Buddha's Birthday 2007

We had a great time at Southbank last night, checking out the celebrations for Buddha's birthday festival.

The thousands of red lanterns looked amazing, hanging everywhere through the Arbour Walk and all over the court at the QPAC end. There was a great party atmosphere, and the scent of busily frying food vendors tempted us at every turn!

From a local food stall the three of us snacked on (variously) a radish cake, fried chicken on a stick and a sticky rice parcel (had dried mushroom and minced pork inside). I had the radish cake. It was yum.

I loved how the menu stuck up on the stall advertised "sticy-rice". That was great.
Saw a pretty big ice sculpture shaped like a dragon, with only minimal meltage.








The bonsais were all so beautiful. I would love to have one, but suspect I'd kill it.
Buddha's wishing pond was uncharacteristically empty this year. Level 5 water restrictions meant that he stood over a waterless pond filled with a blue sheet and some fake lotuses. The dragons that were supposed to fountain water into the pond had plastic tubes representing a stream of water coming from their mouths instead. At least Buddha is water-conscious.

In the Piazza, three huge golden Buddhas presided over a full house and a stageful of musicians and a choir.

Eventually we walked down to Gingka, the little Japanese restaurant on Little Stanley St, and stuffed ourselves with Sapporo Japanese beer, bento and katsudon.

The bento was....good, but not that good. The tempura sushi was fairly unnecessary, the beef strips were slightly stringy, and the salad's dressing was too creamy. We did enjoy the spicy kim chee though, and the pickled ginger. The pork katsudon was apparently delicious, I was told.

After dinner it was back to the stalls and down to the riverfront to watch the 9pm fireworks. I was so excited to finally have a chance to try out the 'fireworks' setting on my new camera, and with good reason: I got some great shots.

Happy birthday, Buddha... see you next year!