Mid-autumn

The lotus dragon

A week ago there was the biggest festival weekend of the year in Hong Kong: the Mid-autumn festival. We had 2 days off from school, and when combining that to my free Friday + the weekend, we had a total of 5 free days from school. And then my free Wednesday and a cancelled Thursday class... Yes, I have a lot of free-time here. The last time I had school was on Tuesday two weeks ago.

On Sunday my buddy Nancy took us to Victoria Park to see traditional lanterns and to feel the festival atmosphere. I still quite didn't get what the mid-autumn fest is about. At least it's a family thing, almost all the locals had family dinners and spent some quality time with relatives, and afterwards went to see friends somewhere outdoors. The festival is during the full moon, and the round shape of the moon resembles unity and getting together, since the whole festival is kind of a Getting Together Festival. One tradition is to eat moon cake. Nancy bought us a traditional one and we had a piece, it tasted a bit like nuts or almonds, and a lot like fat. Inside there was something that looked like the yellow part of an egg. During the mid-autumn festival people eat a lot of moon cakes and also give them as presents for other people, and there's many varieties, also an ice cream version of it. It's a good thing they only have it once a year, since the taste is just so heavy that it's impossible to eat a big piece, but of course it was worth a try. And as always, the locals love it, probably all cultures have their own "treats" that foreigners don't fancy that much.

Queen Victoria statue in Victoria Park

Times Square of HK

The luxurious shopping mall @ Times Square

The moon cake and Nancy :)

So there we were in Victoria Park. First we arrived too early, since lanterns are the main point of going to the park, and in the daylight they don't look much like anything. We had some coffee with Nancy and walked to the Times Square of Hong Kong, and when it got dark we went back to Victoria Park to meet up with Nancy's friends Edith and Sofia, and to have a look at the lanterns. The park was crowded with locals and tourists, and everyone was taking pictures of everything. It was crazy, so many cameras and iPhones in the air. There were many families with their little kids, like here always is. It's very normal to walk in the city around 11PM and see kids running around in the parks. Hong Kong is definitely a night-time city.

You could walk inside a giant light ball!

Kathi wishing something in German

People with their cameras

Edith doing the "typical Hong Kong girl" pose

We walked in to the festival area with the lanterns but a security guy started shouting "NO FIRE!!!"

Traditional Chinese dance

Eating Shanghai style food with Sofia, Edith & Nancy

One thing we paid attention to was how the atmosphere was so nice, and nobody was drinking alcohol. Sandra pointed a corner of the park and said "If this festival was in Sweden, there would be a beer tent right there." And if you have ever been in the Helsinki city center during any festival time, you've seen drunk teenagers and people having sparkling wine for their picnics and people drinking beer on the terraces. But here the locals don't really drink and alcohol is never considered as an essential part of a party! Quite a refreshing point of view to be honest after living in Finland and Austria :'D

On Monday we went to see the fireworks at Victoria Harbour, and now the reason for the party was the national day of China (= no school). The fireworks lasted for over 20 minutes and I bet they cost a fortune. The Hung Hom promenade was packed, and I was very happy this time about being so tall, since I could see the fireworks over other people's heads. The fireworks were for sure the most impressive fireworks I've ever seen. Another thing I don't quite understand is that in Hong Kong the locals don't really celebrate the national day of China, so why such big fireworks?