Picture of the Day: Full Moon 2018

A very bright and round moon this evening for the coming 2018

It's finally 2018 on the west coast and a full moon to boot!

It is the largest and brightest full moon for the year as it is closest to the Earth for 2018.

This one is called a supermoon because it is coming closer than 361,554.9km of earth.

My picture is really fuzzy, but you get the idea.

What a wonderful way to start 2018! Round and bright

Picture of the Day: Supermoon

Admiring the "Supermoon" from Admiralty

Tonight after dinner, my friend and I walked out of a restaurant in Pacific Place in Admiralty and looked up to see the moon.

The "Supermoon" is closest to the Earth now and so it appears 7 percent larger and 15 percent brighter than usual. The last time it was this close was in 1948.

The moon did look much bigger and we admired it for a few minutes, observing its roundness and brightness while taking pictures of it.

Later in the evening I went out for a run around my neighbourhood and saw many amateur photographers setting up their cameras trying to get a good shot, though there were many street lamps in the way.

Of course taking it from a smartphone isn't the best, but gives an idea of how beautiful it was, because we won't see it again like this until November 25, 2034.

Picture of the Day: Mid-Autumn Festival

Several white rabbits around a bouquet of flowers and Chang-e on the right

Two days ago we had blue skies and it was very hot. I took a fantastic picture of the sunset while waiting for the Star Ferry to take me across to Central from Tsim Sha Tsui.

Then on Saturday we had thunder and rain, though not the Amber rainstorm warning the Hong Kong Observatory had put up but had to cancel soon after.

There was a festive atmosphere at Belcher Bay Park

So today the hopes of having clear skies to see the full moon for Mid-Autumn Festival today were dashed with overcast skies, though no rain.

I had hopes of going for a swim this evening under a full moon at the Kennedy Town Swimming Pool didn't happen, but for once it was wonderful to have the pool practically empty because most people were out having dinner or too full to swim.

Next door at Belcher Bay Park, it was festively decorated with coloured lanterns strung along and even spot lights shining on certain areas that practically made it like daylight.

A good number of the neighbourhood residents were hanging out on the grass picnic style, and kids carrying lanterns ranging from traditional paper ones to plastic blown up ones of minions and cartoon characters, or even neon lit coloured bands. Other families wandered around the park as if taking an evening stroll after a big family dinner complete with mooncakes.

Children brought their lanterns to play with in the park

There was also a large lantern display featuring several white rabbits prancing around a basket of flowers and Chang-e standing by the side.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Watch Out for Mooncake Bribes

Name officials you think are spending too much money on mooncakes

With Mid-Autumn Festival on September 27, mainland Chinese officials are warning that the giving of gifts, particularly mooncakes, could be a hotbed for corruption.

Xinhua reported Song Dajun, deputy chief of the Party work style supervision office under the Chinese Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said: "The root is still there even though the tree has fallen".

Interesting metaphor considering the anti-corruption drive is still ongoing, so how can the tree have fallen already?

He called on supervisory bodies to be extra vigilant ahead of and during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays a few days after, as this period could be "used as a cover for subtle bribery".

Mooncakes are dense pastries usually filled with lotus seed paste and duck egg yolks, though these days there are numerous variations, like milk custard, red bean with mandarin peel, even durian and chocolate. Some are presented in elaborate packaging that may give the appearance of an expensive gift.

So beware! If you see Chinese officials spending excessive amounts of money during the upcoming festivities, report them to the CCDI! Violators will be named and shamed in a weekly report on the CCDI website from September 16.

Mid-Autumn Open Air Concert

The Mid-Autumn moon at midnight over Terme di Montecatini

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival will be a memorable one for me.

First of all I brought to Italy some mooncakes from Hong Kong to celebrate this special event with my parents and their friends.

I brought both the highly prized egg custard mooncakes from The Peninsula, andd also traditional ones from a place in Fanling where the baker may retire any time now.

After a dinner of rustic barley soup, swordfish and tiramisu, we tucked into some mooncakes and then headed to Terme di Montecatini to listen to a gala evening of music.

The beautiful setting for tonight's concert

The spa itself is gorgeous -- built in the 17th century, it has painted tiles on the walls, frescoes on the domed ceilings and marble columns and floors. The property is large and spacious, and off to one side are the actual waters -- Regina, Rinfresco and Tettviccio to name three of the six that come out of taps.

With the full moon slowly rising above, we sat outside in the open air to watch a concert featuring four opera singers in an exercise in musical diplomacy between Italy and Russia, or more specifically Montecatini and St Petersburg.

It seems ironic the concert is happening now with the current conflict in Ukraine, but perhaps that's what music does -- trying to bridge political gaps through mutual interest.

The fantastic tenor and soprano with the conductor in between

Nevertheless, it started off late, well after 9.30pm and then there were the translations of welcome messages from the Montecatini mayor and a Russian representative in Italian, English and Russian, so the concert didn't actually start until after 10pm.

Half an hour later there was a 15-minute intermission which made us wonder what was going on. But it seemed like many of the locals were there to socialize and didn't mind the early break.

Following the intermission was when the concert really came together and the audience was rapt by the performances of the tenor and soprano in particular. The other soprano had fallen ill and the conductor called another to replace her yesterday. She did a fine job.

The conductor even sang a few lines in a duet with the substitute singer which was amusing. It was also impressive that he could speak in the three languages relatively effortlessly.

So who can forget a Mid-Autumn Festival with a full moon overhead and listening to the operatic works of Tchaikovsky and Puccini like La Boheme and Turandot in a gorgeous Italian spa?

Pictures of the Day: Mid-Autumn Festival

A hot pot lantern with a tiny but round moon in the distance!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 中秋节快乐！

The weather in Hong Kong has cooled in the last few days and with Mid-Autumn Festival here, the drop in humidity with some wind have been very welcome.

A reflection of the water bottle dome lit with LED lights

For today, companies must let their employees off early so that they can have the traditional dinner with their families and eat mooncakes.

So YTSL and I took the opportunity to have an early dinner and then head to Victoria Park where the main Mid-Autumn Festival event on Hong Kong Island is held for the public.

Inside was like a curtain creatively lit by water bottle lights

We arrived from Tin Hau station and immediately saw a giant dome made of plastic water containers lit with LED lights and got into the massive lineup. Luckily it went quite quickly -- just over half an hour, walking through the snaking queue until we got into the dome.

A traditional puppet show that's now mechanized

The shell itself is made of those giant water cooler containers and then inside there's thousands of water bottles also with small LED lights in them. They were like a curtain of water bottles which makes for an interesting low-cost design. Apparently the water bottles will be recycled after this event is over.

After our short tour of the dome we wandered around a bit -- or more like waded through a sea of people, everyone constantly taking pictures everywhere, making it hard to dodge and move.

There was a row of stands with businesses selling everything from drinks to cotton candy, dried squid, and even cha chaan teng chain restaurant Tsui Wah selling toast and its signature milk tea in a bottle.

One of the better-looking lanterns on display

We also saw some traditional crafts, including puppets, but these were automated.

However we weren't very impressed with the lantern selection this year. It seemed like the theme was food, and so there was a giant hot pot, a bamboo steamer with dim sum in it, a massive skewer with fish balls on it, and egg waffles too. Yawn Lame.

After that we were pretty much wiped out from having to deal with the crowds. You can only take so much before you just want to go home! Nevertheless we were pleased the weather held up nicely, the big round moon poking through the clouds periodically, because Typhoon Usagi may visit us on Sunday...

Fish balls and egg waffles... hmm...