Happy New Year of The Dragon!

---

Hi All,
Just before the New Year celebrations Lily and I had a trip to Zigong for the Lantern Festival. It's two hours by coach from Leshan to Zigong. Hotels are limited, like much of Sichuan many will not accept foreign visitors, so we stayed in the A-Tour hotel which is right next to the coach terminal. This is our 3rd time to visit the festival, our last time was in 2019 just as the COVID-19 outbreak was happening in Wuhan. The information in English which is online about the festival is not up-to-date. It used to be held in a park in the centre of the old part of the city but this is no longer the case. It is now situated in a new park quite a way out of the city. However, it is really easy to get to with tourist buses from all over the city taking visitors to the park and the buses run until midnight.
The festival itself is always busy but it's well worth it as the lanterns are breathtakingly beautiful. There was also a drone light show with robotic pheonix and a performance of dancing and traditional arts which gave us a chance to have a sit down for a while. The park is huge and it took us 4 hours to completely see everything.
I absolutely love this festival and cannot wait for next year when we can go again.

Enjoy the photos

JAH BLESS

---