Baby, you're a firework

Yesterday we joined the Joburg Photowalkers for a date in Old Chinatown because of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Last year we went to the Nan Hua temple in Bronkhorstspruit where the festivities were on a much larger scale.

Last year, it was so much fun. This year, I don't really know. It was loud, messy, disorganized and more for 6-year-old boys than for adults who value their eardrums. The festival was held in one corner of Commissioner street, but in comparison to the vast amount of activities and stalls at the temple this was rather disappointing. If one wanted food, one either would have had to book a table at one of the restaurants beforehand, or one had to queue behind 200 other people. When our hunger did finally overcome our desire not to stand in that queue, there was almost no food left, which meant we paid R30 for rice with a splash of that fake reddish sauce and a ball of chicken hiding in a corner of the Styrofoam container.

The event's flyer announced that there would be a large fireworks display at 21.00, but for the three hours before that random children and old men kept lighting crackers and other bang-sounding things. Initially it was fun, but after the 20th cracker explodes on your leg or next to your ear you really want to make a piñata out of whoever threw that thing and beat the living shit out of them. Then people had the brilliant idea of lighting their floating lanterns, which just ended up crashing into the crowd. And people don't like balls of fire floating towards them.

Although the final fireworks were an hour late, they were spectacular. The sky lit up the way the eyes of a 15-year-old girl  would when she gets asked out by her crush. Only it was 50000 better. Somehow the Chinese also really really really really really really really like Gangnam Style, so after numerous attempts throughout the evening to get the crowd to participate by dancing to the song, the organizers also orchestrated the fireworks to match Psy's hit.

I think it is worth going once, but would rather recommend whatever Nan Hua plans for that year. This was overcrowded and baldy organized no matter how brilliantly the night was lit up.

Sex tea, anyone?

Happy New Year

Yesterday a few of us headed to the Nahua Temple in Bronkhorstspruit to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
On the website it stated that no shorts, skirts or tank tops were allowed, so we had to readjust our outfits slightly, but upon arriving there many people were dressed in shorts and skirts and tank tops, and even less. There were quite a number of bikers and biker-chicks who had more ink than clothes. We also saw a bodybuilder whose ski-pants barely covered his butt. I wonder if the monks and believers where offended by so much skin being shown, or if they ignored it and rather welcomed the large amount of South Africans who came to the celebrations and who came to get a glimpse into the culture.

The amount of DSLRs on site was shocking. I have noticed more and more young people carrying around big cameras, which is great, but maybe the digital age has also made us focus more on capturing a good photograph than on actually looking at the reality and simply experiencing the moment. I also like taking photos and with large cameras the images always look a lot better. But photographers can be so intrusive and disrespectful that I feel that hobby photographers need to also look around them and not simply through their viewfinders. For instance, yesterday people kept moving in front of others and blocking non-photographers' view simply to capture the 1000 photo of the dragon in the opening ceremony. Also, there were often little signs to indicate that no cameras were allowed in the temple, but people just kept snapping away. It is as though the religiousness of the site is not respected simply because it is not one's own system of belief. But the same thing kept happening in the Sacre Coeur in Paris, where tourists take photographs of the interior and ignore the priests and Christians sitting there in prayer.

People should take photos of whatever they feel like, as long as it is not illegal and as long as they respect it if photography is forbidden in certain sites.

Here are some images of the day to end on a less criticising note :)