I went to Anxi last week to conduct some field research at a local temple. I have a disclaimer to make here: Anxi is a very scenic place, but the photos posted here do little justice to its beauty because the best pictures remain in the memory card of my professor's hi-pro camera, and I failed to capture on a bus in motion the lush green tea plantations that dominate the rural landscape. My first picture here shows urban Anxi as a rather sleepy town:
In a nutshell, I was busy snapping photos of the temple, its architecture, offerings, devotees, altars, idols etc. I had also participated in an annual festive procession to celebrate the celestial birthday of the City God. Again the best pictures of the grand carnival of enacted deities and teeming crowds are left in the hi-pro camera.
Nothing was left to be done at night, so some of the uncles in my tour group decided on something that cannot be done legally in our local context. Here's a glimpse at our arsenal:
My eardrums were almost shattered when the firecrakers fired off.
And I didn't know that fireworks were this cheap even though I understand that the Chinese invented them. The uncles ignited one bout after another like nobody's business. Indeed, it was nobody's business without the kind of enforcement that we have here. I became convinced that we don't need millions to light up the sky.
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