Kung hei fat choi.......

....Best wishes and congratulations, is what the title means. It's the Chinese Year of the Dragon and a Lantern Festival was held in Garden Place in Hamilton city centre yesterday evening.

In the UK when I had my pre-school we took the children to a Chinese warehouse during the New Year celebrations, it was just around the corner, so only a short walk away. The children got to experience a little of Chinese culture, especially if they came back to see the Lion dancing. Back in pre-school we would taste Chinese foods at snack times and had decorations everywhere. It was always a great week.

So when Sue and I went to see the Lantern festival in Hamilton, we thought that maybe we would get to see something really special, particularly as it's the Year of the Dragon. Sadly we were a little disappointed, by the time dusk fell and the time for lighting the lanterns (marks the end of the New Year celebrations)  a lot of people had left and as it was still wasn't really dark enough the effect was lost. A shame really. But never mind there was other entertainment and food available. The least I say about the Chinese lady's singing the better....strangled cat comes to mind! ;-D 

A meal of fish and chips at the pub with a couple of ciders made up for it and Sue played on the pokey machines in Skycity's Casino. Not so much a Suesday but a Suesnight this time.

A few photos for you

Fan'nying around!

One of the colourful mosaics outside the entrance to the library

 Oh! And I found him!!.....I found Nemo!!!

 

And last but not least....this!!!

At a cost of $110,000 of taxpayers money this piece of 'art!' is symbolic of "the stars of the Matariki (Pleiades) star system or dangling fruit."

Symbollocks more like! I'm sure my Mousetrap game has a part in it that looks like that!