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"Fly a kite"
I was brought up in the small kampong. I always squatting aside to see my cousins and friends tied up some thin bamboo twigs with some strings to make the frame of the kite. This is where I started making my own kite but under my dad supervision at first. I once cut my finger while trimming the bamboo twigs. There are bamboos twigs as a spine and a spar are tied on crossways on the spine. Then a piece of thin paper sheet is pasted to the frame. There was a string bridle tie...d to the spine and spar that help to control the kite in the sky. Another flying line was attached to the bridle string for holding the kites from the ground. And the flying line was winded in a reel to keep the kites from getting tangled. The kite was designed with a beautiful tail and it looks marvellous in the air.

I used to make simple diamond shape of kites. But the designs of the kites could be varies following the images of flying birds and some other object. Bright and windy day is the best time to fly kite and you would all jump with glee. For some kids, it was not only the trill of flying it, it was more of a competition, a challenge to fly their own kite in the sky. The string of the fighter kites is coated with powdered glass and rice glue for the purpose to snag each other kite in the sky. Kids would shout and chase to the direction of the loose kites which flown down from the sky after cutting down by others. In my case I was a kite flyer but not a fighter.
This evening, when I arrived home I was surprised to see the loose kite at the front gate of my house. I managed to fly the kite again after more than 30 years. It makes me feel like a kid again!!