Experiencing Merdeka Day in Kuala Lumpur
Now Everyone Can Fly! Convinced by this slogan, I spent RM350 last month for the pictures I took below. Good foods good shopping paradise cost me another hundreds and hundreds again. 
But nevermind, the experience pay off. 
But Chinese always said ‘You need to get drunk this morning if you have the liquor this morning!’. Meaning that, enjoy what you have at present. As you will never know what gonna happen tomorrow. True? hehe… I don’t know, you tell me… because I am not a pure chinese.
My intention visiting KL not only for photography purpose. But also to visit my brother, Ah Loi. He is the lucky man. He won a lucky draw, staying at Mines Resort at Serdang for 4 day and 3 nights x 2 rooms. Now you can guess where I stay during my visit.
Here some pictures I took during my visit to Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with Malaysia 50th Independence Day Celebration. Hope you enjoy looking my pictures.
Meeting up with photographer friends from Tawau at the lobby in Putrajaya International Convention Centre – PICC. Later I will be meeting up with Clement, all the way from Sandakan just for this event. Me standing at the middle.
Some Views from PICC. This is the place where the fireworks will be displayed tonite at 12am.
Bridge at Putrajaya.
Main entrance of PICC.
Free shuttle bus service from Putrajaya LRT to PICC, every 15 minutes.
He do not want to miss the fireworks too.
Photographers setting up their gears earlier to secure the best shooting point. Oh boy, 6 hours to count down… sigh..
For me, I don’t have the patient waiting there for 6 hours. I spent some money to get in the PICC building and had a lovely dinner and to avoid congestion during the showtime.
Many people like me, bought the ticket to enjoy the evening inside the PICC. A lot of activities in there while waiting for the countdown. We met up with Ted who drove alone from Petaling Jaya. Also to shoot the fireworks.
Some sitting on the carpet and enjoying the evening.
10…, 3, 2, 1 POW! All pay off of the ticket I bought for the dinner. No congestion, nice shooting pointing and nice pictures, I took.
Simply breathtaking fireworks from Team Japan. I never saw this huge fireworks show in my life, coming 40. Brilliant!
Another shot…
…another…
…and another…
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…and another.
The fireworks last about 20 minutes. Oh boy, I’ve been holding breath for 20 mins… Too bad smokes starts nasty 5 minutes after the first shot.
The sky became quiet again after the show.
We quickly pack our gears and start drive out from Putrajaya at 12:30am. Too bad we are still caught in the traffic jam for more than 3 hours out from Putrajaya. I’ve never experienced this in my life. @#$%^&*! Ted got home at 4 something in the morning. Pity him.
The next morning, I woke up at 7, as usual, I practicing my daily routine in the washroom. Later, we walk to Serdang Commuter Centre but too bad, the ticket dispenser machine refused to swallow our notes. We’d struggled to find some coins instead. Locating the commuter centre and finding coins caused so much of delay. We also got squeezed inside the commuter on the way to KTM Station at KL to go Merdeka Square.
Upon arriving Merdeka Square, I quickly pull out my Canon EOS 400D mounted with a 70-200mm tele zoom lens and zoom to 200mm to compress the crowd into the frame here.
Ok, I confess. We arrived at 10am. The event was toward the end. Agong is leaving and Aroyo is leaving. But I don’t give up easily. I change my tele to superwide, rushing to the Square and hope to cover something interesting. Standing at the middle of the square are really amazing. I can imagine how its like 50 years ago. Really! I can feel the heat.
The tallest flagpole measuring 100 meter-high rising from Merdeka Square. The Malayan Flag was hoisted 50 years ago on August 31st, 1957 at this spot that signifying the independence of the country from the British ruling.
Merdeka! was shouted 7 times by Tunku Abdul Rahman 50 years ago. The shouting still continues today and forever…
Merdeka celebration not only celebrate by Malaysian.
hehe… I did not shoot this. But I was shot! That’s me in the middle, one odd out.
Helicopter hovering surrounding Kuala Lumpur to cover the event, live broadcasting in local television.
God blessed for the blue sky and fine weather. We are hausted walking around and shooting around but Clement my travel companion said he wanted to shoot the fireworks again tonight. No matter how I discouraged him, he still insist. Oh boy… The Team Global will be peforming tonight. But only for 7 minutes. So there we go again to Putrajaya.
This time we did not go up to the PICC. We decided to shoot at the ground level. We are smarter this round, we only went there around 9pm. The show started at 10pm. Thanks to my brother Ah Loi for fetching us there.
Night view of PICC.
Here are some shots from Team Global on the 31st night.
After the show, traffic was so friendly this time. We got back to the resort only in 15 minutes time.
And this is me at the resort. Notice the big poster behind me. Tunku Abdul Rahman declaring independence day on August 31st, 1957 at Merdeka Square, Kuala Lumpur.
September 2nd, I am leaving KL back to my lovely home town, Tawau. I did my last shopping route at The Mines Shopping Mall. I marked my time to make sure I have enough time to rush to the airport, but shit really happen. This is no good, and no good at all. Ah Loi’s Proton Waja battery was FLAT! Time is tickling… But no worry, Ah Loi calls his lovely wife, Shariene and within 15 minutes, I got up to my sister in law’s MyVi and I’d made it on time checking in at the airport.
While waiting for my sister in law, I took some pictures of my nephew, Kin Liong.
Kin Liong posed in front of the Proton Waja with front bonet opened while waiting for rescue.
On my way back to Tawau and eagerly wanted to meet my lovely wife and kids after leaving them for 5 days…
My brother’s choice and he recommends, do try out the Pak Nesser’s Nasi Lemak on board. You won’t regret it. 
Thank you for looking at my blog…
…and feel free to leave some comments.
Happy Merdeka Day!
hi friends ! nice shoot!. but u so bad! not have time to yam cha with us lah! btw. i feel u thin then before ya! hehee
fren, nice shoot. too bad can’t join you all.
HAHA, really pity TED reach home so EARLY.
Your 1st shot really testifies photography has no age boundary. Personally, I’ve never experienced photographing fireworks, so this would have been an exciting experience for me provided I can psych myself to wait 6 hours for a 20-min thrill taking shots from one single spot. From my observations of fireworks photographs, I gathered that foreground/background are almost equally as important as the fireworks themselves. They fill the frame up and give a good sense of perspective. Nice vivid colours on the day shots but I assume the sun that day was just as “vivid” to the skin… thus your tan ….hope it burned off a couple lbs too!!! Lastly, you must have really strong genes …. judging by how your nephew resembles Edmund …. well, keep up the steam bro…. its always a thrill to see your photos
friend!! your picture are so nice….
fren, nice shoot. too bad can’t join you all.
HAHA, really pity TED reach home so EARLY.
Comment by weesiang
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Yea… KL welcomes you with its terrible traffic. Heheh…Nice pics kwan.
Yasmine: Amazing pictures! Speechless! Stunned with opened mouth! Proud of you, Brother!
nice shots. was in kl on merdeka day too and managed to sight a bit of the fireworks while on the plane. trip could have been wonderful if not for the new handphone being picked in klcc. all those who read this, beware of professional pickpockets in kl especially at the large shopping malls