Okay, I know I am sometimes lukewarm on China, but nothing makes the heart grow fonder than absence, and I have been gone for a month. Plus, the return to China took so long that I had plenty of time to ponder and change my attitude towards being back, towards the locals and towards China several times. Right now I’m happy. China is still not home, but I accept it more each day.
One of the things that I missed while I was away was Lantern Festival, which is celebrated two weeks after Chinese New Year. This year it was February 9th. I like Lantern Festival because it is a cacophony of light and noise. Imagine fireworks being set off left and right, kids parading around with lanterns and a general sense of fun in the street.
Because I procrastinated posting these last year, here are some photos of Lantern Festival 2008 in Linyi.
Entrance to People’s Park, Ground zero for Linyi’s festivities
We started off the evening with a stroll around People’s Park. I remember that it was fairly cold and that we ate a ton of barbecue kebabs. Then the DH created quite the stir by purchasing a paper lantern from a vendor and attempting to light it.
DH draws a crowd – always the spectacle!
Finally lit, it floats up, up and away
Later, the DH and I met up with some friends at the Water’s Edge and they decided it would be a good idea to blow things up on the sidewalk…
DH and friend Da Hua trying to figure out how not to blow their faces off!
Boom! There were booms everywhere that night!
A few seemed likely to maim us, but we survived!
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