Dragon hunting

After a nice dinner with a friend we wandered up to Chinatown. There is apparently a really long lantern that is shaped like a dragon and we went hunting for it. We never did find the dragon lantern but did come across some great festival activities.

It was sort of like a parade but there was a narrator and a couple of areas where the performers would stop and dance or sing. It appeared that they were telling a story but since it was mostly in Chinese it was hard to follow.

There were five of these guys. They were so heavy and large that it took two guys to carry them, however, only one guy would wear this on his shoulders and dance around in it. They were called the Five Warriors.

These next few photos are of these giant puppets. In one of the photos you can see the guy wearing the puppet. What was fun about these is that the crowd was actually shaking the hands of the puppets. The last photo shows you just how large these were in relation to the crowd.



There were also a bunch of dragon dancers. They move so much to animate the dragons that it is hard to take still photos of them. So, here's a video of one of the really pretty ones. I'm not sure if you can tell but the body of the dragon is made out of butterflies.



After watching some of the performances we wandered through the night market. One of the items that is popular during this festival is the lantern. They sell these really interesting and colorful lanterns that children carry around. They are lit internally either by candles or by battery operated lights. It is fun to see the kids with them.

These next few photos are from wandering through the night market in Chinatown.