I spent another lovely evening down by the Love River, looking at all the lanterns that are on display and staying late enough for the fireworks. Lee opted out so I went with my friend Nancy instead. First, dinner. We met at a very popular traditional Taiwanese restaurant and for about US$10 we got more food than we could eat.

Next, on very full stomachs, we biked down the bike path and joined the crowds at the river. There were tents set up with dozens of sculptures, lit from the inside. I got the impression that there were professional as well as possibly school groups vying for ribbons and bragging rights. Most of the lanterns were made of gauzy fabric stretched over wire frames but some were made out of recycled materials - plastic bottles, milk containers, bottle caps. The variety and quality were incredible.

This year is the year of the sheep (or ram or goat. The Chinese language doesn't differentiate between them) so there were a lot of lanterns depicting them. The lanterns are on display for about a month but this is the last weekend of the official lantern festival so it was pretty crowded. But it was a happy, festive crowd and we found a cafe with seats overlooking the fireworks display so it was all good.