Sibu Street Lanterns 2010

Although the Mid-Autumn Festival had just ended yesterday, the street lanterns in Sibu town will still be around until 26th September.

I decided to walk along the street, starting from Island Road to get a better view of the lanterns during daytime.

The hanging lanterns somehow provide intermittent shades for the motorists along the road

The highlight of the lanterns is concentrated in the town square where giant lanterns designed by public and government agencies are displayed to the public.

I estimate about more than 10, 000 lanterns are used this time around and it would be wise if they use LED light next year to light those lanterns at night as this would help to reduce the power wastage.

Mid-Autumn Festival 2010 @ Sibu

The Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated by the Chinese worldwide yesterday.

On this very day, the regular custom is to carry brightly lit lanterns. In my hometown, Rejang Park has been the venue for such activity every year.


I had made a pledge to come here every Mid-Autumn Festival to watch children and family carrying lanterns of various shape and colour.

It is such a nice feeling to see family members gather around here and keep the tradition alive.

Frankly, I am just glad to be able to return home and had a family dinner. I'm keeping my finger cross that I can repeat the same thing again next year.

Sibu Lantern Festival 2010 @ Night

It's mid autum festival again for the Chinese community and I took a week off from work to return home to have a reunion dinner with my family as well as watching the 2nd lantern festival which started the tradition here last year.

It is definitely a beautiful sight at night as the town square and the surrounding roads (Island and Bujang Suntong Road) are brightly lit by multi-coloured lanterns.

It is quite an experience by just cruising along these roads at night. Such a breathtaking sight and nowhere else in Malaysia where one can have such experience except here.

While at the town square, all sort of giant lanterns been constructed for display by the participating private and government sectors

This 1 Malaysia lantern seems to be situated at the core of the town square.

A glimpse of other lanterns on display here. Some of the them are quite impressive while others appear to be mediocre

Penang Times Square

Penang Times Square is set to be one of the newest landmark in Georgetown. Located along Jalan Dato Kramat, it is just a stone's throw away from KOMTAR

I was rather intrigued by the open spaces just outside the shopping mall. It has some creative sculptures and water fountain.

Another sculptures at the edge of the open space which was constructed in 2009 caught my attention.

These sculptures actually depict the history of this very site. This site used to be a land occupied by the Escoy Smelting Company. The smelting started on this site in 1898 and continued until 1998. Here, a British superintendent directing a Javanese labourer who is carrying bars of smelted tin.

Distance of the main cities around the world from Penang can also be found on the direction sign board next to the scupltures.

The interior of the shopping mall is rather spacious, suitable for organizing event and exhibition. However, not many shops are operating here yet. Hence, the lack of shopping experience for the time being.

This is actually the master plan for Penang Times Square which incorporate the shopping mall, residential block, commercial block, hotels, convention centre and a monorail station. Looking at this model, I can imagine the magnitude of this project and the construction work is still ongoing outside.