Chinese New Year Celebrations

Chinese New Year runs for about a month and includes many festivals and celebrations.  We were lucky to take advantage of seeing many of these events.

My first adventure was simply heading to crowded streets of Chinatown.  I've been many times, but during Chinese New Year there are more decorations and more vendors line the streets selling this novelty items in recognition of the year's animal.

THE YEAR OF THE HORSE

Later in the season we headed to the Chingay Parade. This is a famous parade in Singapore's downtown area and is not to be missed.  The floats and performers were AMAZING.  

 This years theme was One People.  Uniting the different cultures throughout Singapore.

 The finale fireworks were great and we had a clear view with the beautiful palm trees.

Hong Kong Ladies Weekend

Last weekend I jetted off to Hong Kong for a shopping weekend with some ladies in our neighborhood.  I have a friend here who should basically be a travel agent.  She goes many places and does a great job finding deals so she did all of our leg work and I just had to write a check!  The ladies on the adventured commented, now we know what is like to be our kids when we book a trip and do all the work and they just come along for the fun.

Personally I love traveling however I really don't like doing the work to plan the trip.  I often get online start searching places, hotels, etc and then get interrupted, lose track of where I was, and need to start again.  It gets a little frustrating and confusing where I saw what (I forget to save pages and don't take notes).  So eventually, I just pick something and hope it's good enough.  So this was a real treat to have someone else find the deal.

We stayed in a great hotel that fit all 5 of us and we booked with the club level so free food, snacks, drinks (including alcohol) throughout the day.  Let's just say we only paid for one meal in 3 days- I think they lost money on our visit.  Below is the view of the city from the hotel and the 5 of us in the club room.

When we arrived Chinese New Year was just ending, the mall attached to our hotel had this cute pink horse (this is the year of the horse if you didn't know) decoration that I had to get a photo of.  We came to Hong Kong to shop and having a mall attached to where we were staying was great.  In Singapore, prices are so ridiculously high at name brand stores and the sales people hover thinking we are rich Americans ready to spend money.  So, I have stopped shopping at malls.  Instead, I order everything online try it on and then return what doesn't work- not the most efficient way to shop.  In Hong Kong the prices were comprabable to America's and the sale people didn't hover so shopping was great.  Getting to try on the clothes before buying was a real treat too.

What was Hong Kong like?- I had heard such great things about Hong Kong, I expected perfection.  I think Hong Kong was probably perfect in the 60's and 70's when it was new and modern, but compared to Singapore it just felt old.  Even the amazing skyline Hong Kong is so well known for didn't seem that grand compared to Singapore.  My opinion is mainly a refection of Singapore's eye popping new modern city that is so pristine they knock down a building that's getting just a little too old.  Hong Kong was definitely neat  but just older and the buildings weren't as tall and sparkly as those being built today. I think the best thing about Hong Kong was the natural scenery the water all around you, and the mountains just behind the city.  That is something you don't see everywhere.  

But as I mentioned, we weren't really here for tourism, we were here to shop! Right down the street from our hotel was the Ladies Market, Electronics Market, and the Sports Market.  Walking the streets and looking at all the trinkets the stores and street vendors had to sell was great.  I'm not a great bargainer- Fred always took on that roll in our relationship (I always left after we pick out a car, then he could get to work on the price).  I knew I was supposed to bargain here and tried a little but was shown a whole new light when one of my friends would name her price, the sales person would say no, my friend would walk away, and the salesperson would still shout out deals until finally got to her price.  My friend said, "I know I got a good deal since she wouldn't look at me when I paid."  Wow, I was totally impressed.  As I was buying some ipad cases I was about to cave on a deal and she stepped in saving me another $10.  I guess I always need someone like that in my life.

We spent one day going to Stanley Market which is full of street vendors selling all sorts of good deals- purses, pictures, shoes, jewelry, linens, clothes the items went on and on.  We took a quick photo overlooking the water holding our new purchases.

 One evening we went downtown to see the city and the lights.  We caught this light show which I videoed.  It was pretty neat, I hope you can view it.

 Our last day we were done shopping and decided to go up the cable car to Victoria Peak.  Riding straight up a mountain in a cable car was really neat.  We got to the top and it was all white- it was a really foggy day.  At the top there were tons of little tourist shops full of trinkets so we spent our time on the mountain shopping since there was no view.  I guess we didn't quite buy everything!

Monkeys Everywhere

So I'm posting a quick blurb with some photos my neighbor posted on facebook.  She has a huge mango tree in in front yard so the monkeys lover her home.  Today they swarmed by her front door and starred down her cat.  The monkeys seem to be getting a little more comfortable coming to our homes.

Actually as I am writing this a monkey is sitting on my front yard fence!  As long as I'm inside and they are outside (and I don't need to go outside).

Check out these photos.

Just as I was publishing this we had a bunch of visitors at our home (and our mango tree isn't even fruiting right now).  They stayed and looked at us watching them through the safety of our windows.

Thaipusam

Hindi Singaporeans celebrate a festival called Thaipusam.  The term Thaipusam is derived from the term Thai and Pusam.  Thai is a reference for the months of January and February (date of the festival) and the term Pusam is a name of a star.  The festival is held when the star is considered to be at its highest point in the sky.

To prepare the devotees pray and fast for 48 days before the festival in order to cleanse themselves.  On the day of the festival the devotees will shave their head and take a pilgrimage along a set rout while engaging in various acts of devotion that represent carrying their burdens.  Such acts may consist of carrying pots of milk or carrying spiked kavadis (semi-circled structures which can be carried on ones shoulders) to show their devotion.  Devotees also pierce their body or tongue to demonstrate their devotion.  (A few graphic pictures are below).

A few weeks ago, I went to view the pilgrimage with a few spouses.  It was amazing to see what these individuals would go through to devote themselves to their god.

The kavadis can be quite elaborate with beads, goal accents, and peacock feathers.

Devotees  walk about a mile from one temple to another. 

Some men had smaller individual milk pots pierced through their back.

On this day we were allowed to enter the temple as the men and women prepared themselves for this pilgrimage.  The crowds of tourists taking photos (including myself) was overwhelming.

 This man was being prepared and having his kavadis placed on his body with rods pierced through his body to support it's weight.  As the crowds watched him and the bars were placed around him cameras were shoved all around as people angled to get the best photo.  I'm sure this is not what they imagined would ever happen when they first started making this pilgrimage, which has now become a major tourist attraction in Little India.

I'm glad I went to learn more about this festival and see how devoted these individuals are to their religon.

El Nino

We have been hearing all about the cold temperatures and winter weather in Virginia.  Jen and Katie are sad to miss all the winter fun.  When we moved to California for a year and half they missed the blizzard of 2009 with about a foot of snow falling in Virginia.  Now once again gone from VA, there has been lots of snow.  We joke that every year we go away will be filled with snow.  As sad as Jen and Katie get over this, as a parent I'm quite thrilled to not have to deal with those snowy winters.  Shoveling the driveway and canceled school is never fun for the parents.  Oh yea and all the wet coats, pants, and gloves brought in - constantly running the dryer and wiping up the puddles left by the snow boots.  It's fun for the kids, but not the mom!

So the ironic thing is, in Singapore the El Nino has caused the most beautiful weather - since 2009.  We are in our monsoon season and it hasn't rained in 3 weeks, we have had low humidity, beautiful sunshine, and temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's.  It's absolutely gorgeous!

The first day I noticed the change, I was at Katie's soccer game.  The winds were picking up and the weather seemed to be getting nice and I thought oh no, it's going to rain, her game is going to get cancelled.  However, it didn't rain, it was just a perfect day to play and watch soccer and since then the good weather has stayed.  Three weeks later as everyone is commenting on the great weather and realizing this won't last I dragged the family to do an outdoor activity.

Singapore has a fair amount of gardens and hiking areas especially for how horribly hot and humid it is here.  No one in their right mind really wants to hike a trail in 90 degree hot and humid weather, but 70-80 maybe; and definitely if 70-80 is considered a cool day.

We ended up going to a garden area I really like called Gardens by the Bay.  It has beautiful flowering bushes and these super cool metal tree like structure soaring 25-50 meters high.

As you can tell by the photos the day isn't the beautiful blue sky crystal clear day I said we were having.  The clouds came in while we were there and just a few rain drops fell.  I really hope I didn't jinx our good weather.  Keep your fingers crossed tomorrow is nice too!