It's the year of the cat, let's paint some boats!

Here in Da Nang almost anything that is worth celebrating ends up on the bottom of these small round boats that they put on display down at the beach. You don't often see these boats actually being used but they are a pretty iconic part of the beach landscape in this part of Vietnam. I don't know much about the boats themselves but I can tell by looking at them that they wouldn't do so great in any sort of rough seas.

Seaworthiness aside, they do make for a good surface or canvas, so to speak for artists to do something interesting or cute for just about any holiday. The Lunar New Year is basically the most important holiday here in Vietnam so they went all out for it.

These boats are about 5-6 feet in diameter and they are propped up by some sort of metal. I don't really know how it works but even with high winds they tend to not fall down so whatever it is, it seems to be working.

The weather was relatively cold and not terribly beach awesome so it was actually quite easy for me to get these shots without a million people standing in front of it. This is not the case during similar events that they have in other times of year where the weather is warm. I prefer the cold season but the locals and most Asians tend not to.

Most of the boats were cat-themed but they also had some traditional stuff dedicated to fisherman and other working-class people. I can't say for sure but I believe that some of these are actually reused for any holiday that happens. They certainly look familiar.

I decided on a favorite of all of them and this was the one. I have a strange criteria for why I like the things that I do and it isn't because it is the one with the most talent. I chose this one because it looks like children or someone trying to be childish made it and it also has the new animal riding the moon into the new year - which is pretty damn creative if you ask me.

These art boats can be seen down at the beach in Da Nang during just about any holiday but in greater numbers during the more important ones. It's always free and definitely worth a look!