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!

Miscellaneous: August in pictures...

September is here! But before we enjoy this month to its fullest, here are a few pictures from August that I couldn't post in my previous blogs.


I found a giant figurine of one of the 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots in Shatin. The equestrian events were held in Hong Kong.


One day, I was going out to get groceries and in this public square nearby, there was this guy with two pet tortoises! One of them was named Peter. It was so cool!


This is the biggest ice rink in Hong Kong. It's in a mall called Megabox. Needless to say, there will be no figure skating competitions held here. Although there were some people who were learning how to figure skate.


I don't know if this is creepy or cute. Little monkey doll thing dressed up as Totoro. The monkey thing isn't cute but being dressed up as Totoro is.


My Chinese reading is still in the works so I didn't realize that the "Lai Chi" in "Lai Chi Kok" would mean lychee. Unless I'm just being gullible.


A stunning view from one of the bird observation houses at Hong Kong Wetland Park. A nature awareness and conservation site in the boonies.


Hong Kong bakeries have the cutest cakes!

That's all for now!