A quick tour of reds from around the world.

Mexico has red hot chile peppers! And these are habaneros which are the hottest of the bunch! And then there is the red and green of the Mexican flag which shows up all over the country.  The Danes have a red and white flag, and it shows up all over the place too. These ladies in Copenhagen, Denmark were celebrating the 50th birthday of their Crown Prince, waving red Danish flags and wearing crowns upon their heads.Canada also has a red and white flag featuring the red leaves of the Sugar Maple. We don’t have Sugar Maples here in BC but we have plenty of other maples that turn red in the fall as this sidewalk attests. Cuba’s flag is red and yellow, and this billboard shows off the words of Che Guevara in the colours of their flag. Most Asian countries find red to be a significant colour. Japan is ‘the land of the rising sun’ and their flag is a red sun rising in the east. Passing out red envelopes (紅包, red wrap) during Chinese New Year. Red symbolizes luck and prosperity, and the envelope usually contains a small gift. I have received dozens of these over the years and have just learned from this China Highlights Website that there is an etiquette attached to both giving and receiving the envelope. They love Santa hats in Vietnam but I think it’s more to do with the fact that they are red, and red means a celebration, a time to wear these spiffy Vietnamese take on Santa suits.The Brits are big on red too, with their double decker buses and red telephone booths.
I noticed that the buses are also red in Hong Kong, as are the taxis and the Peak Tramway. Must be the British influence.
The red Welsh Dragon tops a weathervane on Llandudno Pier in northern Wales.
Red bromeliad flower, growing wild in a jungle in Costa Rica. And it makes sense that most fire trucks are fire red like this ‘BOMBA’ in Malaysia. So far most of the reds have been ‘fire’ red and quite pure. This red laquerware typical of Bagan in Myanmar is a touch darker and has a bit more orange in it.From Spain comes Sangria made with red Spanish wine and oranges. (How to make it.)A Indian temple in Kuala Lumpur with a pot of red powder to mark your forehead with a bindi. Rubies are red edging towards purple or pink, and they are for sale in Bangkok, Thailand.
Red is also the colour of blood, and congealed cow’s blood is on offer at the market in Luang Prabang, Laos as a high protein item in a country without a lot of protein available.
The prize, after a long trek through ankle-deep mud, a giant Rafflesia, the largest flower in the world, about four feet across. Supposedly it is a type of fungus or mushroom, and looks and reeks of rotten meat in order to attract flies! (Hiking in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia.)A dark earthy red seems to be the prescribed colour for a lot of houses in Sweden, a special Swedish red called Falu. I’m not sure if it is especially good at protecting wood from salt water damage but every boathouse along the water is painted this red. The term ‘red rocks’ is used to describe the landscape of the south-west. Mostly it’s more orange than red but sometimes it really is quite RED, like this cavern in Lower Antelope Canyon, USA. Here another set of really ‘red’ rocks, this near Cafayate in Argentina. Woman in red in the Red Fort in Delhi, India. More of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Red, Read or Reed.