Chinese New Year - Part 1

Monday 26th January saw the first day of the lunar new year - a celebration taken very seriously here. And it's been fascinating... (not just because I got three days off work this week!).
The first tradition I indulged in was braving the crowds at the Lunar New Year market in Victoria Park (in Causeway Bay, not far from Happy Valley). Basically, it has two different sections - a flower market (it is traditional to take flowers when you visit relatives for the big dinner on the Lunar New Year Eve) and then, well, I can only describe the rest as cheesy tat. There were all sorts of rubbish like you get at fairgrounds... most of it somehow linked to an Ox (2009 is year of the Ox). There were woolly hats in the shape of cows, cow horns, fake cartons of milk(!).... plus totally random stuff like slinkies, flashing sticks (like fake light sabres) etc etc etc... I guess it was kind of reassuring to know the east gets sucked into the tacky side of these celebrations as much as the west. I have to say the place was ABSOLUTELY heaving... sometimes, you just couldn't move anymore than a bit of feet shuffling and just go with the flow of the crowds.

Day Off in Central

One of the more unusual sites I've come across here is the descent of Filippino and Indonesian domestic helpers into Central on a Sunday... it is very common here for households to employ foreign domestic help, and Sunday is usually their only day off. They group together and basically set up camp around Statue Square and the HSBC building, bringing food, games etc to keep them occupied during the day. A couple of the main roads through Central are actually closed down to accommodate them!

Sunshine in Singapore

I was fortunate enough to spend last weekend in Singapore... and wow, what a lovely place... very clean and well-maintained, with a fabulous mix of new modern skyscrapers and colonial-style buildings. I was really lucky with the weather as well - it was around 28-30C and sunny all day. Although it was a bit humid, you could catch the odd breeze off the water at the quayside which kept things comfortable. Singapore has lots of rules and laws about not dropping litter, swearing in public, cleaning pavements, keeping gardens tidy, flushing public toilets etc, which some of the tourist stuff on sale made fun of. I kind of got the impression it's the Switzerland of Asia - great for a tourist visiting but maybe could get a bit sterile or dull if you lived there?
The area where I stayed, on the river, was kind of reminicient of Canary Wharf, all well kept bars and restaurants set about the quay, with outdoor seating. It was very quiet over the weekend too, presumably because it picks up most of it's trade from business folk during the week.
I also got the impression that Singapore is strangely proud of its colonial past and links to Britain. Sir Stamford Raffles, who effectively 'founded' and set the basis for the modern Singapore, is clearly held in high esteem. There are a lot of statues or memorials to his achievements across the city, including one by the quay where he first landed.
I did learn that in 1963, when Singapore declared its independence from Britain, it actually became part of Malaysia but split away to be fully self-governing 2 years later... given the amount of development here in massive contrast to what I saw in Kuala Lumpur, this was an excellent decision!

You Call This Cold??!

There's something about this place (maybe the humidity?) that means cold feels really cold... despite being used to somewhat more intemperate conditions back home, I've been almost permanently shivering for the last 10 days. In my defense, HK is going through some unseasonably cold weather (with temperatures below 10C it's the coldest winter for 20 years apparently...) but clearly I've become a wimp. It doesn't help that air conditioning is still on full blast everywhere! I finally gave in this morning and asked for a heater to be put in my apartment... oh dear.

Kuala Lumpur

I spent 3 days in Kuala Lumpur over the new year weekend. Not the nicest place I've ever been... the feeling I got was of a place that had tried really hard in some areas but had fallen behind on some of the basics. The architecture was very impressive - it's hard not to be wowed by the Petronas towers and the separate colonial and moorish influences have also left some very distinctive buildings. But, the pale brown bath water, extremely dodgy public toilets, lack of decent pavements (and where they did exist, often had cars parked on them, forcing you into the road anyway), and slightly mental drivers just left me feeling distinctly underwhelmed. The weather was challenging as well... very humid (which made me realise I've still got that to come here yet...), very wet - typically I managed to get caught out in a torrential downpour having left my umbrella on the desk in the hotel room, and thunder of biblical proportions at night... welcome to the tropics, Joanne!

Happy New Year!

Ok, so it's a little late but happy new year! Sorry it's been a while... when I got back at New Year I headed straight to KL for a few days before suffering a bought of 'flu (which is truly depressing when there's no-one around to look after you!!). But I am just about fully recovered now and looking to resume normal service! Hope you all had a great Christmas too!