Out to Space

13-15 April is Songkran Festival, traditional Thai New Year. Thai community in Sydney has the celebration called Thailand Grand Festival in Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour. Last year I explored the Buddhist ceremony and the entertainments on stage. This year is pretty much the routine with merit making and blessing in the morning then stage shows in the afternoon. No Aboriginal welcoming protocol has a presence here, just the Premier representative. Do we need a black fella to officially open every single event in Australia or, at least, just an acknowledgement?

The best improvement this year must be Singha Beer tent and the promotion girls are willing to table serve the customers while gulping some beer with her friends along the way. It feels like home. Of course, there are loads of food. Many of them you cannot find in typical Thai restaurants in Sydney. Other than that is largely tourism promotion.

The hi-light performance would be Joe Louis Traditional Thai Puppet Theatre. Unfortunately, the show has to stop due to the rain. The best Thai attitude is still applied here by stating it is the shower of the angels even though everything is on hold for a while. Nevertheless, when weather is clear, the event continues and the crowd is back again despite of the soggy ground.

I would like to use the word Songkran on this post which unofficially unannounced in the event. It is the best we can get on such a special occasion away from home in Sydney.

69 shots of where people set there bottoms down at Fair Day of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras 2008 Festival.

While New Mardi Gras is releasing their official images of Mardi Gras Slide Show, I have my own angle of the events. It is obvious what fascinates my eyes at Fair Day. The colourful stuff they bring along on the day reflects the diversity of the community.

69 Blankets slideshow features Magic Games by Jacques Renault, released by RCRD LBL under a Creative Common BY-NC license.

The official Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras has to wrap up with the party. This is a big dose for an excessive life of modern world.

This is it, another year of Mardi Gras. This year it celebrates 30th anniversary. On the second time I am involved as a photographer, it intrigues my thoughts in many ways. I will sum up what I have experienced the festival later.

The peak of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival for the public is definitely the parade. The vibe starts to kick in when people come in early to Oxford Street in order to get the best spots to see the floats. Once the roads are closed for the march, more and more audiences pile up outside the barricades whereas the show are being prepared inside. The lucky ones who reside on the buildings along the streets can watch the glamour from above while the crowd further away from the actual parade gets wilder and wilder as the night goes along. The community has successfully thrown another party to the city which seems to be hungry for decadence.

A rainbow flag of a boat flying with Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background.

Another major event of Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival and the last key party before the final Mardi Gras Dance Party rolls in, Mardi Gras Harbour Party, Sol Y Luna.

The simple concept is just having fun while watching sunset in Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens with Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in the background. Moreover, it is special this year when two cruise liners, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth 2, rendezvous. And this is the last time that QE2 cruises in the Harbour before her retirement.