The Lantern Fest November 2015 Fayetteville, North Carolina

I didn’t blog as much last year, I was busy trying to sell the old house and fixing the new fixer upper and spent all my weekends on projects. We didn’t get to camp as much either, 2015 was a blur to me. One day I saw a sponsor suggested ads of the Lantern Fest came through my Facebook news feed and it was in Fayetteville, NC. It was a 3 to 4 hours drive, quite a distance for a day’s trip for us. The festival made me think of Yi Peng Lantern Festival in Chiang Mai Thailand, I’ve always wanted to participate but not sure when I’ll have the opportunity to visit Thailand. The 3 to 4 hours drive versus 24 hours airplane ride made the decision easier. I have to say it’s one of the most memorable events that we have attended. It was held at the Fayetteville Motor Speedway.

I’m not sure what went through my dad’s mind but he spoke about the event for several months.

I have to keep reminding Lee that it’s not a hat.

This was our first time and we didn’t know how to light the lantern.

They are coming to Charlotte, NC this year, it’s a 1-hour drive and the decision should be simple right?

Songkran Festival 2014 at Wat Greensboro

We celebrated a Southeast Asian New Year at our local temple Wat Greensboro on Sunday April 13, 2014. We had a good turnout and the weather was exceptionally nice, it was in the 80s. Songkran is one of the biggest events at our temple. It is the time of the year for a new beginning, and for some of us it is the time to wash away the rust that has been clinging to our hearts and souls, learning to let go of the past and to start fresh with the new beginning. I am the temple photographer and do love the colorful and rich culture of the event.

Some photos were converted to black and white due to the orange cover above making everyone’s faces looking orange.

People brought in foods to offer to monks, we only had three monks holding the service so there were plenty of foods for all of us.

For the love of photography you can’t have enough photography gear. P’Odd carries this many gears on a regular basis, perhaps this might be on his light side.

The photo below was taken by P’Odd. It was nice of him to offer to take a picture of me pouring water on the monk’s hand.

We songk nom pra or pour water over monk’s hands for blessing.

This young man asked the monk to bless his tattoos.

I think it’s still debatable if tattoo is just a body art or a cultural sacred design.

Jaydee Cide or sand stupas.

Lee has grown so much this year.

Looking back to the time when she was 6 year old, these two photos below were taken in 2008.

Lee paid homage to the birthday Buddha status or the Day Buddha status.

Time has changed, but this temple remains the same sacred ground for us.

Instead of splashing water, shaving cream is still popular in this part of the country.

Khmer classical dance

I’ve posted more photos at Wat Greensboro’s Facebook page, please click here to see more Songkran Day Festival 2014 photos.

Rules-Cynthia Lord Book Signing

Lee went to Cynthia Lord’s book signing at Lenoir Rhyne University for the Little Reader program on April 13, 2013. She was so excited to finally meet the author, and this is the second book signing that she has gone to at LR.

A stage play of Rules by LR student.

The little readers on stage, I had to switch to my 70-200mm zoom lens to get this closeup shot of Lee. The rest of the photos were taken with my 24-105mm lens.

This has to be the proud moment for any author.

Lee was so happy to be able to take photo with one of her favorite authors. People were standing in line waiting patiently for their turns, so I only had 1 shot at this.

LR campus was beautiful last weekend.

Here is her signed copy of Rules, I finally had a chance to practice with my new flash since I took this late at night.  It’s Emily or Lee for short, and our last name was too long so the author drew a line across. This is definitely a good message, “Dream Big!”

Photos were taken with 5DMkIII, Canon 24-105mm f/4L lens , and EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens.