Dragon Boat Festival

How many people (that I know) can say they have seen actual dragon boat races on Dragon Boat Festival day IN China?? Now I can say that I have! This morning I woke up way earlier than I normally do to take in the festivities. I was able to find a spot that was near the finish line to watch the races.

Only a small portions of  the thousands
of people lining the lake

Now I've been to plenty of concerts and large festivals before but the crowds in China are something else. I have never had people touch, bump and just push their way through with no regard to who is around them. There was one old women with a child who forcibly pushed her way next to me. I'm not proud of this but I had a strong feeling to knock her to the ground! Fortunately I didn't but I guess when you have over a billion people, personal space wouldn't be a common issue. Nothing like being felt up by an elderly chinese women, haha.  

Each race had 4 or 5 teams, with 12 paddlers on a team plus a drummer and a steersman. They were divided into co-ed, male and female heats. Overall the races weren't all that exciting; other than the occasional tipped boat they were pretty standard. Though, still a fun event to see. 

And GO! 

Near the Finish Line

Some of the dragon boat teams

People watching the races 

Some of the members of my branch 

I met up with some friend from the branch to watch a beginning races, little did we know that there was a larger group of branch members there as well. It ended up turning into a mini branch activity.  

Sometimes I feel guilty for just sitting at home on my days off, I mean I'm in China and should be out there experiencing everything I can! However life gets in the way and I don't get as many memorable experience as I would like. I'm glad I can at least add this to my list.