Kung Hei Fat Choi!!

We got back from Cambodia just in time for the beginning of Chinese New Year celebrations. Chinese New Year is Christmas, Easter, New Years, the Super Bowl, your birthday and any other celebration you can think of all rolled into one. It technically lasts for 15 days, but from what I could tell, the first 5 or so are the most important. It's a big deal for the workers in China because it is usually the only time that they will go home to see their families. It is also a time for people like John & I (because we are married) to give out Lai See or red envelopes. The red envelops have money in them and they are technically supposed to be given to unmarried people and children, but it also serves as a way to tip your doorman or housekeeper and people like that. It's stressful because whenever we came in or left the building, there were about 7 more doormen than usual who swarmed us shaking their fists in a begging motion chanting "Kung Hei Fat Choi", which basically means "happy new year", but in this context means "please give me a red envelope". I would get really uncomfortable and ended up giving 2-3 red envelopes to the same people over the course of Chinese New Year.

This year is the year of the Rat - I've heard different stories about how the animals in the Lunar calendar were selected, one of them has to do with a race to Buddha. Apparently, the Ox was winning the race to Buddha and the Rat was sitting on the Ox's back. Then right before the finish line, the Rat jumped off the back of the Ox and won the race. The year of the Rat is the first year in the lunar cycle, and the Ox is the second. I'm not sure if that is the real story, but I do know that there was a celebration of Rats EVERYWHERE and a huge effort to make them not look like sewer-dwellers.

It is also very popular for a Lion Dance and fireworks. Our apartment building had a lion dance I missed it because I was the sickest I've ever been in my life and couldn't get off the bathroom floor - but John took some pictures and said that the kids were mesmerized by the lion.

We then made our way down to Victoria Harbour to see the firework show. Hong Kong is famous for it's elaborate fireworks and we were not disappointed. Some of the fireworks were in the shape of Chinese characters, letters and numbers. Here are some pictures