Chow Fat Buck Choy... er... something...

After a full 24 hours in transit, I arrived at Big Sister's Hong Kong apartment last night around 9:00 PM HK time. Dropped off my bags, grabbed a bit to eat and headed out to Victoria Park (A.K.A. Chinese New Year Central). Thousands upon thousands (literally... I was stepped on and pushed so much that sometimes my feet did not hit the ground for several minutes) of people crowded around buying and selling traditional New Years decorations and a ton of blow up crap!

Inflatables were the hot item, and they included everything from over-sized scissors that actually moved on some sort of hing to decorative bags or rice and realistic looking fire extinguishers. The really hot items were jumbo inflatable lolly pops (2-3 feet tall). Some of these were decorated with pig heads on top... yep, it is the year of the boar or pig... better yet, I am told it is the year of the GOLDEN pig which only happens every 60 years or so... give or take. Careful, all of those oohs and aahs can lead to asphyxiation and loss of brain function.

We ate some traditional Chinese candy--very good luck at New Years as it signifies a year of sweetness to come-- and drank some fresh sugar cane juice--they were grinding up the cane as we waited.

Now, be careful to avoid unlucky evens that can mar your entire year if experienced during the New Year celebration. At all costs, you should avoid the following:
-buying shoes or pants
-cutting your hair
-sweeping the floor
-buying fried squid from a guy on a bicycle in Time Square

Most of those are traditional, but the fried squid thing is just good advice from a girl who knows.

Happy New Year and Chow Fat Buck Choy... I mean to say, Kung hei fat choi! Except I can't really say that, and people give me funny looks when I say it my way. Must practice the lingo!

Right now, even the FRUIT can say it better than I, but then I do not have on a cute New Years sweater like these wordy apples...