Olympic Torch Relay on Buddha's Birthday

Here are some spectators and their umbellas... an image that will forever be associated with Chinese people for me.
Here comes the torch...
Tour groups from mainland China. It's quite easy for me to now tell mainland Chinese people apart from Hong Kong Chinese people.




the "coca-cola" parade before the actual torch
Excited fans...many people wore red and gold to show their patriotism.
The torch!
Police presence was quite heavy. Although nothing happened, there were many threats of protests and uprisings.

Here are some schoolchildren who decorated t-shirts and had a special day out for the torch relay. I happened to be walking past just as they were posing for their group picture.

This past Friday, we had another day off for a Chinese holiday- Buddha's birthday. It happened to coincide with the Olympic torch relay going through Hong Kong. In fact, all of the Olympic equestrian events will held in Hong Kong, rather than Beijing, so this event was especially significant for many people. We live quite close to the racecourse, so we were able to walk from our apartment complex to see part of the torch relay along the road. Most people were quite excited and there was a general feeling of goodwill in the air.