Was kinda torn on where to go for the Merdeka countdown celebrations. Nic & Andrea were throwing a gathering at her house, but I was itching for something more festive..

Made my decision when I stepped into the house after work ..

Dad : Are you going to Ikano later?
FoOie : Maybe.. Yeah?
Dad : Ok, let’s go in one car..
FoOie : Ok!

Had our dinner and left the house at around 8.45, traffic was much lighter than expected. We parked our car opposite the BU driving range, and walked across the main road to Ikano. As it was a little early, we did some window shopping. Then I went my own way for awhile.

Laundry Bar with Pui Ling & Friends.

Zainal Abidin during his performance slot..

There were some other huge lineups that night – Vince Chong, Juwita Suwito, Fish Leong and Reshmonu. But I didn’t stay near the stage to catch most of it.

Met up with my parents again for some supper and much needed coffee at the Kopitiam in The Curve

Fish Leong and Serena C on the big screen.

Fish Leong had a LOT of supporters in the crowd – she flew down from Taiwan just to perform that night!

I took a panoramic shot of the crowd from the side entrance of The Curve (click on it to see the larger sized version). The street was packed with people from one end of Ikea all the way to the stage at the other end of Ikano. I estimate a crowd in attendance of about 30,000. Everyone was civil though

The crowd of 30,000 – photo shamelessly jacked from pluboy.blogspot.com

And then shortly after, the countdown began, and the FIREWORKS started. They claimed it was the largest fireworks display in town, and it was choreographed with music (probably by teams from the International Fireworks competition in Putrajaya). It lasted a nice enrapturing 12 minutes.

Weee!

A gorgeous curtain of fire..

Pretty blossoms..

The crowd went crazy over these massive rockets..

These were so stunning I almost forgot to take a picture. Those glittery stars took as long as 10 seconds to fall!

Simply breathtaking..

There’s something inherently beautiful and uplifting about seeing Malaysians of all races and ages gathering to celebrate a singular purpose together. I sometimes get the same feeling when I lose myself in rave parties. It DOESN’T happen during Chinese New year, Hari Raya or Deepavali. The only other celebration of this scale is during New Year’s Eve. EVERYONE singing the same songs, screaming the countdown, waving hands and flags, cheering during the fireworks, spraying confetti together – it should happen more often.

But of course, we had to endure a slight drawback to all the jubilation..

The massive congestion right next to my car.

Took us about an hour to get home. But it wasn’t too bad . Happy 50th Birthday Malaysia!

Here are some other blog write-ups about the Ikano Street Party..

Peridot’s Publicly Confidential Confessions – 50th Merdeka Celebration
Steven’s Lust for Life – Merdeka Night Outing
Sylvia’s It’s My Life =) – Merdeka Eve Party
Shaun Ng’s Walk of Life – Happy 50th Birthday, Malaysia!
Pluboy’s I Am Therefore I Am – Thank You Malaysia!!!
KampungboyCitygal – Happy 50th Birthday Malaysia