CNY parade in SF

Saturday, Feb 11

Went to SF to watch the CNY parade. Those who had experienced the Singapore Chingay parade was sorely disappointed. The parade was political, for one. Car after car of political figures (unknown to me) went first. Marshall this, Marshall that, Supervisor this, Supervisor that. Don't even know what they are for. Saw the SF Mayor live for the first time. He has the looks of an movie star, according to some.

Finally, the parade floats and contingents starts. And stops. And starts. And stops. The timing of the flow really sucked. I heard later that it is because all the contingents stopped at Union Square, where we saw the bright lights. The TV crew were there to film, so all the contingents actually stopped there to perform, causing the rest to back-up.

After a while, even the contingents got boring. Not many of the better sounding marching bands (of course, nothing to do with the Chinese). Lots of martial art schools parading their lions, but the lions weren't exactly dancing either. More like walking. The first golden dragon was somewhat impressive, but later on, more to come. Less and less impressive ones, that is. Then, the kids from various schools came. Had their lion heads and little dragons too. From then on, it got boring.

Ah well. We had an Indonesian dinner, at a restaurant called Borobudor. Not too bad. The rendang was good. Saving grace.