dragon boat festival

the 28th of may was a big day for and in bo'ao, as it hosted dragon boat races in order to celebrate the dragon boat festival, the duanwu jie which is being celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month according to the Chinese calendar.
if you wanna know more about the background of the festival, here's some useful information: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-06/21/content_359372.htm
anyway, i got to try several different kinds of zhongzi (pyramid-shaped dumplings made of glutious rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves), the lady from the dongbei restaurant gave me sweet ones and two other friends gave me salty ones to try...they spoil me here!

also, i include pictures of the races (and the audience). the guy giving a speech is the mayor whom i was introduced to the other day. two nights with beer in a local beer garden followed, haha. bo'ao had a very nice feel to it that day, there were lots of tiny food stalls with traditional food on the main street, the locals where out and about to celebrate, and the center of bo'ao was turned into a pedestrian area.