Chengdu Lantern Festival

The 44th Chengdu Panda Lantern Festival opened  at the Tazishan Park in Chengdu. More than a hundred large sets of lantern scenes were displayed in the park during the fair.  We visited this park and enjoyed all the beautiful scenes and lanterns throughout the park.

There are many different beliefs about the origin of the Lantern Festival. One likely origin is the celebration of "the declining darkness of winter" and the ability to "move about at night with human-made light," lanterns.

In the early days, young people were chaperoned in the streets in hopes of finding love. The brightest lanterns were symbolic of good luck and hope. As time has passed, the festival no longer has such implications in most of China, but it is still a very popular festival attended by many people.

We enjoyed our time in the park enjoying the bright lanterns and the many bright colorful displays. 

 

The Festival Before Dark

 the entrance

 The theme was pandas. Chengdu is home to the panda refuge.

 A big pagoda

 An artist designing beautiful treats to eat

 

the scenes were animated with dancing and movement.

 

The Park at Night

 

Chinese Children

Yip!  This father is holding his son over the garbage can to pee! ONLY IN CHINA

 Dancers near the bus stop

A crowded bus ride home!

 



Guangzhou, China

We spent a day in Guangzhou, China before joining the group traveling to Cambodia and Vietnam.  Our friends, the Justus', were with us.  While there, we explored the city seeing the Pacific Asian games area, explored the old town parks where dragons were performing for the Chinese New Year, ate lunch at a park, and took a river cruise at night. We enjoyed our short time in Guangzhou

 

 Interesting statues along the Pacific Games Area

 I always knew there was something getting in the way of my golf swing

 skateboarding

 Modern buildings

 We rested on the 'people mover' which is just like an airport transport train

 Lots of interesting fruit outside the parks

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Fresh orange juice

 The Pacific Asian game area

 Check out the balloon backpack

 Guangzhou is a modern city with unique architecture

 more fat lady statues

 Another picture on the 'people mover'

 Guangzhou at night

 more of the silly lady statues - they were all over the park

 

 more of the Pacific Asian Park

 The underside of a boat used in the performance

 The side view of the boat and modern buildings in Guangzhou

The symbol of the city, the five rams

 strolling through another park enjoying the Chinese New Year decorations

 A river near the park

 We ate our sandwiches in the park next to this Chinese family.  I think they were intrigued by us because they wanted me to hold their cute baby. 

 a double wide pagoda

 The park was crowded because the people were still celebrating Chinese New Year.  It's a huge holiday here and lasts 14 days.

 Bill helped this elderly lady down the stairs and she insisted on having her picture taken with us.  American foreigners are superstars here.

 Two dragons are fighting with many spectators watching

 

 Cute children in the park with their family

 dried fish for sale anyone?

 not sure what these are but many people were buying them

  I think these are mushrooms of some sort

 Sugarcane-the Chinese are very creative in transporting their goods

 The outskirts of Guangzhou were like many other Chinese villages, very poor

 boats were decked with flowers for the Chinese New Year

 We enjoy taking boat cruises in the evening.  It's an easy way to rest the feet and enjoy the sites.

 resting on board the ship

beautiful buildings at night

 The Chinese are family centered

This girl made friends with us on the subway



 Notice the slit in the pants.  That's how the children are potty trained in China and by holding the pants they can easily move the child along.

 

Good-bye Guangzhou!