Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Chinese New Year

This last week it has been Chinese new year. We headed down town via a stand selling fat, wriggly, live bugs of some variety or another to be eaten with chop sticks. We gave it a miss.

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Chinatown was full of helium balloons… the usual combination of Angry Birds, Gangnam Style and Minions, Hello Kitty and a few Chinese dragons thrown in for good measure.

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It was dark soon enough. We really miss the long days you get in England (obviously not at this time of year). It is lighter longer in summer here, but I think it is always dark by 6.30pm.

Oranges, apples, and pomellos under naked bulbs.

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Then it was time for the dragons! It was a bit like the Olympics with all the teams parading round, with their team flags and girl/ child holding team name sign. Dragons seems to be a mail dominated activity, but women do seem to be allowed to wander around in shiny Chinese dresses as glamorous team mascots. The serious business of dragoning is left to men. Of course.

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First of all there was a long thin pink and yellow dragon.

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Followed by the main act. Hard to describe. Like a panto horse (but better)… the two man dragons leapt from yellow pole to yellow pole with incredible acrobatic skills, whilst at the same time manipulating the dragon’s faces into fun expressions. It was amazing to watch!

We only saw a couple of dragons, but the competition was going on for 4 nights!

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