“The Hong Kong Tourism Board is proud to support the culture and heritage that makes Hong Kong such a vibrant city,” said Anthony Lau, executive director of Hong Kong Tourism Board. “We invite visitors to immerse themselves in these ancient celebrations, which truly capture the colour and lively spirit of the city.”

From May 9 to 13, the Cheung Chau Bun Festival will take place on the charming island of Cheung Chau. The famed Bun Festival was named one of the “Top 10 Quirky Local Festivals” by Time Magazine and for good reason. As the story goes, the villagers summoned Pak Tai, a powerful deity, to protect them from a devastating plague, and then paraded through the streets to ward off evil spirits. For more than a century, the villagers have celebrated the festival with the vibrant Piu Sik (Floating Colours) Parade, papiermache effigies, Chinese opera performances, lion dances, and delicious food throughout the week.

Where do the buns come in? Every year, local vendors produce tens of thousands of ping on bao, aka “lucky buns”. Be sure to mark your calendar for the main event: On May 12 at 11.30pm, the mind-boggling Bun Scrambling Competition takes off. Competitors scale a 14-metre-tall bamboo tower covered with 9,000 imitation buns and try to collect as many buns as possible in three minutes.

From May 6 to 12, the city marks Buddha’s Birthday with a week of carnivals and spiritual experiences. A common ritual is Bathing the Buddha, where worshippers wash Buddha statues with water to show respect. Then there’s the Celebration Carnival for Buddha’s Birthday in Victoria Park, the Buddhist Birthday Charity Concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum, and various events at Po Lin Monastery, on lush Lantau Island.

May 12 is considered the birthday of Tam Kung – a sea deity worshipped by fishing communities. Tam Kung is known for his ageless face and ability to forecast the weather. Every fourth lunar month, villagers celebrate the god at the centuryold Tam Kung Temple in Shau Kei Wan. One of the highlights is the lion and dragon dance parade, which begins on Shau Kei Wan Street Main East and ends at Tam Kung Temple.

Find out more at visit http://www.DiscoverHongkong.com/eng/seedo/eventsfestivals/chinesefestivals/index.jsp.

After winning the hearts of dance aficionados around the world for almost five decades, Asia’s renowned Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan will go through a major transition next year. Its founder and artistic director Lin Hwai-min whose name and works are almost inseparable from the company’s will step down and hand the torch to Cheng Tsung-lung, currently the artistic director of Cloud Gate 2.

Notwithstanding the name, Cloud Gate 2, founded by Lin 20 years ago, is more like another company than a second company. Cloud Gate only performs works by Lin while Cloud Gate 2’s dancers are younger and do not necessarily aspire to be in Cloud Gate but would rather enjoy working with a variety of choreographers. Lin has been carefully preparing this transition in his company for two decades now, and it’s clear that he wants people to focus on works and the philosophies behind them, not certain individuals, which is probably why he didn’t put his name in the company’s.

Commissioned by the National Performing Arts Centre (NPAC), Taiwan ROC – National Theatre and Concert Hall (NTCH), the National Taichung Theatre, and the recently opened National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts (Weiwuyin), “22? Lunar Halo” had its world premiere at the latter venue during our Songkran weekend. It was then the closing act at the Taiwan International Festival of Arts (TIFA) 2019 in the capital before travelling to Taichung last weekend. Tickets were hard to find in all three cities. While I had watched Cloud Gate in many cities around the world, it was at NTCH where I had my first, and clearly not last, experience of Cloud Gate 2 in Cheng’s“22? Lunar Halo”.

The substantial support from three theatres meant that Cheng could specifically request to work with his composer of choice – that’s Iceland’s post-rock band Sigur Ros and their longtime collaborator music director Kjartan Holm. The result was original music as unpredictable and riveting as the dance itself. The album has also been released and listening to it by itself, without recalling the images from the stage, would definitely create significant sensations and meaning.

In accordance with the title, which is derived from the natural phenomenon when the moonlight is refracted by 22 degrees through millions of ice crystals in the atmosphere causing a halo, the 70-minute work revealed the uninhibited to the point that it occasionally looked primitive or even animalistic. The six young female and eight young male dancers were up to every task.

Another star of the work was the visual design highlighted by the three LCD screens of different sizes and angles which frequently caught our eyes by surprise, sometimes acting as mirrors reflecting stage actions and on which videos were shown. As striking as these visual elements were, they never stole the spotlight from but always supported the dancers, a task that required close collaboration between visual designer and director Jam Wu, video designer Ethan Wang and lighting designer Chen Pohung.

It’s evident from this work that Cheng not only knows how to create a unique dance choreography but also how put all these elements together into an artistically unified production too. “22? Lunar Halo”, it’s been reported, will soon tour in Europe and be part of Cloud Gate’s repertoire once Cheng begins his tenure – fittingly so.

Cloud Gate nearer home

– As part of the Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay’s dan:s series, “Cloud Gate 45th Anniversary Gala Programme — Lin Hwai-min: A Retrospective” with excerpts from nine internationally acclaimed works, like “Moon Water”, “Bamboo Dream”, “Wind Shadow”, “Cursive”, “Pine Smoke” and “Rice”, is at the Esplanade Theatre in Singapore tomorrow and Saturday, 8pm.

– Tickets are from SGD 40 (Bt940) to SGD 120. For more info, visit http://www.Esplanade.com

– Keep track of Cloud Gate and Cloud Gate 2 at http://www.CloudGate.org.tw

The long-standing partnership began in 2009, when Hiltl vegetarian meals were first offered aboard SWISS flights as part of the airline’s award-winning “Taste of Switzerland” inflight food service programme.

“Hiltl is a byword for varied high-quality vegetarian cuisine. As a premium airline, we greatly appreciate being able to count on our collaboration with them to offer our guests such tasty vegetarian meals,” says Jan Trachsel, Swiss’s manager of inflight culinary development.

The three-course anniversary meal includes a starter of a spicy beetroot tabbouleh, a main course choice of penne with vegetarian bolognaise or a massaman curry and a vegan mango mousse for dessert. Travellers, who do not wish to forgo their meat, can still order any of six a la carte meals via Swiss.com in advance of their flight.

First and Business Class travellers also have the additional option for the main course of a vegetarian Tofu Mirsang, while Swiss Business travellers can opt for potato gnocchi in a saffron sauce.

“I am delighted that Swiss’s awareness of the potential offered by vegetarian cuisine has risen so much in the last ten years,” says Rolf Hiltl, owner and chief executive officer of Hiltl.

“This has also enabled us to grow increasingly bold in our inflight meal creations. Some 40 per cent of Swiss’s Economy Class travellers now opt for the vegetarian meal offering.”

Since 2016 Hiltl has also been providing special vegetarian meals for Swiss such as for vegan travellers or those with certain food allergies or intolerances. And last year saw the collaboration further extended with the addition of an exclusive Hiltl meal to the pre-bookable quality a la carte selection that is available for Swiss longhaul flights.”

Find out more at http://www.Swiss.com.