Gary Burke.'s photostream  

Chess is a very popular and often cut-throat game here in the parks of New York City but the game of choice in the Chinese neighborhoods is Xiangqi, commonly known as Chinese Chess. I haven't a clue how to play this game or even a basic understanding of the rules, but it's so popular here in Chinatown. The players seem to take the game very seriously and there is always a sizable audience surrounding them, watching the game so intently. I really enjoy playing chess, so I'm sure I would like Xiangqi too, if I can find someone willing to teach me.

There were so many Lion Dancers at the parade, many in colors that I have never seen before. This green and silver one was new to me this year. I love to see these big colorful creatures come dancing down the street!

It was a nice surprise to see this woman dressed up as Disney's Sleeping Beauty during the Chinese New Year Parade. Seeing a Disney Princess was one of the last things I would have expected to find here, except perhaps Mulan who, surprisingly, was not there. She looks great as Sleeping Beauty though! So beautiful! I wish the float would have gone by a bit slower so that I could have gotten a few more shots of this lovely princess.

The Nygard store, a woman's clothing shop, has such bright and intense blue lighting that a lot of the street must endure being bathed in it's blue glow. It's a very cool sort of look, but I would imagine that if you were here all the time, working in another store or an office, it could become annoying very quickly! This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer tries to deal with that giant red Kenny Roger's Roasters sign.
This is a 3 shot HDR image, done with Photomatix and then run through Photoshop.

This shot really personifies Chinese New Year for me. I wanted to get myself one of these dragon puppets so bad but I didn't want to carry it around all day while was taking pictures, especially since it looks kind of delicate. Of course, I never got around to getting back there and forgot all about it until I was on the subway headed for home. I'm going to try going back to Chinatown later this week. I hope there are still some of these dragons left!