A Skyful of Colours

1:51 PM  , ,  

Kite Festival 2013
The Promontory, Marina Bay
South, Singapore
08 September 2012

Merlion Wayfarer was invited to a blogger engagement yesterday at the Kite Festival. She went there from Raffles Place and was greeted with this super long ladybird kite!

On the way, she noticed a long queue snaking all the way around the Promontory. And this queue extended to past the URA's Marina Bay City Gallery! Guess what it was for - no prizes - yeap, it was for the goodie bags.

Most of the kite-making instructors were quite nice. However, the couple from Korea (Choi Sang Sook and Rhee Kitai) turned many people off - big time. While other instructors invited excess groups to stand on both sides of the table to utilize the space, the male Korean instructor scolded people who stood on his side, and said all the space was reserved for his movement only. He also started his hourly session early and refused to give materials to adults who were there early but who didn't have an accompanying child. It was a most unpleasant experience just trying to be in their session!

Merlion Wayfarer was assigned to cover Kelvin Chow's Fringed Delta Kite session. Here are the steps to make a delta kite:
  1. Fold a long strip of mahjong paper in half.
  2. Fold to the corner twice.
  3. Reverse fold to create the bottom part of the kite.
  4. Cut the bottom part of the triangle into strips for the tail.
  5. Secure on the strips with scotch tape and rubber tubes.
  6. Punch a hole for the kite string.
  7. Tie the string to the kite and it's done!

Merlion Wayfarer also attended the Pakistan session by Abdul Waheed and Bilal Ahmad. These two friendly gentleman are from Pakistan. The younger one has even studied in Singapore and is familiar with many places in Singapore. Here's their version:
  1. Cut a triangle piece of rice paper.
  2. Put a strip of wood across it from corner to corner.
  3. Bend another strip and create an arc from the other tip.
  4. Make a tail from a small square.
  5. Then punch two sets of holes along the vertical strip.
  6. Tie a loop and adjust the knots upwards as the tail will be heavier, and it's done too!

Kites were given in the goodie bags. Many members of the public were trying out their own kites in the open area with strings all over. It was quite dangerous as these strings were not visible against the backlighting from the evening sun.

When Merlion Wayfarer moved to the grass patches to try out her kites, a group from the event organizer came over to ask everyone to move out as the areas are reserved for "invited guests". Merlion scratched her head - Why were they not chasing people off the boardwalk instead for safety reasons? She certainly hoped no one was hurt by kite strings today... 

Members of Slack Taxi from Australia, a roving street performer act,
preparing themselves then bouncing around and entertaining kids with their antics...
 
Classy Reload, a group of 4 string instrumentalists, on the main stage.
Beautiful serenades which added a touch of class to the crowded promenade...

Even foreigners were attracted by the activities. Here, two of them tried out the ricepaper kites that they made...

Everyone certainly had fun today at the Kite Festival!  :D

More photos are available on Merlion Wayfarer's Picasa at :
Events - Kite Festival

Sources