10/10 Double Ten Day

Double Ten Day celebrates the beginning of the uprising in China that led to the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China. I won't presume to go into detail about the significance of the Republic of China (as Taiwan refers to itself) and how that relates to the Chinese mainland. Suffice to say that it's a good excuse for some fantastic fireworks.






Conrad and I took the MRT to Shuanglian station where we boarded the firework bus:

It was a warm and humid evening.

We followed the growing crowd to the riverside setting for the display.

The usual delicious streetfood was on offer. 

We were entertained by a puppet play (enlarged on a screen).

And a mini-pop concert.

There was also a celebrity/politician who spoke at some length but I didn't bother getting a photo of him!

At last the fireworks!

As you can tell I'm rubbish at taking photos of fireworks!! I can report, though, that I knew I was amongst the  people who invented fireworks at that display. There were even things that I have no idea how they were done, such as a river of sparks falling continuously into the real river for about 20 seconds, and fireworks that appeared to be exploding in slow motion. Here's a Youtube video of the display, though I confess I haven't watched through, so apologies if it isn't very good quality:

There was a long wait and a crush leaving the grounds, and next year we'll be coming by bike using a different route, but we'll definitely be back! Here's Conrad with his obligatory flashing toy waiting for the train to go home: