This year on 6th Feb 2012, there is a celebration as usual, at Taman Jaya Lake, located near to Amcorp Mall at Taman Jaya LRT Station.
Why throw mandarin oranges? As the Hokkien says, Tim Kam, Chua Ho Ang..
So what should guys throw? The answer is Apple! Tim Peng Ko, Chua Ho Bo..
What you think we have thrown? We use banana this time.. Tim Kin Jiau, Tiok Beh Piau!
The whole process was funny throwing banana instead of mandarin oranges as we were special than others. Even ourselves laughed non-stop.I wonder if our banana was "Lao" by anyone, or eaten by fish!
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Banana instead of Mandarin Orange |
What were the activities that night? Chinese gathered at Taman-Jaya Lake that night. There are programs such as, booth selling things and food, Mandarin Orange throwing activities, light up Kong Ming Deng, etc.
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Busy guy "Lao-gan" at the lake side |
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Mandarin Oranges thrown into lake |
This is really my first experience lighting up Kong Ming Deng (孔明灯). It's also called Sky Lantern or Wishing Lantern. First, we wrote all our wishes on the paper. How we wish we have the smallest hand-writing and the biggest Deng to write thousands of wishes! But taking into consideration fairy in the sky needed to use more power to read our small writing, we wrote it big, and tried combining the wishes. The fun thing was: Suku couldn't stop adding zero and zero and zero at the end of 1..until i lost count, was it millions, billions, trillions? My sister wrote one of her wishes: To become clever! This made us questioned her: "Are you very stupid now?" lol..
Some "Kelian" Kong Ming Deng got stuck at trees when wind blew at different direction. Some "bravo" Kong Ming Deng crossed tree and obstacles to continue flying. And lots of Kong Ming Deng dropped back to the ground and lake when power finished.
Lighting up Kong Ming Deng is not easy especially the candle. You will need some people to hold sides of Kong Ming Deng when lighting it up. Everyone has to be co-operative and playing his/her own role to hold Kong Ming Deng from the balanced side. Some even burnt the Kong Ming Deng before lifting it up to sky.
The tip from the Kong Ming Deng's seller is: After lighting up, hold longer to boost the power before releasing it to the sky.
The tip from me is: Trust that your wishes will be brought to fairy and they will come true!
And we really got it! Our Kong Ming Deng flew fast up up up to the sky, getting nearer and nearer to fairy.
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Lighting up Kong Ming Deng and Make Wishes |
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Kong Ming Deng |
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Our Red Lantern Bringing Our Wishes to Fairy |
On that night, i believe there's thousands of Kong Ming Deng were lifting to the sky. From far, it really looked like stars queuing in rows.
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| Chap Goh Meh at Taman Jaya Lake: Kong Ming Deng flying up to the sky |
It's really a pleasant experience which requires co-operation, sweat and passion that each of you shouldn't miss.
This is a video on how a Kong Ming Deng crosses 2 big trees and continue flying smoothly up up up to the sky..
WOW! I want to do this very activity in a few days' time (Feb 2013) and I need to know whether the lanterns are being released all night, or only all-at-once at a particular time (midnight?). Can you reply and tell me about the timing of the lantern release? For example, if I arrive at 10.30pm, will all of the excitement already have passed already? Or is all the excitement at midnight? I look for your reply eagerly!
ReplyDeleteSorry for the late reply, it's a whole night activities. I believe you have enjoyed yourself there?
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