Chinese New Years from an Outsider's Point of View

Thought I'd write down some thoughts before I stop writing in this altogether. Ever since I've started working, seems that's all I do. It's kind of frustrating always having to work when you're in this amazing city with sooooo much more to explore. I have yet to see HK's natural environment. Hypothetically, there are hiking trails, villages within access to fishing ports and fresh seafood restaurants. Outdoor recreational activities are a huge weekend endeavor here, most locals try to get away from the crowd during weekends and even leave to China during long weekends. I have yet to go to the Peak, the famous touristic trail all the way to the top where the ultimate aerial view of the city from Lantau Island lies... it's ashame that I've already lived here for almost 3 weeks and still haven't explored such popular destinations.

So this entry isn't going to be so descriptive to HK's surroundings. Nothing reflects local culture more than spending Chinese New Years here. For me, it was lonely. I waited for the firework show along Victoria harbor for almost 2 hours, listening to others chit chat in Cantonese with family and friends. However, the fireworks were worth the wait, like everything in HK, it was multiplied by 10, it was liken to watching 10 shows in a row... all across the harbor with a backdrop of skyscrapers. The fireworks appeared to be shot directly from the buildings and large ships across the way. For the first time ever, I watched a firework show displayed horizontally across the horizon. The residue of pollution across the sky in the end was evidence of the intensity of the show.

Throughout the 1st three days, (since all of my local contacts had left town to be with their families in various cities in China) I made my way along popular sites, where families clustered outdoors at temples, along commercial corridors along the harbor and to flower markets. I could see just how family oriented the locals are and how CNY traditions are still very much a custom. When asked, 100% of my friends told me they spent their CNY going to their relatives' homes to fill their bellies and collect money. It's a total "family obligation" some of their attitudes implied, and two of them got food poisoning! I finally got a taste of Chinese New Years after the 3rd official day came to an end. Like Tet, it is celebrated all week long, and even though HKers are sooo hard working that they come back to work after the 3rd day, their new year spirit stayed with them. Despite being totally new to everyone, I was given money envelops that came in all different colors and sizes, many with cute imprints. Which was also accompanied by traditional lion dances, (you could hear drums from the dancers beating all day long because they danced across the shopping mall from door to door to collect money!), a company dim sum lunch celebration and a trail of other special lunches with coworkers. It felt like Christmas in the east, everyone was just so jolly. I got another money envelop today, I think in all, I collected HK$ 100.