This artist does the trippiest collages. I normally don't like stuff like this but I loved his art.
It's the middle of spring and craft shows are in full swing. RagsReborn is doing well; if you want updates on shows & new pillows, please check on my Instagram and Facebook pages. I've already blogged plenty about craft shows but I haven't posted a travel blog in a while.
Today is my father's birthday so I'm feeling a little nostalgic. Growing up, we were very Chinese (to the point where when I was at home, I only spoke Cantonese & ate Chinese cuisine and I've been listening to Canto Pop since before I can remember). I learned a lot about my culture & heritage and I'm pretty darn proud to be Chinese. That being said, I thought tonight would be a good time to post about Wes & my Chinese New Year trip earlier this year.
On Valentine's weekend, we drove to Dallas for the Crow Collection's Chinese New Year Festival (#crowcny). Wes was born in the Year of the Monkey so I wanted to do something special for the Lunar New Year this year. I came across this event online that boasted live performances each hour (which ended up being my favorite part of the entire weekend), numerous food trucks and shopping. I was sold!
The event was hosted by the Crow Collection of Asian Art. When we arrived, we walked through the museum first before venturing outside for the activities. Museum entry was free that day so it was super crowded. Surprisingly, we were still able to walk through the entire place and see all the exhibits. The museum had a nice array of art media from various Asian countries. I think my favorite was the jade and ivory sculptures.
The Seven Lucky Gods.
A beautiful gold and turquoise piece.
We spent the rest of the day outdoors (thank goodness the weather was nice!). There were live performances all day long on the main stage. We first saw a Chen Style Tai Chi demonstration by Master Shang Wei Kui. He is pretty well known and Wes has actually heard of him before. My mom used to practice Tai Chi but nothing like this guy!
We also saw the Chinese Yo-Yo Club (not pictured), an opera singer, the Jasmine Chinese Dance Troupe and a fashion show put on by the Chinese Cultural Center and some students at UT Dallas.
The students were all really shy so they awkwardly walked out on stage in their unfamiliar costumes, sort of smiled and posed momentarily at the center of the stage and then rushed off as quickly as possible. The last student to come on stage was dressed in a bright yellow costume and he ate up the attention. He strolled onto the stage, posed, invited the audience to applaud, smiled, bowed and asked for more applause. What a ham! I think he saved the show for the rest of the students.
The Jasmine Dance Troupe performed various traditional dances from different Asian countries. They did a few Chinese dances, a Mongolian dance and Korean dance. I'm sure there were more but that's all I can remember at the moment. They had a few guest dancers but most of the dances were performed by the same women. They were such good sports rushing on and off stage in their various costumes with little time in between each dance. I enjoyed all of the dances and the dresses were beautiful!
The dance troupe was my second favorite performance of the day. My absolute favorite was the Hau Yun Chinese Orchestra. Sadly, we missed the beginning of the performance. The orchestra used string instruments, as you would expect, but they also had a member who played the erhu (Chinese violin) and one who played the dizi (bamboo flute). They palyed a few musical pieces and then performed some with singer Sophia Liu. I didn't think I would enjoy the traditional folk songs (because I usually don't) but Sophia is an amazingly talented singer and I enjoyed her voice immensely.
Besides the performances, there were a few tents with shopping (the shopping was actually pretty disappointing and we didn't get any souvenirs) and food trucks. Oh boy, were there food trucks! There were probably 10 trucks parked out there. I wanted to eat from all of them! LOL I knew I wanted a boba drink from Bobaddiction. For food, I was torn between a sushi truck and a banh mi truck. I decided on banh mi and got the lemongrass chicken. I usually get banh mi with Vietnamese cold cuts or barbecue pork but never lemongrass chicken. OMG, it was so good! ...probably the best Vietnamese sandwich I have ever had.
After a full day, it was time for the grand finale. I didn't get to see any of the finale (because being short is a pain, ugh) but there was supposedly a martial arts demonstration, lion dance, dragon dance and fireworks. The entire event was MC'd by a young museum worker. She worked all day, did a great job and barely got any intermission time to rest. Bless her heart.
There were thousands of people gathered by the time the finale rolled around. A lot of the crowd was pressed up against the stage. In order for the J.K. Wong Kung Fu Tai Chi Academy to put on their finale performances, there needed to be at least 10-12 feet of space between the stage and the crowd. The MC did her best but the crowd would not move. She first asked politely, no one moved. She then asked a little more sternly, still no one budged. Then she threatened that there would be no finale unless people made space, still no one heeded her warning. She finally begged and pleaded for the crowd to please just move a tiny smidgen. After much grovelling, the crowd finally moved the minimum amount necessary.
The performance finally started but as soon as it did, the crowded made their way back toward the stage. Every few minutes, the show had to stop and the MC pleaded again for everyone to leave space for the performers. There was absolutely no respect for the MC or the performers. Everyone rushed toward the performers to capture the best video to post on social media. I almost expected for the MC, who was probably at her wit's end, to cancel the rest of the show. And, parents were losing their children left and right. The finale was interrupted several times by announcements of lost children. Normally, the size of the crowd and children are blamed for these occurrences. But the MC (who quickly gained my sympathy) flat out blamed the parents for their bad parenting. Right on! She announced, "We have another lost child. Parents, parents, please keep a hold of your children!"
There were so many people in attendance that hardly anyone could actually view the performances. I stood next to another woman my height. As people walked out of the crowd, we had a silent agreement to keep a space in front free for us so we could sort of see the stage. Either one of us could move forward to take the empty space but we kept it open so we could squint and peak in between other people's shoulders. It worked pretty well until a very tall guy and his girlfriend stepped directly in front of us. Wes said the martial arts demonstration was very sloppy (probably because the performers couldn't concentrate due to all the interruptions) and probably wasn't worth watching anyway. We skipped out on the fireworks finale and just left early.
Next on the agenda was dinner with my Uncle Hoa. I've tried to meet up with him on several other Dallas trips but he's always been busy. I told him weeks before that we'd be in town and he & his girlfriend (who ended up not feeling well last minute so Jenny wasn't there after all) would be free so dinner plans were made!
We met up at Jin Korean Barbecue. I don't like Korean food in general but I am starting to warm up to their barbecue. My uncle got a Korean beer so I followed suit. It wasn't very good by itself but it paired really well with the meat. We got the usual fare and it was all really good. The best was this thinly sliced pork belly. It was basically uncured bacon. I probably ate an entire plate! After dinner and catching up, we rolled our fat bellies out of the restaurant and headed to the hotel. Day two details to come next week!
