(Photo thanks to carinasuyin)

8 is considered a lucky number amongst the Chinese community, so is it any wonder then that Beijing will be conducting the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Olympics 2008 at 8:08pm today, the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008? Malaysia will be showing its might to the rest of the world by sending 33 of our best athletes to compete this year. We will be competing in 9 sports categories: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Cycling, Diving, Shooting, Swimming, Taekwondo and Weightlifting! Malaysia had done us proud over the years by winning 3 Olympic medals at badminton so far and this year promises more exciting action!

The hot Malaysian athletes to look out for:

Archery – Three-man archery team: Cheng Chu Sian, Muhammad Marbawi Sulaiman and Wan Khalmizam Abdul Aziz, currently ranked 4th best in the world.

Badminton – Men’s singles Lee Chong Wei, number 2 in the world.

Cycling – Men’s cycling quartet: Azizul Hasni Awang, Josiah Ng, Rizal Tisin and Muhd Edrus Yunus, who achieved success at this year’s Asian Cycling Championships.

So let’s wish our athletes all the best and tell them, “Selamat berjuang, Malaysia boleh!”

(Photo I took)

Basically, we got lost while trying to get there. What a wonderful start to the day, right? The taxi driver didn’t know where KLpac (Performing Arts Center) was! We asked him if he knew where Sentul park was located, “Ya, tahu, tahu.” Of course he would say he knows ><. And yep, we were totally, irrevocably, lost. But thankfully we reached in one piece (Sentul park is HUGE!) and went straight into the hustle and bustle of it all! There were booths selling hand-made crafts and t-shirts under the hot sun, and various stages were set up in preparation of the performances that were held in the afternoon and at night.

(Photos by me!)

The main building where KLickr held the exhibition and the booth to get your tickets.

Do’s and Don’ts and the map in case you get lost.

We went straight into the main building and visited the Flickr group based in KL, called KLickr. They had an exhibition area on the top floor, featuring their special project called “24 Long-Photos”. The members got together and shot 24 1 hour worth of photos from different spots around KL, which is then stitched together into a video. Well, I can only say one thing when I saw it. Speechless! It was superb work! And then the next thing that popped into my mind was, “Can we introduce this idea to Singapore and get the guys there to do something similar?”. I mean, how many of you really know your city from inside out and at all times of the day (or night)? This project just opened my eyes to the real life and soul of KL, you can literally feel it beating strongly like a pulse through the videos and photos!

(Photo by saya la!)

Even though it was a long day that Saturday, I walked away from the event culturally richer, and more appreciative of KL (and I managed to buy a beautiful hand-made bag from one of the booths! Woot!). Can’t wait for the next Urbanscapes!

(Photo thanks to Ripi)