31 Jan 2012 ~ Day 9 of the Chinese New Year Festival

Listening to: Steely Dan ~ Monkey in Your Soul

Day 9 ~ Happy Birthday to the King of Heaven ~ Jade Emperor

According to Daoism, the Jade Emperor lives in the 33rd heaven and governs 33 heavens; so he is the king of heavens. Jade Emperor is a vegetarian. To celebrate his birthday, Chinese often mix six different kinds of dry vegetables to worship him: celery, shepherd's purse spinach, green onion, garlic, mugwort and colewort). This is believed to repel the evil spirits and sickness away.

Tyson may have witnessed this event at Starbucks today... the actual hanging of the vegetables, and he was kind enough to share this photo. [And he gave me permission to use his name in this blog post.]

I was also fortunate to receive a visit and Blessing from God of Wealth at the office today. (No, the card did not actually have any money in it.)

Just to look ahead to the upcoming days of the Chinese New Year Festival:

Day 10 - Eating Day: On the next day of the Jade Emperor's birthday, there are many food left from the birthday's ceremony. People have to take care all the vegetable, animal scarifies, cakes and fruit on the 10th lunar day of the year.

Day 11 - There is no special event on the 11th lunar day. Some families will invite daughter and son-in-law back to the house to enjoy the final meal left from Jade Emperor's birthday feast. {The following is a symbol for welcome money. Do we pay our parents? Or do they pay us for leaving the house?}

Day 12 - Get Ready - The Diarrhea Day

Many people keep eating greasy food from Chinese New Year Eve for 11 days. They might have a trouble for diarrhea on this day.

So this is the symbol for Red Luck.

Also, some people have to begin to prepare the Lantern Festival, which is on the 15th lunar day.

Can't wait!!!

30 Jan 2012 ~ Parade Part 2 ~ Big Red Fish

Listening to: Desmond Dekker ~ Fu Manchu

Double Birthday Wishes Day!

This giant red fish -- Kunchi Sea Bream -- was brought in for the parade from the city of Karatsu, in the Saga prefecture in Japan. This float was constructed in 1845.

There was a big contingency crowd from Japan in our seating section. Of the 15 floats, I think this was the coolest. (It's a short clip, about 1.30 minutes).

http://youtu.be/kUMmgeN9z90

29 Jan 2012 ~ Parade ~ Part I ~Waiting

Listening to: Barna Howard ~ Promise I Won't Laugh
The parade was held on the evening of Monday 23 January.

The weather was cool, with only a slight mist before it started, but we were fortunate to not have rain during the parade itself.

My coworker and I went out for a quick dinner. I had spaghetti carbonara and we split a nice bottle of wine. We wanted to get a bottle of wine for the parade itself, but all the roads were blocked off, so we thought our 15 minute search was futile...but then...just as we were about to enter...a sign beckoned....Wine & Deli. Yeah. They sold bottles. It was a funny deli, and we got to meet the Italian parade participants who were also enjoying lots of wine.

Along with my Workday coworker,

2 team members from our customer also went with us.

Here are the decorations all lit up at the clock tower (remember...these were what I posted from the morning I waited in line for the tickets.)

And some cool night shots of Hong Kong Island.

The wine kept us warm.

Next up...parade performers...

23 Jan 2012 ~ Lunar New Year Fair ~ Part 3

Listening to: S.O.S. Band ~ Just Be Good To Me

恭喜發財 !!

Gong Hei Fat Choy! [Happy New Year!]

On the eve of the Chinese New Year it is customary to visit with relatives and partake in a large dinner where a number of specific foods are served. Typically families do eight or nine dishes because they are lucky numbers. The Chinese word for eight is baat [in Cantonese], which rhymes with faat, the word for prosperity." The word for nine means "long-lasting."

A lot of the foods are very symbolic and some popular foods include: dumplings (because they look like golden nuggets), oranges (because they are perfectly round, symbolizing completeness and wholeness), and long noodles (served to symbolize long life).

Sticky rice cakes and sweets are also served and are tied to a story about the Kitchen God-- a Santa Claus-like figure who reports to the Jade Emperor in heaven on whether families have been good or bad through the course of the year. According to legend, when families serve the Kitchen God sticky, delicious foods, his mouth gets stuck together and therefore he cannot report any bad things about the family to the Jade Emperor.

Read more »

22 Jan 2012 ~ Lunar New Year Fair ~ Part 2

Listening to: Willie Nelson ~ Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain

I setup a YouTube page, so I can now upload videos there. To join me in my walk through the fair, please use this link. Please forgive the sound quality, the parts that are out of focus and the close-ups of the back of someones head. (It's about 10 minutes).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT_eC8X2Z7I

The other highlight of the Fair is the Flower Market. Buying flowers for the home symbolizes the coming of spring and a new beginning.

I ended up buying an orchid and tried to take a picture of myself in the market - hence the funny smile/smirk I have on my face. [Note, I bought new glasses with transition lenses.]

The orchid made it home safely on the metro and alongside my Dragon decoration I am prepared for New Beginnings in the year of my Dragon sign.

21 Jan 2012 ~ Lunar New Year Fair ~ Part 1

Listening to: Peter Rowan & Crucial Reggae ~ Little Maggie, 10/20/2001, Live Oak, FL

I asked several co-workers yesterday what they would be doing to prepare for the Chinese New Year Festivities. Almost everyone aswered "Cleaning my house." I thought it was just part of the fact of having guests coming over, but in fact, prior to the first day of the New Year it is customary for families to thoroughly clean their homes from top to bottom. Doing this is said to clear out any back luck from the previous year and to ready the house to accept good luck for the coming year.
All cleaning must be finished before New Year's Day so there is no chance of accidentally throwing out the good fortune of the new year.

So I also spent my morning cleaning the apartment and sweeping up the terrace.

I then headed off to Victoria Park where the Lunar New Year Fair is held annually.

I didn't think pictures could do this one justice, so I made a video as I started my journey. I'm trying to find out how to upload it since it's 10 minutes. Stay tuned.

20 Jan 2012 ~ Time Ball, Cyclone Warnings & Gas Lamps

Listening to: Grateful Dead ~ Scarlet>Fire (1/17/1979 New Haven CT)

A time ball is a large painted wooden or metal ball that drops at a predetermined time, principally to enable sailors to check their marine chronometers from their boats offshore. Accurate timekeeping is one way of enabling mariners to determine their longitude at sea. Time balls are usually dropped at 1 p.m. (although in the USA they were dropped at noon - because Americans have to be different about everything.)

Damn Ronald Reagan for nixing the metric system...my life would be so much easier if I knew what 330 mL represented....by the way, it's equal to 12 oz.

This is a Signal Mast replica. Mariners subject to dangerous typhoons (season here is May - September) needed detailed information of storm direction, severity and location in order to avert disaster. Signals on the mast would provide crucial information. In 1917 the first numbered system was introduced geared to the warnings of wind conditions.

These are the descriptions to be used on the mast representing typical Tropical Cyclone Warning Signals and their meanings.

These three original gas lamps have been de-rusted, cleaned, preserved and reconnected to actually utilize gas to fuel their illumination. Gas street lighting was introduced in Hong Kong in 1865.

19 Jan 2012 ~ The Flying Frenchman and 2 Other Sculptures

Listening to: Lissy Trullie ~ Madeleine (Lissy Trullie)

Outside of the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui are a few large-scale sculptures.

The Flying Frenchman is by French sculptor César Baldaccini.

 Searching for Position is by Lau Sui Hong, Freeman, and Sculpture 1 by Cheung Yee.

18 Jan 2012 ~ Mong Kok Flower Market

Listening to: Dev ~ Dancing in the Dark (TBA)
I love the Monk Kok Flower Market.

It has a fascinating selection of cut flowers, house plants and feng shui flora.

It was especially busy in preparation for the Chinese New Year festivities. (And this picture does not do justice for actually how crowded it is further down the street.)

The two flowers most associated with the New Year are the plum blossom and the water narcissus.

The plum blossom stands for courage and hope. The blossoms burst forth at the end of winter on a seemingly lifeless branch. In Chinese art, plum blossoms are associated with the entire season of winter and not just the New Year.

Water narcissus signifies good luck and fortune as it is a flower that blossom at New Year's time. If the white flowers blossom exactly on the day of the New Year, it is believed to indicate good fortune for the ensuing twelve months.

Additionally, tangerines and oranges are frequently displayed in homes and stores. Tangerines are symbolic of good luck, and oranges are symbolic of wealth. These Chinese New Year symbols have developed through a language pun, the word for tangerine having the same sound as "luck" in Chinese, and the word for orange having the same sound as "wealth". Pomelos are large pear-shaped grapefruits.

15 Jan 2012 ~ Waiting for Parade Tickets

Listening to: Van Morrison ~    (Astral Weeks)

I got up early on Saturday (6am) to go to the Tourism Board office to get in line to buy Chinese New Year Parade tickets. I was on the Star Ferry by 6:40 and in line by 7am (an hour before the office opened).

At 7:30 they handed out our ticket # and the time we were supposed to come back to actually purchase the tickets. I got ticket #63!!! Tickets usually sell out within the day (as only 1000 are available to the general public and there is no limit to the number you can buy.)

My ticket purchase time was 8:55, so I had some time to kill. Victoria Harbour looking at Hong Kong Island.

Starting to assemble decorations in the square.

Successfully purchased 4 tickets! One of my Workday colleagues is going as well as 2 of my customer team members. Got first row seats in section C1 along the parade route. The parade is on 23 Jan, and I'm planning on taking lots of pictures and hopefully some video for posting.