Happy New Year, everyone (sorry so late)! We really enjoyed our first Lunar New Year in Hong Kong, especially because it is the year of the dragon. This is the most special symbol in the zodiac, signifying the luckiest year.
People here warned us that it's always very cold during the New Year, and they were right. The highs (and lows) were in the 40s for most of the week, which doesn't sound that cold to anyone with a REAL winter, but it still felt pretty chilly. We don't have heat in our apartment, either, so we had our little plug-in heater blasting away the whole time! But the cold didn't stop us from getting out and having fun.
Before the New Year, every district has flower markets to sell supplies for the holiday. Evangeline and I checked out the one in our area, just to the northeast of us in Sha Tin:
In front of some kumquat trees with her Thomas balloon
And the weekend before the New Year, the three of us went to the biggest one, which is in Victoria Park on Hong Kong Island.
Flowers for sale
Mums are very lucky
Lovely orchids
Not exactly sure what these are!
The first morning of the New Year, on Monday, we went to the big temple on the other side of our village for the temple fair.
It was absolutely packed with people coming there for good luck. Everyone was banging on the big drums and spinning the golden pinwheels.
Lucky paraphernalia
Our lucky girl!
On Tuesday we decided to check out the Hong Kong Wetland Park in the western part of the New Territories. A lot of birds spend the winter in the marshes around Hong Kong, and luckily for them, the government decided to preserve some of the wetlands for them. It was a really neat place, and we practically had it to ourselves.
The view of the main lake from the visitor's center. You can see a few of the hides.
It was crazy that there was this preserve right by a densely populated area. Those are all apartment buildings.
But the highlight of Chinese New Year for Evangeline was definitely the Lion Dance! Our estate had one for the residents, and we stumbled upon some more when we were out and about. I don't know why we didn't bring our real camera, so you'll have to make do with iPhone pictures.
The percussion crew and the two lions at the beginning
One of the lions leaping on the podiums
The lion comes by the crowd for the kids to pet him
Here is a video that Joseph took of part of the performance. He took another that showed more of the acrobatics, but unfortunately Evangeline deleted it! But this features the climax, which maybe is better. The lions spend the dance looking for auspicious fruits and vegetables to eat. Earlier, they ate plates of mandarins and "spat" them into the crowd--Evangeline got one! This video shows them finding the lettuce, "eating" it, and then spitting it out:
Needless to say, the whole thing was very exciting for Evangeline. She talked about it endlessly afterwards, and I had to tell "the story of the Lion Dance" for weeks. She was too shy to pet the lion at our estate, but after the last dance we saw at a shopping mall, she screwed up the courage to give a lion a pat.
E poses with the lions and kids and one of our security guards
It was an amazing holiday and we can see why it is so popular!
The month of December was such a whirlwind for us that Christmas seemed to come out of nowhere. Suddenly we were just a few weeks away and realized that we should take advantage of the holidays Joseph had and go somewhere. Christmas is peak season for all of the beaches in south east Asia, and we were too demoralized by the thought of going north and having to buy winter clothes again (we didn't bring any along), so a friend suggested Bangkok as a good option for an easy getaway. Sure enough, there were some good package deals, so we left the day after Christmas for three nights in Bangkok.
And we loved it! It has a certain reputation, and anyone who has seen The Hangover 2 probably thinks we're crazy for taking our precious two-year-old there, but the seedy underbelly of Bangkok isn't hard to avoid. We found it to be an easy city to be in with a toddler. The people were extremely helpful and kind, and we were amazed by how often locals would stop what they were doing to talk to or try to play with Evangeline. And of course, the food was incredible--we didn't have a single meal that wasn't completely delicious.
On the airport express train
On the way to the city
The biggest advice we were given was that hotel location was key. You want to be near Bangkok's sky train or metro so you don't have to deal with the legendary traffic:
Gridlock on a street by our hotel
We were very glad that we took that seriously and were able to zip all over the city, traffic-free. We got a big kick out of the motorcycle taxis, especially when you'd see a businesswoman demurely perched on the back of a motorcycle, clutching the driver as they weaved between cars. Not an option with a toddler, though!
Motorcycle taxis outside our hotel
A popular food stall nearby
Ko Ratanakosin, the area with most of the famous temples and palaces, did not disappoint. Since most of the area is sacred, visitors must dress modestly, which means no skin showing except for your arms. If you didn't get the memo, no problem:
Every time we went by a group of frat boy-types sporting their rented pants, we couldn't help chuckling.
Evangeline takes it all in
All of the lions got a hug from Evangeline
Evangeline was delighted with all the feral cats in the complex
The famous reclining Buddha
Evangeline's favorite thing from the whole entire trip, of course, was riding in a tuk-tuk.
A close second was drinking young coconut.
Singha for Daddy, of course!
The easiest way to get around by the Chao Phraya river is the Chao Phraya Express, a system of passenger boats. Very un-American--you just hop on and off the boats from little platforms that aren't completely fenced in. I was nervously clutching Evangeline the whole time, as you can imagine.
Our "station"
A boat in action
The view from onboard
The food was so amazing; I'm still dreaming about it. We ate like kings for a fraction of what you'd spend here. And everywhere we went there were carts with fresh and dried fruit, which made dragging a toddler around a lot easier. Here's an (iphone) shot of a typical meal:
Spicy papaya salad, spring rolls (for E), pad thai, mussamun curry, rice, young coconut, beer, sippy cup :)
Besides eating, our favorite thing that we did was rent our own long-tail boat for a private cruise. For around $35, we had a personal hour-long tour of the river and up a canal.
A long-tail boat
Cruising up the river
Our driver
Wat Arun from the river
The faster our boat went, the better!
Buildings on the canal ran the gamut from the very nice...
...to the partially submerged
Canal life
It was a lovely trip and a welcome break from getting pushed around in Hong Kong. We will definitely be back to Thailand, although we'd like to see the beaches next time.
