Chinese Parade

15 March 2014

Today might be the Ides of March in some parts of the world.  And it may be Purim in other places.

But it's the end of the Chinese New Year in Malaysia.  (Probably in other parts of SE Asia as well, but we're here in Malaysia.)

So there was a parade this evening!

Of course, we knew nothing about the parade until we heard drums and cymbals and gongs out on the street - we were grabbing a light supper at the food stands of the bus station (great steamed chicken buns, or pao, at the stands!) - and so we rushed out to the street, food in hand.

We don't know what we missed, we came out in time for the dragon made of balloons!  Balloons!!!  (What happens when the dragon breathes fire?)

There were people marching after each vehicle, carrying various flags and banners, some people in costume and some in regular clothes.

And some trucks with drummers and cymbals and gongs, but they were spaced out so they could be heard before they were seen and the bands didn't clash with each other.

Then there floats decked out in neon lights bent into all kinds of designs - pagodas, phoenixes, on and on they come, glowing in the night.

 

 Then there were the furry, well, maybe foo dogs?  Lions?  Camels??  We weren't sure exactly what they were, but they were very cool, and more traditional than the balloon dragon.

That's one of the problems with not being able to speak or read the language of the country we're visiting, we don't have news of what's going on.  We don't always know what's going on.

But we stumble into exciting things like a night parade.

It's much more interesting that way!