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| Jan 24/Jan 1
It's New Year's Day ...
2 days ago ... |
Crime scene, yesterday ... |
9am. This is supposed to be the busiest in Kowloon. Where's
everybody? |
Now. The suspect who touched my behind has run away ... |
On new year's day, it's all so quite. Few people on the streets,
few vehicles roam the roads. Some 1.5 million (out of 6.5 million)
Hong Kongers left HK to spend their holidays. A growing trend after
1977 handover is that lots of us like to vacation in mainland
China. Taxi drivers are not happy with that. For me, who is so used to seeing tons of human beings
everyday, HK is almost like a ghost town in the morning of
New Year's Day.
A happy note on a closed door saying that the company
will reopen on the 9th. The cool fellow in costume is the
God of Fortune. |
It takes some extra cash for businesses to carry
themselves into a new year and thus it's prime time for
businesses to close down just before new year. This shop has
an unhappy notes on it's door saying "For
Rent". |
Bank holiday runs from 1st - 3rd of Jan (Lunar) but most of the
private companies will start work on the 8th. Some traditional
businesses will even have their doors closed till the 15th.
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On New Year's Day, you
can forget everything but not
"Kung Hei Fat Choi". It means "wish you get
rich". Very materialistic but it sounds more new year
like than "Happy New Year". So why change it? Ok,
back to person business. New Year greeting within the family
is the first thing to do on New Year's day. My sister Carol
and I pop into dad and mum's room yelling "Kung Hei Fat
Choi" like 2 big New Year alarms (sounds like we are
still little kids but we are 30+. Well, we are always kids in
front of dad and mum). Dad and mum are
obviously prepared. 2 "Lei Si", or red packs, are
handed to me and Carol. He he. For
kids, or big kids, Lei Si [lucky thing] is the fun part of
Chinese New Year. Simply put, it's money inside small red
envelopes. Some people are givers of Lei Si while others
are receivers. The rules goe:
- one have to be married in order to give Lei Si
- older generation
gives to younger (like dad to son, grandma to dad, Joe to
Joe's friend's kids, etc.)
- boss to
subordinates
- anybody if the
giver doesn't mind
A "complete box". It only shows
up during New Year to hold New Year candies for visitors. We
have fried melon seeds, candy water chestnut, candy lotus
seeds [have nice babies every year], loose skin orange
[luckiness] and some other candies here. Be my guest and put
on some weight. |
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At 11am, my
smaller family is all dressed up and head for grandma's place for
a greater family New Year greeting. Let's see some
action:
Grandma and grandpa sit in the middle to accept
greetings. Besides Kung Hei Fat Choi, we wish them
"healthy body", "stay young forever",
"mahjong killer", etc. |
Lei Si flying around. Need an accountant to keep track
of which uncle/aunt has given Lei Si to which uncle/aunt's
kids. |
Say cheese. Cousin Sylvia takes a PIC with grandma. |
Grandma feeds slices of loose skin orange to all big and
small kids, meaning giving luckiness to them. |
Hey, this is the legendary Lei Si. This way please ... |
My Lei Si. It says "Fu" [fortunateness] on the
red envelope. |
Grandma happily displays her "doorbells".
Everyone is glad to see grandma in such a good mood. |
Lots and lots of them. Keep them coming ... |
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| On
New Year's Day, we are not supposed to have meat. What
we have for lunch and dinner is a chaotic-looking but
delicious dish. What's in there? We have rice noodle,
lotus seed, Fat Choi [get rich] (I've been eating this
for years without knowing exactly what it is. It's
some hair-like plant growing close to deserts),
mushroom, lettuces [generates fortune] and dried
oyster [good business], etc. |
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Why oyster
when It's not supposed to be a vegi? Grandma answers
"there was a monk who posts his stick (don't know
exactly the name for that stick) near a sea and said
'what ever that crawls up this stick is not a living
creature any more' (I guess it means it can get out of
the reincarnation cycle). So an oyster did."
Climbing up
that stick just to be eaten on New Year's day together
with mushroom and stuff!? How intelligent.
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It's
the most popular Chinese game - mahjong, after
lunch.
I am not that
crazy about mahjonging with grandpa and uncles. So I
go home and catch up with my sleep.
In the
afternoon of New Year's Day, we are supposed to go to
relatives' to say greetings. But since our family
hasn't been doing that for years, there won't be an
exception this year.
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So that's how my
New Year day looks like. Mainly a family day. It would be nice if I
can light some fire crackers, but if that is not allowed in HK, I
think an afternoon nap would be just as exciting for me. 
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