KUANTAN, Oct 18 — Visitors to the Batu Hitam beach, located about 11 kilometres from here, can now boast the experience of “touching” or taking pictures with the “moon” on their social media.
This unique and out of this world close encounter is made possible by a group of Universiti Malaysia Pahang graduates who went to great lengths to install a large and inflatable giant “moon”, measuring six metres in diameter, at a night car boot sale, known as “Malam Carbooth” at the beach.
They are Muhamad Nazirul Aman Rusli Aman, Muhammad Asyraf Mat Nain and Joe Fadzly Johari, all 25, who are the operators of the “Malam Carboot”.
Asked on how the idea of having a “giant moon” at the beach came about, Muhamad Nazirul said they were inspired by the beautiful image of moonlight over water.
He said he and his friends went searching for the artificial moon and it was only last August that they finally managed to find the inflatable decoration and ordered it online.
The light that emanates from the inflatable moon makes it looks real, and it attracts the attention of visitors to the Malam Carboot site, especially Instagrammers who can never resist the opportunity to have Instagram-worthy shots on their social media.
The mechatronic engineering graduate said they had spent thousands of ringgit to have the custom-made inflatable moon by a manufacturer in China as an attraction to get the public to the car boot sale site, where there are now some 50 traders operating their business to generate income during the recovery movement control order.
He said they took loan under Tekun Nasional for capital to operate the car boot sale site, which they had decorated with colourful lights to make it more attractive.
“Alhamdulillah, the response is encouraging. Those who come will not miss the opportunity to take pictures with the ‘moon’. It is a relief to see that our hard work has paid off,” he said when met by Bernama.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Asyraf said installing the inflatable moon replica on the beach was a challenge.
“It depends on the wind. If it is windy, it will take some time, but on a fine day, we can get it installed in 30 minutes,” he said, adding that the car boot sale is open from 4pm to 10pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
He said they planned to set up a Food Bank programme at the location to help the less fortunate.
“This way, traders at the car boot sale and visitors can donate food to help those in need,” he said and thanked the Kuantan Municipal Council for giving them the opportunity to open the car boot sale at the site.
A visitor, Mohd Hanis Mohamad, 30, from Segamat, Johor, said the moon replica provides an attractive decoration that gives a romantic atmosphere at the site.
“It is interesting and different, the light from the moon creates a cheerful atmosphere. My children were surprised when they first saw it,” he added. — Bernama
