Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sydney Chinese New year twilight parade 2012

It is the most unbelievable night spent so far this year! I volunteered to help out with Medibank For the night and in return I received free tickets for VIP seating to watch the parade. The parade started at 8 with an opening performance by a group of aborigines and Chinese dancers, followed by a speech from the major of Sydney. Floats began to flow in after the speech starting with the float by the city of Sydney. There were many performances by Chinese associations , public schools, Dong Tam and THK. There were also special performances from Chinese dancers who were from Guang Zhou province (not sure of the correct spelling) who had also performed at the Beijing Olympics. After the parade, there were fireworks at Cockle Bay Wharf which started slightly earlier than 10pm.

It was my first experience and I found it to be quite an enjoyable night. Made new friends, met some nice people, and felt like a VIP. There was a moment where, after giving away the merchandise, we had to signal the security guard when we wanted to cross (and this was when we were walking right in the middle of the road! And the only traffic we encountered were people coming out from paddys market) so that the security guard could stop the traffic crossing so that our group could pass.

There was also one really fascinating and strange thing at the parade. It was a solar powered bin! It was used to power the speakers that was blasting music for the dancers on rollerblades dressed as modern symbols of the dragon. Adam liaw, masterchef winner 2012, was also there with his float. He had made a dragon out of kitchenware such as plates and bowls and bamboo steamers. Quite interesting, the float lit up when the parade started.

Surely an experience I want to enjoy again :)

Tam x

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