July 27, 2019 - Saturday - Today we were in Long Beach, CA to see the 2019 Long Beach Dragon Boat Festival. Celebrated around the world, the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the life and death of the ancient patriot-poet, Qu Yuan, who lived from 340-278 BCE during the Warring States period of China. Long Beach hosts one of the largest dragon boat competitions in all of California, drawing local, national and international crews. There are 97 races during the two day meet and it's very exciting.
This is the loading area for all of the crews in the competition.
The race course looked to be about a half mile long. At the beginning of the race, the drummer beats out the rhythm to get the paddlers all in sync with each other. Once the boat is at full speed, the drumming stops and the drummer screams at the crew to stroke harder.
This is looking down at the start line.
There is activity everywhere while the races are under way.
Our lunch today came from a Thai vendor. Thai BBQ Satay, egg rolls and lobster balls. However, the lobster balls didn't have a great lobster flavor. Maybe it was the sweet and sour sauce rather than melted butter.
What an interesting and fun adventure it was!
