Pink heart explosion day

Valentine's day. Usually, right after Christmas, Valentine's day decorations explode all over North America but in Hong Kong, this is delayed because of Chinese New Year. Depending on when it falls, the crazy pink explosion could be totally avoided just because CNY is just that much more important. This year, there was a 2 week gap between the end of CNY and Valentine's day so there was still time to bring in some pink stuff.

I happened to set out onto Sai Yeung Choi Street where there are tons of buskers and street vendors at night the day before Valentine's and found an array of interesting things. Here are some pictures.


Glass candy: the candy is soft until it hardens. You can make the candy into a balloon and blow into it. If you make the candy balloon bigger than the hoop on the stand, you got a lollypop on the top row. If you didn't, you got the consolation prizes seen on the bottom row.


Ostentatious bead presents - shiny flowers/cute things. Good present?


This guy has no fingers and made these clay/dough roses. Really pretty and a win-win gift for your loved one. You look good helping out the guy making the roses AND your loved one gets a beautiful handmade gift AND it lasts longer than real flowers. Total win.


There were quite a few buskers on the street. These guys danced to Lady Gaga. My friend and I got second-hand embarrassment from them. It was THAT bad. At least we got a laugh over it.

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

This comes a bit late but I figure better late than never, I suppose. Life has been busy as usual and it does take a while before I get the motivation to write on this blog. Without further ado, here are a few things that I did for Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.

CNY came as a huge surprise because of how quiet it was. Suddenly, almost everything was closed and the streets were devoid of people - a first. One place that's usually quiet but full of people, however, were the temples.


The statues at Wong Tai Sin temple were decked out in bright red ribbons.


In Macau, the Amah Temple was setting off firecrackers.


A visiting friend and I also braved the HUGE crowds in the Chinese New Year fair/flower market in Victoria Park.



Such colourful plants and flowers!


The Che Kung Temple is a popular destination for CNY. A few Chief Executive candidates went the date before I did.



What to do when you're at the Che Kung Temple during CNY: spin the wheel of fortune and bang the drums to herald the New Year!


For some reason, buying whirligigs is very common around this time. I got a little one though there were big ones as well!


There was also tons of CNY paraphernalia! So cute!


The Mandarin Oriental also heralded the new year with this centrepiece in the cake shop!