Autumn is here already. Yesterday was yuen xiu - 15th day of Chinese New Year and time to eat tang yuen. I made some black sesame tang yuen and enjoyed it with instant ginger drink (in lieu of ginger sugar water). Two weekends ago, we went to the city to watch the lion dance parade. The weather was fu fu ma ma (so so in Mandarin) so we decided to go early in the morning in case it rained later in the day. We made the right decision to go early in the morning because it did rain in the afternoon around 2pm when we left. Also, the city and the parade was less crowded in the morning. We caught the early lions at around 10am and had prime positions to see the lion dance and Dai Loong as it appeared from the Chinese Museum around to Lonsdale Street.
There were about 10 lions all in different colours in the opening ceremony in the morning. There was also a newer dragon, doing the customary twirl trying to catch the ball of sun. The firecrackers went on forever, and was very smoky but it was much more enjoyable knowing it is once a year kind of event. I wish I brought some ear plugs along but without the cacophony of clanging cymbals, beating drums, and popping fireworks, it would not be Chinese New Year!
After the official lion dance opening ceremony, each troupe went their own ways to perform for the individual businesses that had paid them for lion dances. Two troupes with their dancers met in the middle of the street and the dancers stuck out their hand from the lion hand to shake hands. Such camaraderie!
There were also a centre stage on Russell Street where dances and performances were on but we did not stick around to watch because there were a lack of seats. There seem to be fewer stalls these year, but of higher quality and fewer food stalls. Tesla, Uniqlo, Hot Wheels were among the few I remembered. Gaz won a cooler bag from Uniqlo. We were there early, yet he had to queue up for about 20 mins for his turn to pick a gift.
For lunch, I found a place that does not charge Sunday surcharge so we went there for lunch. More to come in the next post!
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