Sunday, August 03, 2008

Zhong Yuan Festival : 9007 Zhong Yuan Carnival

2 August 2008

It is Zhong Yuan Festival (中元节) again. Although some would call it the Hungry Ghost Festival, a more appropriate way to put it would be the former one. Zhong Yuan means middle season. During Zhong Yuan Festival, companies would organise Zhong Yuan Carnival, where auspicious goodies would be put up for auction while dinner is served.

As per previous years, Uncle Francis had a table reserved for the Fong family. The carnival is organised by the Tampines Blk 9007 Industrial Estate companies.

After watching 881 and listening to Hokkien songs being repeated uncountable times during the Eunos Harmony Trail, I listened to the Getai performers more attentively than previous years. My relatives and father, as usual, were dissatisfied with the quality of the Getai performers.

It is amazing how people can bid for items worth less than $500 until the price reached above $5000. I visualised the future me to be rich enough to participate in this high-end activity. After reading "How to talk to anyone : 92 little tricks for Big Success in Relationship", I used some of the techniques to judge the Big players and admired them.

Anyhow, the main point of my presence was the FOOD!


A featured auction item is the Barrel of Gold. This barrel would be circulated among all the dining tables, where all participants would place a token sum into it. It would then be bidded.



The main draw that day turned out to be an unexpected brawl a few tables away from us. A drunkard was provoked and threw someone to the floor. Apathetic Singaporeans seated around the table didn't move any part of their body except their necks to watch the fight.

The helpers (who were sprinkled around the vicinity to blow whistles and shout out the new bid prices) immediately rushed to separate them but to no avail, until Uncle Francis (dubbed the Hulk) turned up. He grabbed the assailant and dragged him all the way to an empty space. A couple of times, the drunkard threw punches to him but he (without much effort) brushed him in an Aikido-like fashion.

The drunkard seized attention away from the Getai and the auctioneer for about 30 minutes. Finally, he had the honour to be chauffeured away by the Police.

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