Cheung Chau Bun Festival

Good day, all!

So, I had the sudden urge to pick up guitar again, but I couldn't find my bloody pick, so as I vented to my friend, Kent Tachibana, a model/singer in Japan, he gave me the idea of using an old credit card as a pick. Thanks for the idea, Kent! The birth of my new pick:

Neattttt, I liikkeeeeee

I decided to check out the Cheung Chau Bun Festival this year. Even though I was really tired and the festival is held at such a late time, I still wanted to go because I have a fear of one day returning to the US and people ask "How was Hong Kong?" and I won't have a good answer because I never did anything. That's why I always try and get out there and do things, plus. you never know when you will get inspired!

On to my adventure to Cheung Chau (Long Island), Hong Kong for the Annual Bun Festival. What is the Cheung Chau Bun Festival, you may ask? Well, it's a good thing I've wikipediaed that shit to share with you:

Cheung Chau is an island off of Hong Kong, it is a fisherman's village. This festival is the biggest attraction of the village aside from its fresh seafood, and many store owners prepare steamed buns and snacks all day before the festival starts to make enough for all the people who come out.

The Bun Festival is held every year on the 8th day of the 4th month on the lunar calendar. This also happens to be the birthday of Buddha. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDHA!

Anyways, so this was a special day for Cheung Chau in history as well, because in the 18th century, pirates had control over the village, but once the villagers whipped out statues of Pak Tai, the Northern God, the pirates, for some reason or another, pussied out and left.

So Cheung Chau villagers believe that wearing costumes of gods or holding statues/figurines of gods around will drive the evil spirits away from the village.

It takes about an hour by ferry to travel to Cheung Chau, outport from Pier 6 in Central.

This is just a random picture of a man who fell asleep on the ferry

Now that you've been entertained with that, these are my friends who traveled to this festival with me. Natalie, Stephanie, and Cavi. We left Central at 10PM. The festival actually has a lot of festivities during the day, but we were all busy that day, and just wanted to make it on time for the bun tower climb, that starts at midnight.

Even at 11PM, Cheung Chau is filled with people. Everyone started gathering towards the stadium where the bun tower climb was going to take place. Also around this time, there is a fire built where they burn paper effigies of the King of the Ghosts and burn large incense to bring in luck and protection from evil spirits. We could see the fire in the distance. At that time, we were naive in thinking a fire at started. But now. I know.

Natalie and I sharing a bun. Inside each bun is sweet lotus paste. Quite tasty! When I first go to Hong Kong, desserts like this were not very appetizing to me, because in the US we are so used to VERY sweet things, but now I love Chinese desserts. I guess my taste buds have adapted..

A lot of street vendors sell Steamed bun souvenirs including stuffed animal buns, buns that open up and reveal a little fan that doesn't really work, and LED light up buns.

The buns are stamped with a merged character of the two words standing in celebration for "Northern Society" 北社

Food Vendor. They seemed so burnt out and tired by the time we go to the festival. They've been working hard for the past two days to feed the hungry people. Notice the stick with the circular disc on the right....

that represents the deep-fried potato chips on a stick!! I don't understand what was so special about this snack, but it was good regardless of how non special it was. Food is food, food is in tummy 3 seconds after photo :)

People crowd around to watch the chosen competitors climb the bun tower. A LOT of people were there so we were lucky to find an alley way where we get a decent view of the tower

The competitors were fierce! Buns at the top are higher in points than the bottom, so the competitors usually race to the top. There were both female and male competitors, and almost everyone had full bags by the end of the race. It is said that the more buns you collect, the more luck you and your family will have in the upcoming year. In the past, the bun tower climbers used to climb without safety harnesses until 1978, the bun tower toppled over, injuring a 100 people. This caused the gov't to be a party pooper and stopping the climb contest until 2005, when safety harnesses were introduced and the competition continued.

They moved so fast, I couldn't get a non-blurry pic

Another cool thing about Cheung Chau during the festival is that people on the island are not allowed to eat meat (since it is a Taoist/Buddhist holiday) for the last few days of the festival. McDonald's, being the clever corporate tyrant it is, also follows the festival and makes a special McVeggie burger to serve during the vegetarian holiday. Sadly, this was one of the reasons why I wanted to come to the Bun Festival... and sadly, the burger was very gross...

Look at beady eyes looking at me from the side. She obviously doesn't get why McVeggie burgers are so cool...

NOM NOM NOM

Thank god we decided to share one, cuz that shit was nasty

I see corn, peas, and unidentifiable substances. That's McDonald's for you!

Should have seen the pic afterwards when they all actually took a bite of the burger haha

Suckling pig! Pigs are often used as a sacrificial food for the gods. We use them to pray to the Buddhist gods, and then eat it afterwards to consume and intake the luck.

Yummmy food being served at Street Vendors. There was desserts, White Turnip cakes, and other fatty goodness

Random LED Fish

Fresh Seafood! I couldn't take a picture of the boats because it was so dark, but the island is surrounded by fishing boats

The ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars are all super-tiny and miniature so that they can maneuver around the small streets of the village. Almost makes me want to commit a crime just so I can see the mini-police car chase me and laugh as I get arrested at how ridiculous it looks.

MMmmmMMMm!!!!!

Parade going through, marking the end of the festival

The gross milk tea we bought from the Triad-like drink owner. Natalie's Strawberry drink definitely tasted like cheap vodka....

We decided to take the 2:20AM ferry back to Central so we could explore the village after the big crowds had left. We got to see them taking down the buns. The buns used to be real, but now they are plastic to conserve food and not be wasteful

Three bun mountains face the temples of Pak Tai. At midnight, these three towers also have people snatch buns, but as a teamwork event to signify togetherness rather than the competition on the singular bun mountain.

A shrine where people can buy incense and pray to the gods asking for safety, prosperity, and luck for the year

God of Pak Tai temple. The God of Pak Tai is very important to Cheung Chau because he is believed to offer smooth sailing and good catches for the fisherman of the village

Natalie, prepping incense to pray to the gods.

You put three incense sticks into each bowl for each of the different gods.

On the ceiling are coils of incense being hung up. Each one is purchased by different families who write all the names of their family members and attach it to the coils. The longer the coil, the more luck will be brought to the written names. Standing under these coils was not a good idea cuz ash kept falling on us.

Praying for good luck!

HAPPY BUN FESTIVAL!

In Harbour City, Tsim Sha Tsui, they currently have an art gallery of artists designs for Volkswagens. These are some of my personal favorite

This cow looked sooooo stupid and sasssy that I just had to like it. Look at how high that front leg is! haha

I thought this one was quite cool. All patches sewn on with a random person sewn on as well. Driving around with that would be quite weird.

This one was my favorite. The artists claimed she loved the Catbus in Totoro so she made her design based on it. I really like the style

Kiran is leaving Hong Kong :( I've talked about her in previous posts, but she's going back to DC (my side of the world) to start an internship with Fort Knox Five.

So before her departure, she's always wanted to try this ridiculous restaurant known as Modern Toilet.

It's.....ridiculous....really

Shower heads on the wall

Toilet seat...seats

The tables are held up by sink bowls.

The milk tea comes in toilet shaped cups. Kiran is saying here "this doesn't look very appetizing"

Unfortunately the food also tastes like the theme of the restaurant, but of course it's worth a visit for the experience, but don't expect much from the food. The service was also quite bad, as all the waitresses got so nervous and didn't know how to answer us back in English and even when I spoke Cantonese, they couldn't seem to not look like they were having a heart attack as they answered the simple questions like "Can I have a napkin" and "what flavors of ice cream do you have" (her answer " Green tea....and..............*looks nervous*....um.......*silence as Kiran and I stare at her*....*she walks around the counter and stares in silence longer*

hahaha

Anyways, I saw Iron Man 2 this weekend. Very good movie, although only cuz I think Robert Downey Jr. is at his sarcastically sassy best with great pace in dialogue. But the movie overall had too much talking and not enough action for people who aren't expecting a story-packed movie and more of an action one. Scarlett Jo Hansen did a great job as Black Widow (the fight scene was HOT) but her not having a Russian accent (as the comic character does) was a bit weird in my opinion. Gwenth is still gorgeous and I love the Captain America, Thor, and Avengers hints. Can't wait for the Avengers movie to come out!

Check out Janelle Monae (The ArchAndroid) and Amerie's (In Love & War) new CDs. They are quite good. Janelle is a bit too weird this time around, but her music is still enjoyable although most songs i listen to, I have NO idea what she's singing about. Amerie's songs are quite simple, so I don't see any hits coming along, but still a good CD.

Alright, that's it for now! See ya next blog

LONGEST. BLOG. EVER.

It's been a very busy 2 months. A lot of fun, food, and things occurred that have kept me from blogging about my April/May adventures, but here it is! Hope you don't lose interest....

April 12, 2010

Met up with my friend Kenneth for lunch and we decided to get Korean!!!! I f*cking LOVE Korean food! This place was good priced! About 10USD for some Bulgogi and also a bowl of Bimbimbab. YUM YUM YUM! This place is in Causeway Bay in the same building as California Fitness behind Times Square

BimbimBab!

One thing about Korean food I've noticed is every meal always requires 134135 plates. I feel bad for the people that have to wash dishes in Korean restaurants

Later that night, I met up with Yandy and friends and we went to eat Thai and watch the movie "Amphetamine." The restaurant was ok...and the movie was...interesting to say the least, but it was a touching story, but the ending got really weird. hahaha Not bad for a Hong Kong movie

Pineapple Fried Rice

In IFC Mall, funny name for a Frozen Yogurt place

April 16, 2010

My cousin's gallery on Wyndam Street, Central is called Input/Output where he displays artists (local and international, usu. Hong Kong artist). The gallery is free and anyone is welcome to go in and check it out so if you're ever in Central, just take a look! It's around the corner from Lan Kwai Fong. The current gallery being displayed is called Lu Yang: A Tortuous Gallery. Why is it called "Tortuous?" You'll see....

A lot of local artist gather to the openings to meet each other and network. It's a cool environment to be in.

This gallery June 6, 2010 so come by if you're interested!

Another piece of art of Lu Yang's. It's showing how to suffocate yourself "cleanly" with an inflatable life jacket.

On the wall is a display of how Lu Yang created her piece known as "Zombie Frog" where she cut open a frog, as shown below, and used electric jolts on certain parts/joints of the frogs body to make it "move" even after death....

A lot of people felt the art was cruel, but I find it rather interesting and artistic. Obviously it's not nice to hurt animals, but when it comes to art, does it make it ok? I don't know how to justify it so I can understand why many find it unethical. That might be why she does this kind of art, to spark up mix emotions and conversations.

Collage of newts, lizards, frogs in petri dishes. They were all moving around, moving in synch to the beats of the music

The Zombie Frog

The lizards moved to the beat of the music with twitches in their tails and limbs. Strangely interesting to watch...

April 17, 2010

It was Sharon's BIRTHDAY!!! Sharon was a contestant on the Asian Million Star competition I did in Hong Kong. I really like her because she's very sweet and gives me a comforting feel whenever I'm with her, and I was invited to sing at her party. Her fan club threw her a big part with live music and food. They didn't make any of the star competitors pay, which was very nice of them. The only "price" we had to pay was to sing good songs to them! Deal!!

On stage

My turn! I sang "最近“ (Lately) Check out the performance if you'd like！

My friend said I look like Brad Pitt here....*blush* BRAD PITT LOOKS LIKE ME IS MORE LIKE IT >:O hahahah

Man! THREE cakes! That's MY kind of Birthday!

April 24, 2010

Kiran Gandhi, one of the coolest girls I've ever met, threw a BBQ/Pool Party at her crib at the Peak and invited me to go. I met Kiran the first time at my mini-concert and she was very supportive and enthusiastic. Kiran is an amazing drummer and from my side of the world (Washington D.C.) Currently she lives in Hong Kong to study for a semester since her parents recently moved here.

Well, on the way to the peak, the traffic was backed up by a FALUN GONG parade. I don't really want to get into the whole sticky situation of the FALUN GONG practice in China, so if you're curious about, look it up on wikipedia!

I was more pissed they were holding up traffic and making me late....

but kudos to them for fighting in what they believe in. I guess

Finally, after getting lost in a few neighborhoods, I finally heard drums being played in the distance and I figured it had to be Kiran's party. This is the common area/pool of Kiran's housing complex. It's really amazing and beautiful and you can see a view of Hong Kong in the distance from her place. The weather was nice and I met a few young college students who were all studying abroad in Hong Kong for the semester. They were celebrating the end of the semester and I was celebrating the fact that I was old...

A lot of people went "oh, were you a student at HKU?" and I just gave them a grim look and said "No, I'm old :("

Sherin looks so much like my friend Alice Park. Talented girl! Actually, seemed like EVERYONE there knew how to play an instrument. haha

And Kiran!

April 27, 2010

A friend in China told me about the auditions for a singing competition being held in Mainland China. I had never been before, but I decided it was worth a try to audition. The adventure to Guangzhou was quite fun! Everyone in Hong Kong was so worried about me going by myself cuz they think I look too innocent and told me to "not talk to anyone" and "watch out for all the thieves"! It made me so paranoid to go!!

I had to wake up 6:30AM in the morning to make it to the 10:30AM auditions in Guangzhou. It took 2 hours to get to there by train.

The Guangzhou train

People were looking at me strangely cuz I stood up and took pictures. What a TOURIST

Yay! I made it! A lot of people came out to try out for the competition. It's an all-male competition known as "Happy Male Voice" I wasn't nervous though, but the weather was humid and rainy...so that part wasn't fun.

Sea of people. When you see all these people, you just have to tell yourself not to be scared and just do your best. Otherwise, you'll get nervous and syke yourself out!

After 5 hours of waiting in line, I finally got an auditioning number!...

Then there was another hour of waiting before I had the chance to sing.

Because of what people in HK told me about Guangzhou, I didn't talk to anyone around me at first and was paranoid, and then the guy in front of me turned around and started talking to me, and at first I was timid and untrusting hahaha. But later I warmed up and made some friends in the line. People in Guangzhou are actually very nice!

When I finally got to the judges, I realized there were two lines, one leading left and one to the right. They put me in the line to the left and when I got up to the curtain, the worker there was telling the person behind me that my judge was very strict and had "dinged" people out the moment they opened their mouths. I didn't let that bother me and walked in. I introduced myself to him and he didn't even understand me because he was texting on his cell phone (I guess he was bored listening to hundreds of people). awwkkwwardd

so I just started singing. I sang "True Colors" first and he actually listened to the first verse and half of the chorus and told me to sing another song and in the middle of that, he gave me the stamp of approval. I was Sooo happy and they told me to go upstairs, and when I got to the top of the stairs, I realized there was a second round T_____T

I totally wasn't expecting it, so I didn't even have time to be nervous. In the line, i heard the judge inside dinging people out 5 seconds upon walking in. When I walked in, it was a karaoke room with a bored looking judge, 3 employees sleeping on the couch, and a camera person. She let me sing 2 songs and gave me the stamp of approval!! woohoo!!!

After the auditions, I still had 2 hours before the train took me back to Hong Kong so I walked around Guangzhou. The weather was very mucky, but overall the people in Guangzhou are very friendly!

This door to a mall was covered by a waterfall....

Obviously not going in this way

I like this haircut! Drinking Guangzhou coffee

May 11-17, 2010

In these days, I was invited by my vocal teacher, Teresa Carpio, to be a back-up singer/dancer for her concert along with her other students. Because the time coincided with the "Happy Male Voice" competition, I had to choose between the two. It was a very difficult decision because I wanted to do both, but in the end I chose to do the concert. I've already done singing competitions in the past, but doing a concert and getting the experience of performing in Hong Kong's biggest stage was something I just couldn't pass up! There will be more competitions in the future! I was lucky to be able to do Teresa Carpio's concert! We had to audition, and even through rehearsing until the day OF the concert, there was always the chance you could kicked out if you weren't showing your best. That kind of pressure is something I really enjoyed experiencing because it kept pushing me to do my best and giving it my all. I learned a lot and met a lot of cool people, so here's the adventure...

First, this is Corrina! It was her birthday so I took her out to Ramen. She's been a very great friend to me in Hong Kong. The Ramen was very nice. It's in Causeway Bay right next to Sogo

The program to the concert, the concert pass for all the singers/dancers/employees, and the lyrics book we used to practice. It was the first time I ever learned to harmonize and sing with a group of people.

This was one of the coolest day. We got to practice with the amazing band Teresa Carpio brought in from around the world. We were practicing our vocal parts alongside Ms. Carpio

For the dancing part, we were taken to a big studio in Sai Kung to practice blocking and formations for the songs were were dancing to. The studio is usually used to film movies and was so big!

After most days, which were around 5-6 hours of practicing everyday, I usually treated myself to dessert. This is Strawberry shaved ice in Azabusobu

I was feeling a big under the weather one day, so I bought Pear tea from the Herbal tea stop in the MTR station. These Tea places are all over the city and they serve healthy snacks and a bunch of different drinks that each serve a purpose. For instance, if you feel tired and have phlegm, there are specific teas you can buy that help alleviate those symptoms! Cool, right?

Stephanie~~! New friend I met through the concert. This girl can SING!

The following pics are of me in the performance (Thank you Kavi for the photos!)

Obviously, a bit out of order, sorry, this is when Stephanie and I were introduced at the end of the concert as Teresa Carpio's new students in the chorus/ensemble. Cool feeling to be recognized in a 8000+ audience!

Singing "Still the One" Harmonizing is fun once you know how to do it!! I hear it better now and I'm glad I got this opportunity to learn more about it. Before, it was always a mystery!

Dancing to the song "Age of Aquarius" The themes was 70s and the ribbons are really cool in the photos. All the kids that performed (most of were under 15) were all so hard-working and pro for their ages. I was really impressed with their maturity in performance. When i was that young, first off, I was too fat to dance, second, I wouldn't know how to perform in front of such a big audience!

Dancing to "Happy Ghost" hence why we look so happy hahah

Blisters from dancing so much, rehearsing every day for 4 weeks. I'm not used to dancing bare-foot, but that was another cause of the blisters. They actually got bigger later and on both feet T____T. IT"S ALL FOR THE SHOW! so it's ok haha

The Hung Hom Stadium from the outside

The inside, under the stage. I had to run down this corridor so many times in between songs to change clothes between the dances and singing in the back. At one point of the concert, I had to smile and slowly walk off stage and run to the changing room, change everything, and run back to the stage within 3 minutes. I don't know how I made it...!

The dance studio for extra practice before the show. It was cool to know that all the famous stars have used this room to dance before their concerts for warm-ups and such.

Dressing room

This was our costume for the opening number. We were the only male students in the dancing portion and just happened to be a growing sequence in height... hahah

I love this pic

Natalie and our favorite little girl. She was ALWAYS smiling, except for the one time the choreographer yelled at her, and even in her fear-stricken face, she still was adorable ahhaha

This was Angeli. Such an energetic girl. Here she is telling me the 5th story/riddle. look how excited she is! You can't see my face, but yeah, I was trying really hard to stay interested. This is how one of the stories went:

"..And the man started running and running and running and running and (breathes in for air*) and running and...."

*someone calls her name and she ADDs out and runs off*

5 minutes later

"....and running and running....and......he died"

-_______- III

This picture just makes me laugh. The first day she saw me, she kept staring at me. and she said to me "....you have big feet" ahahhahahaha Kids are so cute

First day of the show, watching the audience slowly starting to fill up was really exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time!

Yes. I had to wear this. for the opening. I've always wanted to be a butterfly....

My manhood -1...

IT"S FOR THE SHOW! *raises fist to air with a tear in eye*

For the 70s part, we all got 70-inspired make-up

The audience view from the Stage. Look at all those seats...During the performance, I was sometimes just look out at the audience and think "wow....that's a lot of people" I think it's SO many people that you just don't even have the opportunity to be nervous.

Zoey! She's another favorite of mine. So sassy and cute

Hair and make-up done!

Sahara Thompson was a friend I met through the show. Her father, Michael Thompson who has worked with countless of artists like Michael Jackson, was the lead guitarist/musical director of the concert. Sahara really taught me a lot about harmonizing and we kept each other sane through the 2 weeks we met each other. At one point, Teresa almost took me out of the chorus ensemble because she heard my Cantonese and said it wasn't accurate enough to sing. Although I understand her POV cuz if I were in her shoes, I wouldn't want someone messing up my concert so it was all for the good of the concert, but I was sooo upset. Sahara then helped me get back in at least to sing the English songs and I was so grateful that she went out of her way to help me. I knew my parts really well, but I just don't sing Cantonese well enough. I will keep practicing!!

Chloe! Kept stepping on my shoes haha

Sahara makes a more convincing 70s person. I don't look like the hippy the clothes implies

Serena, Teresa's youngest daughter

Alexias, Teresa's second daughter.

The group pic! I will miss all these kids. I was like the older brother.....who acted younger than them... I think that's why we all got along. hahha

Coolest kid ever!

Good Show! Post-concert pic

AFTER-PARTY!!!!!!!

Press conference for the concert

T.V. Carpio, Teresa's eldest daughter. She was in "Across the Universe" as Prudence. Check it out if you get the chance, I love her rendition of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand"

With Canto-pop star, Fiona Sit

With Teresa Carpio. She really has inspired me to become a stronger and more confident singer. I have learned so much from her teachings and I can feel it when I perform on stage now. Listen to her sing live if you ever have the chance. For some reason, she brings tears to my eyes when she sings certain songs. Even when I was onstage in the chorus ensemble, certain songs made me tear up, but I don't think anyone noticed. hahaha Thank you so much for everything, Lo C

Pic with Cho Lam, comedian/actor/singer in Hong Kong

Welll, that's it for now! Thanks for reading the long post!!