HAPPY NEW YEAR~!

It's been 2012 for 2 hours already in Hong Kong and the festivities are dying down.

So what do people do for the solar new year here? Well, there are parties in Lan Kwai Fong (aka the expat district) and a countdown at Times Square and then as always, an occasion for people to take pictures of stuff aka a fireworks display at Victoria Harbour.

Let me tell you now - watching these fireworks may seem like a tame activity but it is not something for the faint of heart. First of all, there are massive crowds. The main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Nathan Road, was pretty much pedestrianized and shut off from normal traffic. Then there was the harbour. The Avenue of Stars was PACKED. Did I also mention that we were there starting at 9PM? (The first little display - a star on the ifc and a little firework shooting from the roof - was at 11PM...) Here is a picture of all the people standing directly behind me.


And when I mean packed like sardines, I mean, there were awkward moments when the lady beside us was shimmying up and down in front of her man friend. I dunno what they were doing but the awkward turtle was definitely swimming about. My friend also got an elbow in her ribs for prolonged periods of time.

My friend and I couldn't get a viewing spot by the Avenue of Stars and had to settle for a spot near the Ocean Terminal shopping mall. Or near the ostentatious ad for Toy Storyland to be precise. We couldn't see the fireworks that were blowing up from the buildings left of the ifc but at least we got a clear view of the ifc. It was a grueling wait. We literally stood in our spots packed like little sardines for 3 HOURS. (Yes, we're crazy, I know.) Starting at 11PM, the ifc would have a little star on it and a little firework would go off. This happened every 15 minutes and each of the stars were different colours to symbolize different things. I only bothered to take a picture of the red star, which is supposed to symbolize love.


And finally, in the last minute (literally), there was a countdown (the crowd around me was counting down in Cantonese) and fireworks! Cool! Though it should've been way cooler with all that waiting we did. (I didn't take a picture of the fireworks because I figured I should fully enjoy the spectacle after waiting for so long.)


My friend and I lingered for a bit before heading back but in the end, we still had to face... THE CROWDS. You seriously don't understand unless you've been there. Crowds and crowds of people filling the sidewalk and the road on Nathan Road. Police blocking certain streets for crowd control. Crowd control was pretty well done though I'll have to wait for tomorrow's news to see if anything horrible happened. (Can you spot the foreigner in my picture of a crowd?)

Foreigners tend to stick out literally because of their height. LOLs.

Anyways, whatever you did, I hope everyone has a great 2012~!

National Day in Hong Kong

October 1st is a national holiday in Hong Kong as it was the day the People Republic of China (to which it belongs to) was founded today in 1949. In other words, it's like the 4th of July in the U.S. or July 1st in Canada day but for *mainland* China. The main celebration was of course, the fireworks at Victoria Harbour where people lined up for hours to secure a spot in Tsim Sha Tsui but a friend suggested that we go elsewhere ('tis a secret spot) and some friends and I did and we got to partake in a 20 minute display of fireworks. Awesome.


National Day wasn't all about fun and games though. As I was walking down Nathan Road, a small parade was marching down as well. There were marching bands and most of the parade consisted of people holding up banners. It seemed all cheerful and whatnot... until you read the banners. I'm pretty sure I saw one that said, "The PRC was born out of ten thousand (a figurative number that's often used to express the idea of infinity) atrocities." It might've said something else along those lines since my Chinese reading skills are still limited but I'm pretty sure that's what it said. Unfortunately, that banner went by before I could pull my camera out and take a picture but here's some of the other banners.


In the end, I think the entire parade was organized by the Falun Dafa, a sect that is prosecuted in Mainland China and therefore, followers have been fiercely opposed to the Chinese Communist Party.

I guess this is the funny thing about Hong Kong. Despite the fact that its ties to China are strong, there's still an element of independence here. This little parade on this national holiday would not have been allowed if these people had hopped on a train and went north for about 2 hours. It's the same with the candlelight vigils held on June 4th.

In any case, today was the first time I began to feel a little happier with this living situation. It's hard to NOT be homesick when you realize that you're not going home for a year but seeing the National Day celebration and the parade protest/whatever you can call it really made me remember why I wanted to come here in the first place.