I think the crowd that flocked to Putrajaya for the fireworks competition this week had doubled. Maybe even tripled. Seriously, the jam actually started from DHL in Puchong. Shortly after the USJ toll, I was shocked to see cars coming to a standstill on the way up the ram towards LDP. Needless to say, it took much, much longer than I thought to reach even the second toll.

I decided not to go into Putrajaya anymore as we were definitely going to be late. Luckily Xinyi didn’t mind. We ended up in Cyberjaya, which wasn’t that bad considering we could have missed the whole thing altogether. Actually it was also an enjoyable experience in the sense that you actually watch the show, rather than fiddling with camera settings trying to capture perfect shots. I didn’t bother to set up the tripod as the Italian team had already started their performance. Everyone actually abandoned their cars in the jam (refer to pic), which was pretty cool. I had never parked my car in the middle of the road like that before, lol.

Thankfully the journey back wasn’t as bad as last week’s. It’s strange, I don’t know why. I got home in time for a good night’s sleep, as I gotta get up early this morning for the SJ10K run. I don’t know how well I did, but I think I missed the 60 minutes qualifying time, judging from the time one of the boys told me. In any case, it was a good workout - beats running on the treadmill anytime. Oh btw, I must say that this year’s T-shirt design is bad.

The Hungry Ghost Festival

I’m sure by now you have seen many people burning jossticks and other offerings by the roadside. It is the time of the year (in the lunar calendar, at least) where the Buddhists believe that the gates of hell are opened and the spirits of the dead will roam the streets. Offering jossticks, prayers, food and hell notes is a way to pay our respect for the dead. My family did just that outside our house today, where we paid respect facing all four directions at the crossroad.


From online.sh.cn via Google Images

By the by, speaking of ghosts, have you watched Jay Chou’s latest movie, Secret (不能说的秘密)? Well it’s not exactly about ghosts, more like a case of intertwined dimensions of time. Ah, whatever it is, it surely was a creative work. I’m not gonna go on telling you about the story, because it’s supposed to be… well, a secret. Go watch it and tell me if it reminds you of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Sixth Sense. Whoops, was that a spoiler? Actually, The Sixth Sense was about ghosts but Secret is not. I can’t say I liked the acting in Secret, but the storyline really impressed me. And the actresses, too - they’re worth a mention. So pretty can!!

Happy Monday, everyone!