Dragon Dance at Guan Yin Temple, Klang on First Day of Chinese New Year 2014

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This year the Lunar New Year falls on 31st January 2014. I went to Guan Yin Temple Klang for prayers and was very lucky to witness a dragon dance in action. It was an auspicious time at 11 am on the first day of Chinese New Year 2014, the Year of the Wood Horse. I didn't even know that there was going to be a dragon dance! This is my first time seeing a dragon dance performance at the temple. Wow!

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“Dragon Dance at Guan Yin Temple, Klang on First Day of Chinese New Year 2014”, a copyrighted post, was written for Klang, Malaysia Daily Photo blog by Autumn Belle @ http://mymalaysiadailyphoto.blogspot.com on 31st January 2014.

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A peach tree hanging with "peach fruit" buns.

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The peach fruit is a symbol of longevity

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A Dragon Dance is usually performed during big festival such as Chinese New Year as it is believed to bring good luck.

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Offerings of flowers, mandarin oranges, apples, pears, pomelo and pineapples are placed on the altar.

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Rows of gold and red lanterns 

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Lighted candles with lotus shape

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The Chinese believe that they are descendents of the dragon.

 The dragon is regarded as an auspicious mythical creature.
The dragon dance is an auspicious performance that brings good luck and fortune.

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It's a green dragon!

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People's hands touching the dragon head hoping that some good luck will rub off onto them.

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 At the end of the Dragon Dance, this troupe of dragon dancers who looked like school students shouted "Huat ah! Huat ah! Huat ah!" meaning "Get Rich"!

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Flowers stalls near the entrance of Guan Yin Temple, Klang.

China Trip - Day 3 Jiuzhaigou Rixe Valley

1. Arrow Bamboo Lake

Rize Valley (日则沟, pinyin: Rìzé Gōu) is 18km long. It is located on the south-western branch of Jiuzhai gully. Tourists will usually take the eco-buses to the highest point near the Primeval Forest (原始森林 Yuánshǐ Sēnlín) and go downhill.  Some attractions are

a) Swan Lake (天鹅海, Tiān'é Hǎi), a 2.25 km long lake famous for its visiting swans and ducks
b) Grass Lake (草海, Cǎo Hǎi) which is a shallow lake with unique vegetation.

2. Arrow Bamboo Lake

Arrow Bamboo Lake (箭竹海, Jiànzhú Hǎi) has a surface area of 170,000 m². This shallow lake is only about 6 m deep. It is located at an elevation of 2,618 m. It was the site where some of the most spectacular scenes of the 2002 Zhang Yimou movie "Hero" were shot.

3. Panda Lake

Panda Lake (熊猫海, Xióngmāo Hǎi) with its beautiful display of blue and green colours. Giant Pandas used to come here for a drink but there has been no more such sightings for many years. The lake empties into the multi-streams, multi-level Panda Waterfalls, a 3-step-drop of about 78m.

4. Five Flower Lake (Multicoloured Lake)

Five Flower Lake is also known as Multicolour Lake

5. Five Flower Lake

Five Flower Lake (五花海, Wǔhuā Hǎi) with out of this world underwater views.

6. Five Flower Lake

 Five Flower Lake is a shallow multi-colored lake.

7. Five Flower Lake

The waters are so clear and bright that even the ancient fallen trunks sitting on the bottom of the lake are visible to the naked eye. Only one type of fish can survive and that is the Songpan Naked Carp.

8. Wildflower

9. Pearl Shoal Waterfalls

Pearl Shoal Waterfalls (珍珠滩, Zhēnzhū Tān) is a 310m wide water fall that drops 28m along gentle slopes like a broad curtain of water. A scene of the television adaptation of Journey to the West was filmed here. 

Pearl Shoal Waterfalls is the most spectacular waterfall in Jiuzhaigou.

We spent the whole day at the nature park which finally came to an end when it was nearing closing time.

Reference: Wikipedia.

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After a tiring day of walking, it was time to relax at night. We went for a Tibetan cultural show with live performances like acrobatics, dances and singing. 

This is my last post about Jiuzhaigou. My next stop is at Huanglong.