Lantern festival, end of Chinese New Year celebrations

Chinese New Year festival lasts whole month, and finishes with the Lantern Festival.
More about Chinese festivals you can find at http://edu.ocac.gov.tw/culture/chinese/festival/festival_e.html , I did not manage to fathom it, Chinese themselves have considerable problems with it.
I will just show you some pics from this year Lantern Festival in Hsinchu. Center of the city

As usual, considerable noise and smoke. Allstarts with sending one of these in the air:

It goes higher, in noise of firecrackers

Epic crowd and noise

Fountains are especially attractive

Fireworks leave LOTS of smoke

Sometimes looks as footbal stadium fair after the goal

In Taiwan I found some of ugliest churches I saw...this one reminded me to my favorite, St. Sulpice of Paris, France.

Let's add a bit of light, to show it in full "beauty"

Chinese New year time is interesting time if you happen to live here. But I would not suggest travelling at that time, as roads are congested, pretty much as Christmas time in the Western culture. I found, this year, even more similarities between the two, indeed. In any case, Lantern festival marks beginning of the new full working year. Not by chance it comes in the coldest part of the year,as peasants only then could have a short brak from their usual ordeal.

Spring, bicycle again!

Taiwan also has spring. It has been winter for one month (meaning temperatures going at around 10-13 cels at night), but this weekend it came to 20 and more, during the day, and finally some sun. I like short winter.
Trees in flowers, quite shy for now, but will be more, no doubt:

Rice fields ready. After so much rains, I think problem was to get rid of water, not to bring it to the fields.

Standard pic behind the Science Park in Hsinchu. I like its 'normality'. It seems I start to develop some japanese minimalistic approach to Nature.

You thought YOUR car is rosty? Btw. here someone was filling the batery, I do not know if in hope that this will actually move...

Betel-nut trees, with their tall silhouette always add some exotic feel

These chicken have the owner with fantasy:

I like how they cut the trees in the Science Park

Interesting detail, name of one company. Obviously the owner is rich and made one factory for his son, too. And obviously everyone in the village knows who is The Owner :-D

The Rat Year-dogs puzzled

I decided not to go nowhere this New Year time, as usually it is very crowdy in the streets. Also, this year the weather was much less pleasant than last year, with temperatures falling to 10 cels at nigh. Brrrr.
Lots of bang-bang-bang, I admire the chinese persistence in this patards banging. Some of longer 'campaigns' reminded me of war times in Croatia some 15 years ago, really as a canonade in the city.

Coming to my work, through the empty campus, I met only dogs. Poor dogs, frightened by so much banging, but even more puzzled my emptyness of Campus. No people for so long time? Where did they go? Today I met only dog-guard, which sniffed everyone passing by

In front of my work workers left the mechanization until after the New Year...good it was not raining a bit more :-D

These guys will roll the roller when back to work, hehe.

Happy New Year, let the Rat be lucky animal to you!