merdeka carnival 2008

Perpaduan teras kejayaan. A new Merdeka theme for Malaysia's 51st year of independence. And there's a new logo too. Well, I hope that there's still a large amount of perpaduan among the people of Malaysia, especially with all those racist remarks that has been flying around in the country. Okay, let's not talk about that shall we. Too boring (plus menyampah). It's time for something more fun and interesting.

Okay then. A Merdeka Carnival was held on 30 August at the Tun Abdul Razak Research Centre in Hertford, UK. It was organized by the Malaysian community in the UK and also the Malaysian High Commission. Yes, I know that Merdeka falls on the 31st and the organizers know that too, but I'm sure they had their reasons for choosing that date. Anyway, I'm sure glad they chose Saturday instead of Sunday because it was a very nice and sunny day, which is rare here since it's nearly the end of summer. FYI, it was rainy and gloomy on Sunday, so well done, good choice of day!

The initial plan was Nina, Wan Aimran and I were to go to the carnival together. So we went to King's Cross train station at about noon. We were just about to buy our tickets when Aimran saw his cousins, Lia and Wawa somewhere in the queue behind us, and they were also heading to the carnival. The more, the merrier, and cheaper. You can buy group train tickets for 3 or 4 people which are even cheaper than tickets with a youth railcard.

Anyway, the train journey to Hertford North Station took about 40 minutes. There we met Noraini who was all alone crying and sobbing, waiting for the shuttle service to come. Okay, she wasn't crying and sobbing, I just wanted to add a little drama. Hehe, sorry. And then there were six. According to the Merdeka Carnival leaflet, there was a free shuttle service. We thought that the service was a shuttle bus, but apparently there were shuttle cars instead.

When we arrived, there were many people already there. What did you expect? It was already past midday. A lot of Malaysian families were there. And the weather was lovely. There were many stalls selling **drum roll** Malaysian food! What got me excited weren't the ABCs or the nasi lemak, you can get those in many places in the UK, but the roti canai. No, not the frozen ones, but the ones you buy at the mamak's. It's been a long time since I've eaten one of those. The roti canai were expensive, but worth it. I also ate some murtabak and aiskrim Malaysia (I'm not sure what its real name is, but it's the frozen asam ice cream which I ate).

Towards the end, there were some activities held: musical chairs for the kids and tarik tali for the women and another for the men. I must say that there was some intense rivalry during the musical chairs. Those kids were very competitive. Very very competitive. The men's tug of war was tight as well. There was a third round to determine the winner but sad to say that the eventual winners cheated. There was supposed to be 13 men in each team, but during the last round, one team had 14. Haih, tarik tali for fun pun nak main tipu ke?

Cheating aside, it was a very nice day to eat Malaysian food while lepaking on the grass with friends, old and new. Jeff and Hana also came to the event. And we also met friends of our new friends who were also friends of other friends who were friends with some of us and/or some of our friends. Or to put it short (and less confusing), it's a small world.

Happy Merdeka and also happy fasting!