for photo shooting. E settled at a spot with his tripod at the side of the lake overlooked by the Seri Gemilang bridge. There were quite a number of photography enthutiasts stationed along the lake side, waiting for the moments of the magnificant fireworks performance. It was quite a large crowd near the lake. Some families even picniced there. As usual, you know who would normally picnic everywhere. As people could nicely watch the fireworks from outside PICC, along the lake side at a close distance, I wonder why would one need to purchase an expensive ticket to go inside PICC and watch from there. Could it be a big difference? I wonder.

Weather was good and not hot. Didn't feel the presence of mosquitoes either. There was a gentle breeze too, comforting the patient waiting of the crowd. We sat by the lake side, talking rubbish and observing the crowd, counting down till my bottom was numb. And yet, it was just not time yet for the performance to begin. Stood up a few times to relax the muscle of my buttocks to reduce the numbness. Yes, I have skinny buttocks (lacking of flesh) which will cause me numbness or slight pain if sitted for too long. Haha... Please don't laugh, it's not what I wish. There was so much time to kill, we should have brought some junk food to chew but we didn't. I dared not drink water too as it would be a challenging task to find a toilet there. I think my bladder behaved extremely well that night, not giving me any trouble of having the urge to pee the whole night while I was there.

Finally, the first few launches of the warm up fireworks ended the long haul waiting of the crowd. When the real performance started, the crowd was exhilarated. There was loud applause from the crowd whenever a magnificent one was displayed. I like watching fireworks. I was busy enjoying the fireworks while E, a photography enthusiast, was busy taking pictures with his Digital SLR camera. The magnificant view of fireworks across the lake was really enchanting. I was carried away to a world of my own, enjoying the splendid moments. An aeroplane flew across the sky illuminated by the fireworks, forming a special view. It reminded me of friends who are apart, currently travelling or living abroad and I miss them. Watching the borderless sky, decorated with the splendid fireworks, I suddenly felt so tiny and the thought of packing my stuff and leave to see the world flashed in my mind again. Yes, seeing the world is something I have always wanted to do. I was staring fixedly at the fireworks, not wanting to miss a single beautiful moment of the performance.

After 20 minutes, the fireworks performance had come to an end. Felt a bit lost, as good moments don't last long, as always.

Hurried E to get out of the place asap. Well, no matter how swift our actions were, we couldn't avoid the destiny of being stuck, at first 1/2 hour at the carpark and then horrible jam on the way back. It tooks us 2 hours & 15 minutes to get back to PJ, if I didn't miscount the time. What a journey.

As an aftermath, I suffered numbness and slight pain on my buttocks for 20 minutes of spendor and 2+ hours of traffic jam, though I wasn't the one driving. Haha... :)

Anyway, nothing is perfect. we can't have it all. Sometimes, things come in a total package. It's a matter of taking it or leaving it. It depends on how we view things, and the angles we view them. We can't change certain things but we can change the way we feel about them.

I choose to remember the splendor of the fireworks and forget about the jam as well as the buttock numbness and slight pain. :)

Please find more splendid shots of the event here, courtesy of E. Thanks E for the trip and the pics.