Here There Be Dragons

This weekend we went to Lukang.

(Pronounced Loo-gong, guys. Loo-gong.)

Home of 2012's Taiwan Lantern Festival. (A different city hosts it every year.)

There were Spongebobs:

And Angry Birds, of course.

There were transformers:

 

Some Statue of Liberties:

This one's legit, actually. Not a lantern, a human. Who doesn't want to see an Asian Statue of Liberty, anyway? Go America!

 

Some famous Taiwan landmarks:

 

 

A bunch of random animals:

 

 

TONS OF DRAGONS:

(Happy year of the dragon, by the way. Have some children, everyone wants year-of-the-dragon children. They're awesome, so I'm told. I'm a snake, personally. What're you?)

 

A few other people had heard about this festival, as well.

 

There were some pears, too, because pears are awesome:

 

 

And, of course, no lantern festival is complete without Hello Kitty and Kung Fu Panda:

 

Lukang was packed, naturally, to the absolute brim. Streets had been blocked off from regular traffic just to make way for the thousands and thousands of people that were going to be shuffling about, obliviously snapping pictures. It was windy, it was freezing, I hadn't brought a coat, and Lukang was a train and bus ride away. 

But, man. Those LANTERNS. These LIGHTS. This COUNTRY. 

 

I think I'll have to go visit Lukang again, when it's not so infested with mindless, lantern gazing zombies. I think it deserves some in-depth exploring, especially in all the little corner shops that sell vintage wallets, and floral purses. Besides, there was an amazing pizza place. 

It was beautiful and fantastic. Best Daycation ever.