Chinese New Year

We stayed in Singapore for an extra few days to experience Chinese New Year and what an experience it was.

(More to come shortly.)

We got to see the actual Lunar New Year celebration in the Chinatown district of Singapore, and it was a riot. It is hard to describe how many people were packed into an area about four blocks square. Think of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and you may get an idea. The major difference is that most of the participants are asian and there were no flashing of breasts.

We arrived in Chinatown at around 7pm and decided to follow the crowds as they shopped for traditional New Year's items such as oranges, bags (to put the oranges in), and red and yellow banners. I'm not sure that I understand the reasons for purchasing all of these trinkets, but it was a shopping bonanza. The streets were lined with booths of all sorts with the hawkers calling out "two dollar! two dollar!" and trying to grab you to come and look at their wares. We didn't buy anything except some drinks to quench our thirst, because it was still pretty warm out. However, we could have spent all of our money within an hour.


We had heard that getting into any line is difficult in Southeast Asia. Everyone pushes towards the front, and if you aren't competitive you won't get anywhere. This was especially true during our walk through the Chinese New Year celebrations, as there were a few thousand people milling about in such a small area. We were persistantly shoved and cut in front of. It is a good thing that we didn't really have any place to go. Unfortunately, we were both groped, but neither of our wallets were stolen.


We eventually ended up behind the main stage and saw the final acts before the fireworks. We got to see and hear a lady who was obviously popular, because when she went onstage the crowd erupted (at least the men were excited). As I mentioned, we were behind the stage, so we didn't get to see the main part of her routine but she did turn towards us a few times to belt out some of her tunes.

Finally, the moment of the New Year approached, and we turned our eyes skyward to see the fireworks. Somehow, we had ended up right below the display, and we were suddenly covered in exploded paper and black powder. Everyone around us was rushing to get under a canopy or simply to get away. I wish we would have had our handy umbrella, but alas it was in the hostel.

The fireworks didn't last as long we expected, but it was a cool show. Afterwards, we walked back to our room. There were other people wandering the streets headed home as well. It was comforting to see all of the families sharing their stories of the recent celebration. The New Year is a time of new beginnings, and it seemed a very poignant moment. Aww.