Aboard the hot air balloon

Project 365 #36: Saturday, 21st March 2009

WARNING: 58 PICTURES AHEAD

Wen Jing invited me to go to the 1st Putrajaya Hot Air Balloon Fiesta – sounds like an opportunity to exercise that photography muscle, so I took it up, plus hot air balloons sound rather inviting. I couldn’t get anyone else to come with me, so it was a 20-25 minutes drive alone all the way to Putrajaya, via a new sorta route (for me anyway, again by GPS) where I had to pay two RM1.60 tolls before I could get there.

There was a throng of cars parked by the roadside by the time I reached Precinct 2 at about 5.30pm, so I followed suit and parked near a junction (I made absolutely sure that I wasn’t blocking cars from exiting), then I got off and had a walk by myself as Wen Jing had yet to arrive.

One of the government buildings in Putrajaya.

At a field where families were enjoying themselves flying kites under the hot sun.

A look of said flying kite activity.

Kids enjoying themselves.

Even young adults.

Engrossed kid.

I was at a loss trying to figure out where the exact site of the event would be, but it didn’t take me long to see a large congregation of people to determine that that was the location.

Met up with Wen Jing soon after, after giving him vague directions of me at an area by the roadside behind a plastic castle wtf. We also met up with Wen Jing’s friend, Damien, who’s a photography enthusiast as well, and a pro by the looks of it.

Random shot of a toy helicopter while waiting under the hot sun to be allowed to enter.

The first hot air balloon to soar through the skies by Japan.

Funky orange balloon (my favourite) by Belgium.

Team Netherlands.

Sorry no clue which country this is from.

Random clown on stilts or whatever the wooden things are called that extend his height.

The hoard of photographers were waiting outside the gate for ages, only to look longingly when the hot air balloons were released to the sky one by one. It was only after a long while that one of the marshals told one very agitated and annoyed crowd that they couldn’t allow us to come in for safety reasons blablabla then why the hell was it advertised on its website that said designated time (5.45pm – 6.15pm) was “balloon area open to photographers” in the first place!

The crowd then thinned.. and as we walked towards to another side of the enclosure did we notice an open gate and took the opportunity to come in. And a short while later on everyone else just started to come in hahahaha.

Took a shot of Wen Jing taking a shot.

I couldn’t lay a finger why I sorta like this pic – the way the balloons were lying flat on the ground, the platform thingy that holds people boarding the hot air balloon.

Balloon from Thailand soars.

Another shot of the Thailand balloon.

Don’t know where it’s from.

A closer look.

This strangely reminds me of a disaster scene – and I like the feel of it: flat balloons, upturned platform, onlooking people, etc.

An exceedingly ugly clown hot air balloon from Belgium.

The fire that produces hot air for the balloons.

From Switzerland (based on the flag).

Makes you feel awfully inferior compared to the enormity of these balloons, doesn’t it? Yellow Zeppelin ballon is from Team Malaysia!

A personal favourite – Switzerland balloon about to fly up.

Deflated Belgium balloon.

Another Belgium balloon in the sky – as you can see, there are two sides of the balloon that displays the face of a smiling clown and a sad clown.

The few balloons in the sky – most prominent was the ugly clown balloon wtf.

Then the clown smiled.

Unknown country’s balloon.

Said hoard of photographers crowding around Belgium’s balloon – repeated warnings through the PA system asking the crowd to disperse went unheeded hahaha. Some got annoyingly close too with no regard for their own safety (as well as the pilot(s)’ and the technical crew’s) and they had to be shouted at to go away.

Even when I wasn’t that close to the flame I could feel the heat – imagine those who were directly beneath said fire.

To Vincent. It also says, “Beware of attack elephant [sic]” on the platform/basket.

Lucky girls who were aboard it, but I can’t be sure if they managed to take off or not ‘cause they took a pretty long while to try to set it flying.

Seeing the floating hot air balloons soaring through the sky made me resolve that this is something I’d really like to try someday, along with the likes of skydiving and bungee jumping – extremely high costs, unforgettable experience.

Me against the backdrop of the Belgium balloon (thanks Wen Jing!).

It looks as if my hair was on fire wtf.

And another shot.

Cute pink elephant.

Burning elephant.

Another shot.

Sorry the pic’s blur, but this is the best shot I could get of the peacock’s backside.

And another shot – not sure it was from which country.

After a while we decided to walk towards the direction of Menara Alaf Baru – we had a fun time using our tripods, trying to get a good shot. Prolly took a while staying there, and I realised that I probably wouldn’t be able to do this if I don’t have friends who are really into photography and would be willing to wait or spend some time snapping pics – else they’ll probably urge me to move along wtf.

I thought this was pretty cool – a history of Malaysia on some strong carved glass lighted beautifully.

We walked to and fro several times from Alaf Baru (no, not literally wtf.. if you get what I mean) to the hot air balloon site as we didn’t know when the next event – Night Glow – would be up. We went to the field early anyway to get a good place, and this time, we had to take our shots outside the gate.

Other balloons lined up.

Balloons lighted up simultaneously – took them a long while to be able to achieve this.

And other balloons.

We spent a bloody long time there and to be frank, the Night Glow was disappointing – nothing particularly special and when they announced that the Night Glow was now over, the two of us were like “wtf” because we were expecting something completely different.

Went back to the Alaf Baru area to snap the bridge.

Bad alignment in this pic, I know, but you can actually see some stars in the sky here!

A proper shot of the Menara Alaf Baru and the roads at the horizon.

The park/grassy area.

We went on top to the deck of the Alaf Baru and snapped this – I didn’t know what the strange line in this pic was, but I now realise that it could be the lights from an airplane moving across the sky.

Would’ve looked much better if it was viewed bigger.

And another.

At the Alaf Baru viewing deck.

Putrajaya buildings in the horizon.

Wen Jing and me.

I didn’t drink a single drop of water for at least 4 hours and felt a horrible combination of exhaustion and dehydration, not to mention that we didn’t eat anything too as we were too busy walking around and snapping photos. =.=”

I went towards the vending machine at the bottom of the Alaf Baru platform, happily discovered that the cans of drinks were only RM1.40 (hard to find such a price these days), but.. I lack the coins. Walked all the way back to the food stalls area near the hot air balloon site and bought a Seasons’ Iced Lemon Tea can for RM2, whereupon I gulped every single last drop immediately – imagine the after effects of rain upon a desert, and you’ll probably get a closer grasp of how I felt.

There wasn’t any more interesting food left, so at about 10.45pm, I left Putrajaya.. surprisingly it only takes me about 15 minutes to reach Subang, and even then I was just cruising between 80-90kmph. Also went straight to McD’s Taipan and bought two Fillet-o-Fish (“dua-dua tak nak cheese”) for personal consumption.

Reached home, noted a blackout at parts of my neighbourhood of which my house was in, but a minute after I got out from my car, lights flickered back on again. I was lucky. Took a nice shower, and proceeded to sit in front of my laptop with my two burgers.

And then I watched Fight Club.

I honestly did not expect this movie to be this good – you may think it’s a rather redundant adjective, having used that to describe the last 3 movies I watched, but Fight Club is a class of its own. It’s a brilliant anti-capitalism movie, spectacular and clever dialogues throughout that it completely belies the perception of those who have yet to watch it as being “just a fighting movie”, of which it is clearly not – in fact I had the same perception which was why I stayed away from this 10-year-old flick until.. yeah Suet recommended it to me wtf. I thought to myself, if a girl could like a fighting show, I sure as heck could love it.

But of course it wasn’t anything like that. It was different. It made me feel and think differently. It turned me into a fan of Edward Norton because his portrayal of The Narrator was simply excellent and amusing. Fight Club is also completely elaborate to the point that every little thing in this film isn’t just any little thing – that little thing adds a little to the device of the plot, up to that ending at the end. And this film challenges you to interpret what it presents to you, the viewer – that everything isn’t as it seems on the surface.

And after watching the movie, I feel.. a paradox sense of detachment and closeness to the world at large. Does this even make sense? My mental faculties seems sharp and alert, and it feels as if I have gained a better understanding of the workings of the world – even if I may not have actually and practically attained a small slice of the sum of the universe’s entire knowledge. But. Just but – I feel enlightened. A picture of calm. Enlightened in the sense that I no longer feel any sense of distinct attachment to the material world – but then again, I’ve never been one for ownership of branded clothes, shoes, bags, cars. Suddenly the hidden eye in me awakened and I can see the world for what it is, and life seems paradoxically crucial and important yet irrelevant and insignificant. Is this how a monk feels and sees the world?

But I’m glad that I’ve watched this – a viewer on imdb claimed this to be life-changing, and I’m inclined to agree. This is one of them rare films that, despite the age, never ages – it’ll forever be in my personal list of Top 10 Movies of all time.