This Part 2 post was suppose to be complete and posted here on my blog about three Saturdays ago but I kept putting it off due to other "stuff". Now I feel I betta write a really long post before I forget all of it. So how do I begin...

That particular Saturday (02/16/08), the celebrations for Chinese New Year was being held in Waipahu at the Waipahu Festival Marketplace. I've never been there nor experienced CNY outside of downtown's Chinatown, so I figured it was worth the experience. Scheduled to start at 11am, I get there and find it to be a typical bustling marketplace with vendors selling vegetables, fruits, meats, clothes and even feng shui displays. The lion dance were already doing their thing and I got to see the tail end of its performances as there were 3 lions performing. There were also three Taiwanese ladies who danced three different types of Chinese dance that reminded me of those Chinese fan dances that I participated or watched during school concerts. In addition to that, there was also the narcissus bulb carving, some karaoke singing by anyone in between performances and finally a visit by the Narcissus Festival queen and her court. It was a somewhat interesting day!

The following Saturday, R and I spent a good part of the morning at the Honolulu Zoo. As usual, my main attraction was Rusty and Violet, my two favorite orang utans. The day started out well as most of the animals were out and about, instead of hybenating (or should I say they were hybernating in the open!), however it's started to rain...not drizzle...but a heavy downpour that we came home drenched! The best part, we got to see Berani (which means Brave in Malay), the tiger that had a quick escapade outside of his cage a few days earlier. Good thing the zoo had not opened yet to the general public and the zoo people were able to get to him before anything bad had happened.


And last Saturday (03/01/2008), R and I were at Ward Warehouse for the 56th Cherry Blossom Festival/Heritage Fair. It celebrates the Japanese culture with the sights and sounds of taiko and odori performances, martial arts demonstrations, hula performances as well as mochi pounding and bon dance demonstrations. The 55th Queen and Miss Congeniality Richelle Nakata and her Court as well as the other Queen contestants. In addition, shoppers got to see and buy local food, clothing, accessories and collectibles. While watching the hula performances, we devoured on a rather good Loco Moco from L&L!

Labels: festival, fun, happy, local, weekend