Myself and Vicky displaying our artwork with Sim

OK….so there were no ridiculously sexy adult costumes, no kids with bags, very little candy, or goblins..

…but there were some carved pumpkins. And bourbon. And coke.

I was hanging out at Sim’s Guesthouse with some new friends, when David, a very cool photographer from Singapore overheard me saying how it was Halloween and that we should do something. Sure, Halloween is recognized by several countries, and is growing in Europe, but no one really does anything….it is still primarily for the children. He was gracious enough to sponsor a bottle of Kentucky bourbon and unlimited cokes for a guesthouse party if we carved some pumpkins “American style”. Getting paid for making art that I would have done anyway???

I almost broke my legs getting to the market to purchase some pumpkins.

Last year Halloween was spent at the dinner table and trying to Salsa dance in Northern Italy, fun but only the bambini (children) wore costumes. Well, there was no time for costumes this year either (it was around 20:00 already) but there would be time to make some Jack-o-lanterns. I proceeded to the market, with Shira from Israel and Vicky from Australia, both of which were also celebrating their very first Halloween, and we wandered the fruit section until we came up with something close.

I know it wasn’t a pumpkin, but it was squash-shaped and orange, close enough. Vicky settled for carving a water melon. I hoped that they were authentic enough to meet our end of the bargain with Sim for the party. We arrived back at the guest house and spent the next hour or so carving the pumpkins (or whatever the hell they were) with the help of the elusive white rabbit, who took it upon himself to clean up the seeds we left behind. Altogether we spent about $3 for a spectacular night that everyone would remember for some time.

At the end of the night, we had 2 very handsome melons carved (Vicky outdid me on her first attempt!) and had them burning on the table to let everyone know that tonight was the night.

It was a Halloween Sichuan-style that I will never forget. Thanks to Sim and Andrew for the opportunity!