Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Mexico and China in one day

We were world travelers this past Monday. It was Respect for the Aged Day and Craig had the day off from work. Respect for the Aged Day is a national holiday dedicated to people calling their grandparents. We started the day in Kobe, Japan, swung by the Mexican Festival in Osaka for lunch, and then went to the Mid-Autumn Festival in China Town in the evening.


I went up to the guy in the photo and asked, in Japanese, if I could have a picture with him. His Mexican Festival outfit was too much for me to ignore. Of course, he might walk around with a liquor bottle in a holster and a shot glass ammunition belt every day.


Here I am showing off my new bag. It is a Cheryl original and I know you're all jealous.


I just sneaked this picture of a Japanese guy wearing an impressive sombrero.


The festival consisted of about 2 booths selling Mexican knick knacks, 4 or 5 selling food, and a stage featuring live music. Corona was the major feature for the festival.

There was a Mariachi band and we think all the musicians were Mexicans, or at least not Japanese.
We did get to enjoy some Mexican food. There were tacos, quesadillas, and Mexican fruit juice drinks. While there was a picture of chips and guacamole, no one seemed to be selling it. Here is our friend Rachel eating a chicken taco with chop sticks.


After we were all Mexican Festival-ed out, Craig and I took the train to Kobe's China Town. We were hoping to see a Dragon Dance but got tired of standing and gave up after about two hours. I think that must be the finale and next time we should show up around 7pm, not 3pm.

There were these people wearing weird and sometimes frightening masks standing in front of a shrine. I asked one of them for a picture but you actually have to buy incense and pray at the shrine before you can take pictures. I just got this one from a distance, holding the camera above the heads of the people standing in line to pray.


While we missed the Dragon dance we did get to see a concert featuring traditional Chinese instruments. There was also an extensive Tai Chi demonstration.

The highlight, of course, was the food. This time there were probably 30+ booths selling food. Craig and I enjoyed Peking duck and vegetables wrapped in rice paper.

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