Keith and I watched and cheered on our friends, Sam and Steph, who participated in the annual Dragon Boat Festival. This is an ancient festival in Hong Kong and each year hundreds of thousands join in on the event at Victoria Harbor. Usually, you form a dragon boat team with your colleagues at work. You raise money for the event and you invite others to come cheer your team on.
While some join the event just for fun, others are true athletes, competing for the win. There are many locations around Hong Kong that holds the annual races; however, the most common place to participate and watch is Stanley. The day we visited, this area was packed with teams getting ready in their tents, and people hanging out on the beach to cheer the rowers on. Before the races started, teams joined together for stretching, a motivational chat, and even entertainment to get them all pumped up! Some teams went all out and entered the racing area with bagpipers and drums!
We cheered on our friends from the beach. Although mini races went on all day, the actual distance for the rowing was quite short (maybe 3 minutes long??). Our friends got 3rd place in their division! How amazing!
After the event, there was a beer festival and other activities to celebrate. Keith and I hope to join a dragon boat team one of these upcoming years but it does involve committing yourself months in advance to weekly practices.
Make sure you go to the festival if you're visiting HK in June!
While some join the event just for fun, others are true athletes, competing for the win. There are many locations around Hong Kong that holds the annual races; however, the most common place to participate and watch is Stanley. The day we visited, this area was packed with teams getting ready in their tents, and people hanging out on the beach to cheer the rowers on. Before the races started, teams joined together for stretching, a motivational chat, and even entertainment to get them all pumped up! Some teams went all out and entered the racing area with bagpipers and drums!
We cheered on our friends from the beach. Although mini races went on all day, the actual distance for the rowing was quite short (maybe 3 minutes long??). Our friends got 3rd place in their division! How amazing!
After the event, there was a beer festival and other activities to celebrate. Keith and I hope to join a dragon boat team one of these upcoming years but it does involve committing yourself months in advance to weekly practices.
Make sure you go to the festival if you're visiting HK in June!