A dreamer's muse: MAHA 2010

Saturday, December 4, 2010

MAHA 2010

Event : Malaysian Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism International Show 2010 (MAHA 2010)

Venue : Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS)

Event date : 26 November - 5 December 2010

What MAHA is all about? As I see it, MAHA is a large international event showcasing everything in the agriculture and farming domain. I've never been to this expo in the previous years, so I am glad to go there this year. Knowing about this event, I remembered something from the past. I have this vague memory of going to a similar kind of expo with my family when I was a little girl. An expo at the Stadium Sultan Muhammad IV in Kota Bharu if I am not mistaken but I didn't remember when and what was actually the event. I remembered seeing huge cows, bulls and goats....and as a young kid, it was fascinating to see the animals. So, one of the expectations that I had from this MAHA was seeing farm animals, other than seeing farming machineries and all the plants and trees.

My main purpose was snapping photos and another secret mission...hmm, don't wanna tell here, hihi....So, armed with my camera, there I went. Going to a place where I wasn't familiar with, it took me quite a long time to arrive there, but the place itself wasn't so near. The thing with me in finding a place is that I have the potential of getting lost, but I always find what I want to find in the end. The key is having the confidence, with a little help of guidance and prior study of Google map. I would love to have that GPS thingy in my car but I am not quite sure if I can rely on that thing in this country. Anybody can confirm to me about it?

Anyway, back to MAHA story, the place was large! From the parking space, I joined many other visitors queuing for the tractor-tram thing (Pic 1) to go Laman Tiba 1, the main area. There are 4 halls and a large area of open bazaar selling many kinds of things and food. I head on to the Hall A and inside the hall, there are many booths from the ministry, agencies, departments, companies, universities, entrepreneurs which are related in the agriculture, fishery, horticulture etc. research and industries. I was seeing almost everything there that I nearly lost track of the time and realized that I haven't visited other sites yet.

Pic 1 Happy tram day

The other 3 halls are mainly booths and bazaar selling all kinds of things in the theme from local and international company and also a big food area. I don't have the budget to spend on things so I didn't linger long at the bazaar areas, avoiding the temptation, uhuh...I made up my mind that if I was going to spend, it should be on something that I won't get to see everyday. So, in the end, I bought something that could fill my stomach; a seaweed drink, a goat meat burger and a bird's nest drink, which were really good and satisfying. To go to other exhibition sites, there were buses and trams provided. My next site was the livestock and machinery showgrounds. As I had expected, there were big cows, goats and sheep. Big, plump and yummy...yeah, I was looking at them with the mindset of the wolves, lions and tigers. Aumm! Maybe that burger wasn't enough after all. There were also rabbit farms, cats and parrots. Next, i went to the machinery area. By this time, my camera batteries had run out, unfortunately I forgot to check whether they were fully charged before, uh! Had to use my phone camera.

It was a little later after 4pm, the sky was getting darker and darker and finally it rained. Heavily, just like the other days in this season. It was uncomfortable to walk around anymore. I initially wanted to visit the state pavilions but the weather wasn't permissible and scraped my mood. So, after waiting the rain to stop (and waiting for a long time for the tram to my parking area but they didn't appear!) I walked to my car with a pair of tired feet but feeling happy and contented. I've got what I wanted, though I couldn't see all things, I felt that it was enough...and mission accomplished. Going back, easier than coming, but still a long way, plus the evening traffic, nothing was more relieving than finally arriving home and resting my body. What a day...and it was a really nice event to go, and perhaps go there again next year. The end.