We visited the River Hongbau festival on the Singapore waterfront two weeks ago, one of many celebrations at the start of the lunar new year.
This year’s theme was a mouthful:
Welcoming the Year of the Tiger through promotion of Chengdu to enhance the offering of River Hongbao in Singapore and promote close ties and collaboration between Singapore and Chengdu City.
Perhaps the Chinese version is shorter.
Chengdu is the capital of China’s Sichuan province. There were demonstrations of local arts and crafts but I was mainly interested in the food. I should not have been surprised to find that almost everything tasted like it was on fire and I suspect that in Sichuan a meal is not considered satisfactory unless at least two dishes are dripping with hot chili oil.
Marinating lotus root, mushrooms and chicken feet.
Luckily, I love spicy food. I also like non-spicy food. I will try just about anything and loaded up on meal tickets to sample the hot sesame balls and the fresh pancakes, sweet or salty, that are folded in half and contain a pork filling. Only the chicken foot in the middle of the vegetables stopped me. I have tried them and they do nothing for me. I suppose they do even less now for the chicken.
Sugar decorating demonstration
We enjoyed the fireworks and view of the Singapore skyline with other Navy friends. Before we left for the night I went to buy a panda puppet with my leftover vouchers. As I was fumbling with the money two photographers pushed me aside in order to get a good shot of a visiting politician. It turns out I was within two feet of Teo Chee Hean, who is Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister.
He currently holds two Cabinet positions in Singapore, but tonight he simply held a stuffed panda toy.
Click HERE for more photos.
