Lantern Festival at the Chinese Garden 2012

The Mid-Autumn Festival is upon us! Are you up to your ears in mooncake yet?

For the children, this time is all about the lanterns. I got them a couple of electric Angry Birds lanterns from Cold Storage and they had been slowly destroying my mind with repetitive midi music. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to tape up the sound box on the lanterns before turning them over to the kids so my eardrums have been spared. Seriously, why do they make the music on these lanterns SO PIERCING?? I can’t wait for both the kids to be able to handle the paper lanterns safely so I can do away with these noisy electric ones! Noey is pretty good with one, but Nomi is some way away yet.

There are a few events happening around town in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and last Friday, we managed to check out the Lantern Festival at the Chinese Garden. We’ve missed this the past couple of years so when I saw the advertisement in the paper, I told DD we had to check it out for old times’ sake. Going to Chinese Garden for the display of lanterns is one of the things I remember from my childhood days, and I was pretty excited to re-live this with the kids.

We’d intended to go down a couple of weekends earlier when it first opened, but didn’t make it. Then last Friday, when DD told me in the morning that he would be able to get off work early, we decided it was our opportunity. Naturally, it had to be the day when Nomi took a short nap and Noey completely skipped his nap altogether, despite my best efforts. We still packed the two somewhat grouchy children off on a drive to Jurong. Thankfully they didn’t fall asleep on the way there and we enjoyed a lovely time in the park.

The kids with Papa and Nai-nai, ready to set off!

Display in front of the Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum.
(Didn’t know this museum existed by the way! Might come back and check it out another time!)

It was probably because it was a Friday evening, and the fact that we were somewhat late, arriving at 8.30pm, but we found the park wasn’t crowded, which was a pleasant surprise. It was a nice change from last year when we went to the event by the river and it was so packed with people, we didn’t enjoy ourselves at all. 

At the sight of the lanterns, both children visibly perked up. So I was looking forward to us spending a nice time enjoying the displays. Which we did, for a short while, until we stumbled upon the funfair in the park and got seriously waylaid! The kids got excited of course, and Papa couldn’t say no. Hah.

All aboard the rocking train! Nomi waves hi! And proceeded to do it every round. 

Noey on the flying contraption (no idea what that is!) on his own.

There was also a rotating swing which both kids enjoyed, as well as a bouncy castle that kept Noey occupied for 10 mins. In the same area, there was a stage with performances daily by a Chinese acrobatic troupe. We only managed to catch the last 10 mins or so of the performance, which featured a fire eater and a 四川变脸 artist.

Part of the Chinese acrobatic/cultural performance that is on every night at 8pm.

Only when the kids were finally done did we have a chance to walk around to see all the lovely lantern displays. This year’s displays were all based on fairytales and folklore, from both Chinese as Western culture. There was a helpful storyboard at each display so I was able to tell the tales which we were unfamiliar with to Noey while viewing the display.

The Ginseng Boy. Really had no idea what this was about at all before I read about it!

Swan Lake (I think). These swans on the lake were my favourite.

The Little Matchgirl.

The Frog Prince.

司马光砸缸!

We had to call it a day after a while with the kids visibly tiring, so we didn’t manage to see every single display, though I think we covered most of them. Pity we weren’t there on the weekend when there are fireworks at 9pm! Still, it was good fun, and a nice start to our weekend.

The Lantern Festival at the Chinese Garden 2012 is on till 7 October 2012, from 9am to 11pm daily. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for children ($10 for adults and $6 for children for a max of 2 adults and 2 children for the Passion Card, so do the Auntie thing and remember to bring it if you have one!). There is also a performance on the main stage at 8pm daily and fireworks at 9pm on Saturdays and Sundays.