One of the best times to visit Taiwan is during the Chinese New Year celebrations when the lantern festival is celebrated. While traditionally people displayed hand-held lanterns and lit firecrackers, the festival is a lot more hi-tech now. This year the main lantern which was several feet high depicted a child with a Taiwanese dog since 2018 is the Year of the Dog. The lantern was lit with hundreds of LED lights. The 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival was held in Chiayi. Spread over 50 hectares, the exhibition ground held hundreds of lanterns in all shapes and sizes. There were characters from comic books, birds and animals, dragons and demons, all colourful and lit up. Walking through the grounds admiring the lanterns, the mood was festive with people chatting, laughing and enjoying the sites.