Yesterday there were several events taking place in Penang, which caused traffic everywhere to be jammed up. There was a singing competition (something to do with Astro) at PISA and the YE (Young/youth Enterprise) were having their sale on in Queensbay. What I was more interested in was Bon Odori at Esplanade, because although I have lived here for 20 years, I have never been to this celebration before.
The Bon Odori festival is celebrated by the Japanese to honour their departed ancestors. See this Wikipedia article for more info. Of course here in Penang, it's more about the food, dances and fireworks. I've never been a fan of Japanese food (no, not even Sushi), so all foodstuff I purchased at the festival tasted weird to me. They tasted unique, of course. Maybe others love the taste. I don't know.
People mountain people sea. Extremely crowded.
Besides loads of food, there were numerous souvenirs on sale and there was a booth selling large balloons. The balloons were naturally a hit with the kids. A hit in the sense that they threw the balloons around and hit others' heads with them. While watching the dances on stage I swear I was hit by flying balloons at least half a dozen times. But those were just kids having fun, so no big deal.
The most popular activity during the event was probably the goldfish catching game, but the booth was so crowded I couldn't even get close to take a photo. By the time I managed to get to the front of the booth, there were only a handful of goldfish left, so I stashed my handphone back in my pocket.
I found Eastin Hotel's booth nice. I think it went on to win the best decorated booth prize.
The stage was in the middle of the field. I sat on the grass, enjoying the performances while eating.
The best part of the evening was the fireworks. I haven't seen pretty lights in the night sky for a very long time. The sky was very clear that day (thanks to my new spectacles), so I had a good time watching the fireworks. I tried to capture some of the explosions with my handphone. I'm not a very good photographer, but here they are anyway.
BOOM!
BANG!
POW!
squeak... :P
I left shortly after the fireworks (it was a little after 10pm), but only arrived at home after 12am. Traffic was THAT congested. It was a great night though, so no complains.
That was my last outing before the new semester starts. Come Monday, I'll be back in college for the second semester of my degree. It has been a very, very, very busy semester break. I didn't even have time to finish cleaning up my room. Guess some of the dust will be staying around for awhile.
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