Ray was in Taipei again this year during the lantern festival. The festival goes on for 10 days, but the actual date of the celebration is 15 days after the lunar (Chinese) new year. This year it was on March 5th, but Ray went to the festival grounds on Saturday the 7th. This is the year of the goat in Taiwan (while China calls it the year of the ram), so many of the displays included goats in them.
The festival is at the original site of the flower expo held in Taipei in 2010. It is a good use of the area and allows for larger crowds than when it was at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall and Civic Plaza.
The displays are filled with lights and are much more beautiful at night. That is also when the crowds swell. Ray went in late afternoon, so he got to see the displays up close before it got so crowded, but stayed to see them lit up after dark.
The displays are built by all sorts of groups, from school groups to civic organizations to groups of professionals. School groups were as young as middle school
The expo park is right below the flight path to the downtown airport, so there were a lot of up close views of various planes on their approach. When they went over, everyone looked up and many took photos, including Ray! The planes ranged in size from small twin engine turbo props to the very large jets.In an adjacent park, there was maze made out of hedges with 4 different tile mosaics inside the maze. The trails were covered with rocks, there was about 2 feet between the hedges and it was all flat, but somehow it translated to a tortuous path!
No comments:
Post a Comment