| Ipoh City was selected to be the host of the 2002 Malaysian Open House
for Chinese New Year. In conjunction with this event, a dragon dance with
the longest dragon in Malaysia was performed and was supposed to be the
main crowd puller. The organizer also invited the world champion lions
dance team for 12th consecutive years, that from 'Kun Seng Koon' in Muar.
While the dragon dance performance was a bit of a disappointment, the lion
dance enthralled the crowd with spectacular skills, hopping dangerously
between tall vertical poles. In addition, a fireworks display and various
popular singers were there to entertain the crowd till 1.00 am in the morning.
It was reported that between 100,000 to 150,000 people turned up for
the event. Yours truely was among the crowd squeezing, pushing forward
and sweating profusely. Why all these troubles when I can see the action
from one of two huge screens put up near the field? I wanted to video the
longest dragon in Malaysia, the worlds best lion dance and the fireworks
display. All were technically difficult tasks because I did not get a good
position for the former two and of course, I had never tried video of fireworks.
However, I am very happy with what I obtained. The only hitch is a bit
of mic problem during the fireworks display. I did not get good ear-deafening
boom of the explosions because it was partly drowned out by the loud singing.
I should have used the zoom mic. |
