Chingay Parade, Singapore

The Chingay Parade is a national event in Singapore and has become a uniquely Singaporean Lunar New Year tradition (it is held during the first weekend of the Lunar New Year).  The first parade, which was held back in 1973 featured various aspects of Chinese culture from lion dances to marital arts and street opera.  Today it is a multi-cultural event that is celebrated not only by the Chinese, but by Malays, Indians and Eurasians alike. 

The word "Chingay" is equivalent to the Mandarin word zhaung yi, which means "the art of costume and masquerade" in the Chinese Hokkien dialect.  This parade is the largest street performance and float parade in Asia.  This year's parade was especially festive and special, as Singapore prepares to celebrate its 50th birthday in August.  

 

Chiang Mai, Thailand

We took a four day trip to Chiang Mai and Luang Prabang (Laos) over the Chinese New Year.  Chiang Mai is situated in northern Thailand and we spent the first day of our vacation here.  Our first visit to Chiang Mai was in January 2010 and during this trip we visited an elephant training centre and some of the temples.  This time we specifically wanted to visit and spend time at Elephant Parade House.  

Elephant Parade House

We have been huge fans and supporters of Elephant Parade ever since the parade was held in Singapore in 2011 (for more on this parade, please see our blog post - http://www.samanddavidinsingapore-3.blogspot.sg/2011/11/elephant-parade-singapore.html). 

 Elephant Parade is he world's largest art exhibition of decorated elephant statues.  These elephants are created by artists and celebrities and each is a unique piece of art.  The life-size baby elephant statues are exhibited in international cities and after each exhibition, some of the parade statues are auctioned.  Limited edition hand-crafted replicas are created from the exhibition elephants and these range in size from 15cm to 75 cm.  Net auction proceeds of the exhibition elephants and 20% of the Elephant Parade's net profits are donated to The Asian Elephant Foundation.  The Asian Elephant Foundation is a great cause that works to save these magnificent, but endangered animals.

Our Elephant

Elephant Parade House in Chiang Mai has a huge selection of the limited edition hand-crafted replicas for sale, but visitors can also opt to paint their very own 15 cm elephant.  This is exactly what we did and after hours of taking turns painting, we finished our beautiful elephant. The inspiration for our elephant - love!

The great thing is that we got to take her home with us, where she will be part of our Elephant Parade collection.

Kalare Night Bazaar

We spent one evening in Chiang Mai and we visited the Kalare Night Bazaar.  This is a huge market with hundreds of stalls selling everything from clothing, to material, to food and souvenirs.