Singapore: Chinese New Year

For many exchange students, CNY represented too good an opportunity to miss. For most (including myself) it meant 5 or 6 days off in a row, with no tutorials or assignments due.

However, I decided to experience CNY here, and catch up on Uni work and readings etc... Travel has taken its toll on my uni work, and I need to do more than the bare minimum as my grades are transferred (for many of the Northern Hemisphere students, esp. the Americans there work is taken as a pass/fail!)

So...as there were a few of us remaining in Singapore, we made the most of it, visiting Istana (the Preisdent's House on Orchard Rd), having a 'reunion dinner' with a local family, and watching the firecrackers and fireworks from Chinatown itself on NYE.

Chinese New Year is celebrated in Singapore with a two-day holiday. The holiday revolves around spending time with your family and relatives, particularly if you haven't seen them in a while - hence the many full flights, and the importance of Taiwan-China flights around this time.
We (Jane, Mike, Brandy and myself) spent Tuesday night (New Years Eve) at Jane (from Canada)'s Aunt's apartment enjoying reunion dinner, and learning to play Mahjong (Chinese 'pairs' game basically). It was great - the variety and amount of food was unbeliveable, and I tried many types of fish and meat (including cow and pig stomach) that I would never have otherwise eaten. (At least its preparing me for grasshoppers and spiders in China!). Got to practice some of my limited Chinese and visit my first HDB apartment. Thanks Jane!

Reunion dinner ended around 10pm, so we made our way to Chinatown, along with 500,000 other Singaporeans, and wedged ourselves in the crowd to count down New Years. Despite the numbers, it seemed remarkably quiet compared to Sydney NYE crowds, where by 10pm you may as well stay at home because its so packed.

The firecrackers which followed the countdown (done in Chinese! - Shi, Jiu, Ba, Qi, Liu, Wu, Si, San, Er, Yi) are a tradition, however I don't think they've been used in Singapore for many years - and only now has the ban been lifted! I am not too sure why they'd ban such an obvious part of the celebrations, but hey, this is Singapore, the land where you can be fined for spitting, but having 10 people sitting in the back of a pickup truck is fine!

At midnight, after some of the crowd had dispersed, we followed a mass of people around the streets of Chinatown to do some last-minute CNY shopping. We picked up a box of Mandarins for half-price (still overpriced compared to normal!), some sticky cake, and bubble tea along with admiring the tackiness of it all. It's just like Christmas - again!

Wednesday, the first day of the new year, is a day of new beginnings - so the Chinese are expected to have a new haircut (they can't cut their hair in the first three weeks of the new year, as its bad luck), and wear an entirely new outfit. This is the day when they visit all their relatives, and the kids pick up Ang Pao (red packets - containing money). I spent Wednesday at home, and saw Seoul Raiders, a Korean-Hong Kong action comedy, along the style of Charlie's Angels. Very poor, but it knew it was being stupid, so it was ok!

Thursday was our visit to Istana ('Palace' in Malay), the President's residence near Dhoby Ghaut station on Orchard Rd. This place is MASSIVE! It covers a block from Orchard Rd to City Hall. It's only open on selected public holidays every year, and we got to wander around the grounds (just like Government House in Sydney) and selected rooms in the house. Apparently, in the afternoon President Nathan and his wife came out to greet visitors, but we had left by then

And that was it, Chinese New Year Singapore-style!