Lanterns.Cameras.Food for thought

The moment I stepped into the park, I can feel the first prangs of regret.

For even at the ungodly time of 11pm, The Malaysia-Chinese Friendship Park was filled to the brim with colourful lanterns and people.  

Imagine this, beautifully sculptured red Chinese gazebo next to green bamboo trees that were dotted with lanterns of myriad colours; people of all shapes sitting, strolling, laughing and chatting all around and soft smoke billowing in the background. All this bathed by the big round moon in all its shining glory.

The ultimate scenery for a good snap. And I didn’t bring my camera.

But obviously a lot of people didn’t forget theirs. Shutterbugs in droves paraded their toys, one bigger than the other. Snap snap snap, busy fingers trying to capture the moment in bytes and bits, to be stored and reminisced sometime in the future.

A bunch of sour-grapes I am not, but are we not better be living in the present rather than saving the present for the future? In our fascination of taking photos, are we not living the moment in real life but rather behind lens and apertures and lightings? How can one drink in the whole scene, with all five senses behind the bulky frame of a camera?

Sans a camera, I did my best to store the whole picturesque scene into my memory. I see the lantern swaying gently in the soft breeze, feel the cosy heat  from the candles, hear the carefree laughter of kids. It enriched my experience. I feel contented. Happy to have witnessed such amazing random arrangement of things and people that create this smorgasbord of senses.

But yet, I couldn’t channel and share it wholly with you. Even I wrote the whole scene in a thousand words, using the most beautiful words, picturing it will still be akin a puzzle in the process of being pieced together, broken and incomplete. Only a camera taken picture can ensure a grasp comes out from your mouth, a breathtaking ‘wow’, a murmur of praise for the beauty of the night, a yearning wish that you were here in the matter of seconds.  

Perhaps taking a photo then is really an ultimate case of selfless sharing, an action of forsaking the fulfilment of your five senses at that time for the enrichment of others not there. How noble is that!

Nevertheless, perhaps it is good sometimes to take in the world not from behind the camera lens. =)

This mooncake festival was also the first time in 6 years that I spent it with my family. We had a feast with lanterns as the backdrop.

The only dish that I cooked was the pork with salted fish. My and my housemates in Melbourne used to eat this a lot as it was LamTK’s signature dish.

Ahh.. brings out the memories. The good old days.. How I miss them!

Anyway, Happy Mid-Autumn festival.