The Streets of Chinatown on CNY

*This post was originally posted on our main blog on 01/29/2009*

After the Firecracker Ceremony at SRD Park, we headed back to the heart of Chinatown. We were told that there will be more celebrations there but we didn't really know what to expect. As we wandered through the narrow streets, Chinese New Year music and lion dance drum beats filled the air. The closer we got, the louder it became. We could also hear lots of cheers, laughter and children squealing with excitement coming from around the corner. This is what we saw when we made that turn.

It was just crazy!!! The streets were just packed with people and they were shooting confetti cannons into the air! Some were really big and they shot out parachutes with 'lucky sayings' attached to it. It was just a sight to behold. The ground was just covered with confetti!! There was so much confetti that when we got home later on, we still found confetti tucked in our coat pockets and in our hair! :D It seems that it's a Chinatown tradition that they shoot confetti cannons every year, on the 1st day of Chinese New Year. You could buy them from street vendors at $5 a piece for a big cannon and 3 for $10 for the small ones.

This is the aftermath. Empty cannons laying everywhere and confetti just covering every inch of the ground. When I took this photo, they were still shooting the cannons. I bet you can't even see the ground by the end of the day.

Lion dance troupes were just everywhere! They would dance in front of shops and some shop owners would invite them into the shop or restaurant. The troupe would of course receive a hong bao from the shop owner after dancing in the shop. The whole atmosphere was just so festive. There were all kinds of lions, there must be at least 12 different troupes that day. Everything is so colorful and nice. Here, I'll just let the photos do the talking.

We ended the day by going to a Dim Sum restaurant for a late lunch. I will of course blog more about that in the next post. It was certainly as experience to celebrate Chinese New Year in Chinatown this year. Of course nothing beats celebrating Chinese New Year back home in Malaysia but I guess it was as good as it can get when you are so far away from home during this season. I'm also really glad that Kevin took the day off to head down to Chinatown to celebrate Chinese New Year with me. He knows that it can be tough sometimes to be away from the family during the holiday season and I know he did everything he could to make this a great CNY for me. That is why he is the best husband in the world!! :D