From 28th Feb to 3rd March is the International Kite Festival at Pasir Gudang; just follow the road signs for the Muzium Layang-Layang, and park in the large open air car park. We arrived about 10:30 am today when there were plenty of kites in the sky, but we could not identify any structure to the activities. We slipped into an area by a stage for a good view, and then found these young dancers performing behind us but with no audience. The stage faced out to the view in the photo above. Then when we tried to move away, the gate had been locked! Anyway, we escaped after taking lots of photos and getting very very hot.
Near the entrance to the showground were tents offering demonstrations of kite making from different parts of the world. In Indonesia, each state has its own style of kite, and kites even come in male and female forms with the male kites being more highy decorated, just like the birds (photo below left). The photo below right shows the style of kite flown in Thailand.
This kite is from Vietnam. These kites are from Malaysia.
These gentlemen were making Malaysian kites. The colours are not painted on, but show through cuts made to the layer of coloured paper pasted on to the bottom side of the kite. It’s a bit difficult to describe, so better go and see for yourselves.
The area surrounding the arena is lined with stalls selling food, drink, kites, toys, and clothes. Everything you maigh expect from a market. There was a huge variety of drinks and lovely fresh fruit on offer.
I’m afraid these photos do not do justice to the kites, they really have to be seen flying around in the air. I think my favourite was the string of white birds which actually seemed to flap their wings.
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