My third trip to Hongkong in as many months. We arrived just in time for the annual Bun Festival on the island of Cheung Chau. EP managed to secure tickets for us to watch the “Bun-snatching” event. Basically, contestents will have to scale the 14m high “bun tower” and snatch as many buns as they can within a stipulated time (I think it’s 2mins). Many of the contestents are either past winners or members of some rock climbing associations. The buns are labeled according to the height they are being placed, with the highest scoring ones placed right on the top of the tower.
The original buns from the stall that made them. On the buns are the words “平安”, which sort of means “peace and safety” in chinese. The buns are quite big and has white lotus fillings in them. The main competition tower has about 9000 buns on it. Many more are found on the traditional towers which are of 13m high, but are not used for the competition because the towers were not as sturdy.
Lion dance kicked start the bun-snatching competition. The lion dance is performed on top of a pole (the red pole) and consist of only a sole lion dancer, while the “tail” is held up by another member using a pole. The competition begins on the stroke of midnight.
Right after the lion dance, the fire crackers went off to the rousing applause of the crowd.
The male contestents clearing the top buns, while one of the 3 female contestents followed behind. The winner of the men’s event was three time champion local from Cheung Chau.
Cheung Chau from the top of the hill. The island looks a little like a bone shape. On the right side of the “bone” in this picture is the harbour for the fishing boats.
While waiting for the ferry. It’s about 30mins ride on a fast craft and 55mins on a slower boat. You can take the ferry from the “outlying islands pier’.
The typical low clouds, lighted up by the bright city lights greeted us when we disembarked from the ferry.