tuen ng festival : 端午節

yesterday was the fifth day of the fifth moon.
on this day way back a few thousand years ago a man named qu yuan committed suicide at a local river apparently due to political reasons (!!!)
the legend has it that that when his followers found out what he had done they flocked to the river on their dragon boats and began beating their drums to scare away the fish nibbling on qu. they then threw cooked rice into the water so qu wouldn't go hungry into the after-life. unfortunately the fish ate the rice so the locals decided to wrap the balls of rice in bamboo leaves.

this day of remembrance is known in hong kong as the tuen ng festival (端午節) or the dragon boat festival.
huge dragon boat races are held throughout hong kong at various beaches and rivers with locals and tourists alike sampling handmade rice balls wrapped in bamboo leaves.
i ummed and ahhed (spelling) about heading down to stanley beach where there is a real carnival atmosphere. realized it was not the best idea with a newborn in my arms, let alone the thought that we would be out in the 32 degree heat jostling for a view with the other 100,000 or so "spectators".
instead we chilled out at home drinking coffee and eating pound cake.

hope you don't mind me sharing some photos i took back in 2008.
looking back at these i see my photography skills are a bit shady but at least this will give you some idea of what i'm going on about.