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Published: October 10th 2012
Peter
Mid-Autumn festival - meant to be for kids, but as excited foreigners we are probably just as giddy to see people dressed as dragons in the street, music everyone, and a chance to eat cake.
For the days running up to the festival it is common for people to exchange gifts of different traditional Autumn cakes (known as moon cakes - which sounds quite intriguing). I got to try two different types of moon cake, given to me by different members of staff. The first was quite nice, it was a spnge cake with a soft, sweet gellotine icing over it. The second cae however was not pleasant. No sooner had I taen a bite than it was straight out of my mouth and into the bin. I felt like a child spitting out food but I couldn't help it. The cake was filled with so many different fruits and vegetable that I had never seen before, and combined the taste wasn't the best AND the texture ... eugh.
Throughout the weekend we could hear random bursts of music and drums in the distance as different groups practised for the festival or were celebrating with a small procession through the street.
As I was lying in my room I heard music nearby, it was a night being held in my street for the festival with different acts singing or acting. I walked over and was greeted by smiles from all and a free beer. I made myself comfortable and watched the different singers, and I tried to work out the different jokes in the acting skit (easier said than done). It was a good night and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. There were people of all ages talking with each other and the atmosphere was fantastic.
On the day of the actual festival Fergal arrived in Hai Phong. What a great first day in Vietnam. In the evening we headed into town to see the main attractions. The crowd was immense, we had to weave our way through the sea of people and motorbikes to see the dancing dragons and the fire breathers. It was an amazing experience as Ireland does not really have any occasions such as this. The dragons were funny, and entertained the children, whilst the fire breathers shocked the adults with their skill.
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Mary Alexander
non-member comment
Great blog entry
That says it all really. I liked the videos, EXCEPT THAT I was listening through headphones and that irritating personage on the whistle (wasn't you, was it Pete?) nearly perforated my eardrums. Looks like great fun you are having there, boys and girl. Unlike me - I had around 4 hours sleep last night and even less the night before. All for the purpose of earning a crust. ACtually I could buy a new car if I can persuade someone to give me a loan. There's a really nice one at Tobin's round the corner. My own car is now a terminally ill death trap, it's official. It takes about 10 attempts to start from cold, but it's allright after that. It's apparently due to fault with the fuel ignition or the throttle, and it's too expensive to be worth fixing. On Sunday the driver's door decided not to be openable from the inside, so I have to climb into the passenger seat to get out. Someone pointed out that that is not very safe. Pity it's not the summer - I could have taken a tin opener to the roof. Continue enjoying yourselves