Tuen Ng Festival Fun

No school yesterday...Why you ask? It's Tuen Ng Festival, of course! haha...one great thing about teaching in HK is the limitless holidays we celebrate. We are well celebrated people...that's for sure! :)

In the morning I made my way down to the river near my house to witness my first dragon boat race. "A dragon boat is like a huge war canoe with a dragon's head carved at the bow and a dragon's tail at the stern. Depending on their size, they are manned by 20 and 80 paddlers accompanied by a drammer at mid-canoe who sets the timing of oar strokes with a huge drum." (regit.com) It was pretty fun to watch, and as I did, I became curious of the origin of this festival. Basically to make a long story short, from what I read it's a festival honoring a past minister of state in China, Chu Yuan, who jumped into a river to escape political persecution. The races now symbolize his friends' efforts to save him. There you have it...here are a few pictures:

It was then time to karaoke it up for one of my student's birthday parties. What a fun time that was! :) Karaoke is a popular activity here in Asia. You basically rent a room with 4 microphones and sing your heart out...it's a bit more freeing to sing with people you know rather than in front of a big audience. :)

The whole group at karaoke.

Then it was naptime...which would explain why I'm now wide awake blogging at 3:30 am...whoops! Oh well...it was worth it! After that I joined some friends for some good ol' Indian food and a walk by the harbor. I haven't been down there in awhile and everytime I get down there, I fall in love with HK again...what a beautiful city!

One word-- yum!!! :)

Showing off my Bruce Lee skills