Thursday, February 18, 2010

"Gong Xi Fai Chai-iiiiiii!"

Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year everyone!  I am a tad late, but been sick and having computer problems.  As I am writing this, I need to be rushing around stuffing my suitcases as we will be leaving in just a few hours  :-)  However, I wanted to post about the Chinese New Year before leaving.

The entire city is decorated for the New Year:


Bright, cheery and colorful.  The Chinese New Year reminds me in some ways of the American Christmas celebrations... the entire city/country decorates and celebrates.  Everyone's spirits are frantic, lively and excited.  People clean out their homes in anticipation of the new year, they buy new clothes to start the new year and they visit amongst family members and friends chattering about the new year's celebrations.  It is a very exciting time in Singapore!

The malls are decorated to the hilt:






China Town is a frenzy of activity with musicians playing:


Stuff to buy:


Ooodles of candies to sell:



Other stuffs... ?

 


And... some really yummy...


Codfish Jerky Cubes?





Piles and bags of seeds:





Stacks and stacks of sweets:



Couldn't read most of the signs, but I should have bought 500 grams of this because the bags were cool  ;-)


Piles of hang pao packets are for sale - 8 to a bag, they are sold to put money in - usually in multiples of 4, and depending on how close you are to the person is how much you give...  Traditionally, you get these as long as you are single and until you start working...


They are also used for decorations:


Some things I just don't find as pleasant:





 

 

All of this is right out in the open, people pawing through it all, smelling it, tossing it back in the bins... frantically, excited and chattering... picking out the best of the best.


Some things are just fun to look at:


 


It is the year of the tiger now, folks!  I hope you have a great one  :-)


We are off to the states tonight - flying our first time through Moscow.  I am feeling much better - either the meds are helping or the gluten free diet - I have no idea which, but I am not complaining.  I may finally be on the road to recovery.  Now to get the computer fixed - or tossed.  We are considering buying a new one.  It is my lifeline to the outside world - and so frustrating to have it up and down so much.  We have finally figured out one last problem is hardware... it looks like my CPU is crashing  :-(

Oh well, another worry.

Not a worry for today though - I want to leave you with a tad bit of a popular American song with the upbeat Chinese music we listen to all over the island at this time of year:


1 comment:

Noelle Reese said...

Have a safe flight!
All that meat stuff would have me throwing up on the street. I don't know if I can visit EB. LOL
LN