defrog: (raku ninja)
defrog ([personal profile] defrog) wrote2008-05-13 12:47 am

INVASION OF THE BUN SNATCHERS

Just so you know it’s not all doom and gloom in this part of the world, today (Monday) was the Buddha’s Birthday, and also the day of the annual Cheung Chau Bun Festival – the highlight of which is this:


That’s the traditional bun snatching competition, which happens at midnight. They completed this year’s snatch about half an hour ago. This footage is from 2006, but it amounts to the same thing.

If yr not sure what they’re doing, that tower is covered with Cheung Chau-style steamed buns. The object is to climb the tower and stuff as many into yr sack as possible in three minutes. The higher you go, the more fortune for you and yr family.

It’s good fun, the festival is, though I’ve never been to one. It’s usually too hot and way too crowded to make it worth the effort, and besides, the bun snatching gig was only reinstated in 2005. It was banned in 1978 after a bun tower collapsed and over 100 people got hurt.

For more information, see: My Life As McDull. In fact, see it even if you don’t need more info about bun snatching.

Hands off my buns,

This is dF