February 9th, 2005
Now, at this time of year, The Chinese New Year, everyone goes around giving oranges out to symbolize prosperity and good luck. Jer's lab got several boxes of oranges from the Scientific Sales Representatives. And many places had these mini orange trees decorating their property much like we all have a Christmas trees and decorations. We thoroughly enjoyed the mini oranges as they were the sweetest, most juicy and seedless bursts of goodness you could eat in one bite!

Look at how small they were!


And these tiny ones tasted THE BEST! So sweet and juicy and seedless, you could eat the entire orange in one bite!


Decoration everywhere!

We went to Chinatown on Feb 9th, the first day of the "Chinese New Year" (based on the Lunar New Year) and these are some of the decorations we saw. Unfortunatly, there wasn't a lot of action, much like our Jan 1st in the States.


Bridge Decorations


Rooster with Golden Eggs-hmm, roosters don't lay eggs!


Where did I park my bike again?

But with a festive New Year's Eve, comes hoodlums and crime. This is what we found at the MRT where we were going to lock our bikes before heading to Chinatown.


It's just like my bike lock which they told me (the guys at the bike shop) takes one hour to cut through!


What an array of color!

Ramping up to the CNY, everyone was buying stuff to hold them over for the few days that shops would be closed and the country would grow quiet. Here is a colorful shop we passed while getting supplies to clean our condo. I bet you never knew that mops and buckets could look so pretty!


Where is that drumming comming from?

From the first week I was here, I kept hearing banging, drumming noises, randomly, and then I caught a glimpse of what it was. Trucks full of men would cruise up and down the roads playing drums and pounding on what sounded like pots and pans. It was actually rather festive, but they never did it outside of fair game hours.


Decorated street at night. This one is near where we would go and have dinner near Davis's condo.


Qwak, Qwak!!! I am sure somebody somewhere eats those heads!

In preparation for food stalls to be closed for a few days, folks were stocking up on food supplies. Here is a guy who sells ducks! I guess he keeps the heads! And I'm not sure that he was so siked for Jeremy to take his picture.

Unfortunatly, the most excitement would have been on New Years Eve. But, we didn't go out then. We did however, enjoy all the decorations as they were being put up. I went to TWA (Two Wheeled Action) on New Year's Eve, during the day, and rode my bike. By the time I was heading back to Jeremy's lab, it was just after lunch, and it seemed that a mass exodus was beginning to occur all around me. New Year's Eve was only a half day work for most folks and we were told (by our neighbors, who are in Bangkok right now) that hailing a cab would also be difficult if you wanted to go anywhere during the first 2 days. But, they said that the MRT would still be running and there would also be some bus service. We planned to get some provisions for the first few days and use our new kitchen to test our Asian Cooking skills!

Want to know a little bit more about the Chinese New Year? We talk about it a bit more during Kelly's Birthday.

© December 6, 2008