Celebrating Independence Day at Dataran Merdeka

This year was the first time in my life joining the crowd in the Merdeka celebration at Dataran Merdeka.

I had never ever thought of going until Isabel came home from school two weeks ago and told me that there was going to be a parade on Merdeka Day. She asked me if we could watch it. "Of course we could. We could watch it on TV in the comfort of our own house," I told her.


She gave me one of her annoyed looks and said, "Don't you love your country? Why don't you want to go and celebrate our country's Merdeka Day?"

"But it will be so crowded and hot," I complained.

"So?" was her reply, giving me another annoyed look.

So, I told her fine. Knowing that there will be several road closures in KL for the parade, I told Daddy that we should take the LRT there.

On the morning of Merdeka Day, I woke up at 6.30am, hoping to get us all to Dataran Merdeka latest by 8.00am. With everyone enjoying their sleep so much that morning, we only managed to get out of the house at 9.00am.

We drove to the LRT station in SS15 and parked our car there. The LRT ride itself was enough to get the kids excited. Both of them had taken a ride in the LRT several years ago but they had all forgotten about it.

When we got off the LRT at the Masjid Jamek station, we immediately heard horns blaring and sounds of a large crowd. There were so many people!

Isabel had to stop to buy her favourite cup of corn on the way to Dataran Merdeka.

There were so many people that it was impossible for us to get to the seats. Even getting to the front to see the parade was impossible. All we could see were the helicopters and planes flying above.

More snacks

Feeling not satisfied, Isabel insisted on sitting on Daddy shoulders and forcing him make his way to the front so that she could watch the parade.

Thank God the sky was clear

Can you spot Isabel from her back?

That's all I got to see....

That's all for us since it's impossible to see the parade without getting squashed by the sea of people.

I have no idea why she needs a horn

Mummy and Daddy wearing mitchy-matchy t-shirts

We wanted to take the LRT back to SS15 but all the ticket lines were extremely long so we just got ourselves a GrabCar. It must has been quiet tiring for Isabel as she fell asleep in the car. When we reached back to SS15, she decided she wanted something to eat and got herself a cute teapot-shaped macaroon.

Will we ever go to another Merdeka Celebration at Dataran Merdeka? Maybe, but next time, we will definitely try to reach there at 7am instead. After all, we love our country and would like to celebrate our Independence Day.