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!

Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake

So I have to make a confession. I have an obsession. With desserts. Yum. So when I found out that the cakes at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central were absolutely fabulous, I would not rest until my foodie friend came with me to the fancypants hotel (which was intimidating to my proletarian soul) to try it.

All I can say is yum. I got a lychee raspberry mousse. The flavours were amazing and fresh and the texture was creamy but light.



My friend got a chocolate cake which I took a bite of. Also very delectable.


Here were some cakes on display. Yum.

Can you believe this teddy bear was made of cake?



I love this rose pattern. This could appear in the Sunday Sweets section of Cakewrecks.


So adorable!



A cake modeled after their famous rose-petal jam.


I plan on trying every single cake they make before I go home.