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Borneo kite festival attracts participants from 20 nations
Posted on : 01 Oct 2016  Source of News: The Borneo Post
 


BINTULU: The 12th Borneo International Kite Festival this year attracted participants from 20 countries with over 170 participants from around the world gathering at the old Bintulu Airport site to fly kites since Sept 28.

The participating countries are China, England, Japan, Vietnam, Italy, Sweden, Australia, Turkey, India, France, Kuwait, Taiwan, Singapore, Belgium, Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, New Zealand, Brunei and Colombia.

The festival is also participated by kite flyers from from Johor, Sarawak, Pulau Pinang, Terengganu, Putrajaya, Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Perlis and Kedah.

Participating teams include Team Impian (Malacca), Kelab Pelayang Pasir Gudang (Johor), Windancer Kuala Lumpur, Layang King KL, De Junction Kite (Malacca) and Fly N Smile (Kuala Lumpur).

Several kite flyers interviewed at the site yesterday said they were satisfied with this year’s festival.

Roger Tessa-Gambassi, a kite maker from France, said he organised kite festivals in France.

“I come here because this is one of the best kite flying festivals in the world, and I have been joining many festivals in the world,” he said.

He commented thatthe wind here is good and the food awesome even if the weather was a bit hot for him. He enjoys his third time in Bintulu.

“This festival is just like other festivals as it gathered kite flyers from across the globe. I love everything here, the people and the food, that is why I come here every year.

“It was good to meet other kite flyers from around the world and foster closer relationship with locals,” he said. He was accompanied by four friends.

According to him, Bintulu looked so different this year with new big commercial buildings and he congratulated the local authority for its efforts to improve the city, bringing development to attract more people here.

Ferhan Bozbey who was accompanied by her husband Emin Bozbey from Istanbul, Turkey said they had been to many kite-flying festivals together, with Bintulu a place they didn’t want to miss.

The couple have been participating in similar festivals in France, Italy, Lebanon, India and Turkmenistan besides local events in Turkey.

“We have been in this kite-flying event for more than 15 years with my husband, a tailor, making his own kites. We go to festivals together to enjoy flying kites,” said Ferhan who is not new to Bintulu as they have participated in the festival here three times before.

She said the people here are nice and Bintulu has a big area for kite flying, unlike Istanbul.

“We enjoy staying in Bintulu though the food here is too sweet for me – chicken or beef go with a sweety sauce. In Turkey our meat is salty rather than sweet,” she commented.

Roland Lau from Kuching Kite Flyers said the festival was a good place to interact and make friends with a common passion for kite-flying.

“This is my third time here although I am still new to this kite flying event – just learning it for the past three years but we enjoy it,” said Lau.

One of the traders, Razali Mohd Alias from Johor Bahru hoped more visitors would come to the festival site today (Oct 1) and Sunday.

“As of today, the response remains slow, maybe working days, but I don’t worry too much as this festival has not disappointed me for the past 10 years.

“This is the best venue with the people and the buying power, and I believe in the end all entrepreneurs will be happy,” he said.

The spectacular kite-flying festival is being held at the old Bintulu Airport site from Sept 28 to Oct 2.

Various activities planned include the 3rd Asia Pacific Sport Kite Championship, modern and traditional kite-flying performances, kite-flying performances by international kite flyers, kite-making workshop, stunt kite performances, synchronised revolution kite performance, a cooking contest, drawing and colouring contest for children, karaoke, cultural performances and more.

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