30-Jul-2023
Kuching is very much in party mode at the moment.
First up, a private little celebration with some friends at a nearby karaoke place. Definitely the best karaoke session I've been to! Our company boasted a professional singer, a former country band performer, and an amazingly musical family. With so many others more than willing to give us their best, there was absolutely no pressure to sing, and we could just sit back and enjoy the show. On offer were a range of songs in Chinese and English, some interestingly wacky videos, and lots of conviviality.
Meanwhile, the Food Festival is on again!
The Food Festival site before the crowds arrive
Such a cute logo
Lots of events still to come
And yesterday evening, there was a fireworks display, plus a grand parade of illuminated boats on the river, all in honour of Sarawak's 60th birthday. We'd been offered a riverside view from the apartment of a friend (currently tenanted by two other friends), and since it took a while, quite a while even, for the parade to assemble itself, this turned out to be an excellent option.
First up, the fireworks
In Malay, fireworks are "fire flowers". You can so see why
Here's one of our performing boats in the daylight
And here's the illuminated version
More spiffing creations
This turned out to be the winner
Slowly they float off down the river
The Cat Museum boat was my personal favourite
My next favourite
These guys certainly worked hard
Even the authorities went pretty
The parade could probably have started moving a little more speedily (we did wonder whether the folks on the boats at our end of the river were enjoying themselves so much that they didn't want to head off to the city, since at one point a small boat came zipping up, sheepdog-style, as if to remind all the floating revellers that they ought to be on their way). But all in all, this was a very enjoyable event. You can usually please PT with bright lights and colours...
We walked home through a totally crazy Kuching. Gridlocked traffic, rows of double-parked cars, even streams of people walking, which is pretty unusual. Nice atmosphere, though. No-one seemed crabby or impatient. Everyone was mellowed by all the food and pretty lights.