Chinese New Year

Red lanterns in Chinatown

CNY 2013- The Year of the Snake

Chinese New Year is a huge celebration for Singaporians, and red is everywhere. The city shuts down for a couple days as people get together with friends and family to bring in the new year.  The festivities officially last for two weeks, but Chinatown was buzzing with decorations, lanterns, and stalls selling foods, clothes, toys, and trinkets for CNY. A couple of my yoga friends and I went to Chinatown to look around one rainy night, and enjoyed roasted chestnuts and fresh coconut as we walked around. They have a huge line of yellow lanterns in the shape of a snake lining the road; you can see a few of them in the distance in the picture below.

Chinatown- You can see the yellow lanterns for the big snake in the distance.

Giant Pineapples!

Pineapple Goodness

 Pineapples are everywhere during CNY. They are in both yellow and red, and are hanging in shops, along streets, and peoples' homes. For eating, pineapple tarts are a special CNY treat. There are many varieties of pineapple tart, and depending on where you buy them they will have a different pastry or filling. The trick is that many different kinds look identical, so you have to remember where your favorites are sold. We tried at least 8 different kinds, and I'm not sure I can choose a favorite, but they are delicious.

Before the feast

Stuffed!

 CNY  Reunion  Dinner

   John and I were lucky enough to be invited over to my friend Wynter's house for the CNY reunion dinner. The reunion dinner is on the eve of the first day of the new year, and each family gets together for a HUGE meal. There are certain rules about whose family you go to if you are married and whose house you go to to show respect to your elder family. For the reunion dinner, we had our first steam boat, and it was delicious! Steam boat is a boiling pot of broth which you drop fish, chicken, pork, eggs, veggies, etc... in to cook then eat. John and I used our limited chop stick skills to drop stuff in, and thankfully they had ladles to scoop things out. I wasn't kidding when describing the amount of food, and here's a pretty good idea of the before and after. Though we were completely stuffed, we managed to eat pineapple tarts, BBQ pork jerky, and cake before heading to Wynter's grandfather's house. There we met her cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandfather, and yes, there was more food too!

Pretty colors in this salad

Lo hei: Prosperity Toss:

 There is a tradition that recently started where everyone gets together and has lo hei (prosperity toss), for good fortune and prosperity in the new year. As you toss, you are supposed to say auspicious words, including the world huat, which means prosper in Hokkien. Each ingredient has a meaning, as well as a phrase said to represent it (which I have put in red).  Raw fish symbolises abundance and excess throughout the year (nian nian you you). Lime is added brining luck and auspicious value (da ji da li). Pepper for more money and valuables (Zhao Cai Jin Bao). Oil is poured to circulate money in all directions. Carrots indicate blessings of good luck approaching (Hong Yun Dang Tou). Green Raddish symbolises forever youth (Qing Chun Chang Zhu), and white raddish for prosperity in business and promotions at work (Feng Sheng Shui Qi). Finally the condiments are added: Peanut crumbs for a house filled with silver and gold (Jin Yin Man Wu), sesame seeds for flourishing business (Sheng Yi Xing Long), and golden pillows (fried cripsy things) to symbolise wishes that the whole floor be filled with gold (Man Di Huang Jin). We were lucky enough to do this twice that evening, and it was probably the best part! We didn't know any of the words though, so we'll try saying those next year.

Success!

Lo hei

Two weeks of fun

The official first day of CNY was 10 February, and visiting begins. Each family goes to visit their older relatives, for example John and I would go to visit John's parents first, then any of his uncles, then can go visit my family next. Visiting continues for up to two weeks, but I think most of my friends were finished in a few days. We were so excited to be included in many of our friends' celebrations, and had such a fun time experiencing our first CNY here. I think we are still full of pineapple tarts and steam boat! Xx

Decorations

Adventures in Bali: Part III

A fish house in the distance

We spent some time in the water while we were in Amed. The picture above pretty accurately depicts the weather every day we were there: sunny, clear, and hot! We went snorkeling and fishing with the a guy named Dena. It was the first time I'd been snorkeling, and it was the perfect day for it. We got a nice tip from Dena about how to keep your mask from fogging up: pepsodent toothpaste. Sure enough it, it worked really well. We saw hundreds of fish, and the most colorful I'd ever seen. A couple clown fish tried to nibble on John's hand, but they decided that he wasn't too tasty. A jellyfish was eating Nemo right where we got in- jellyfish are fascinating to watch! Glad it was preoccupied though. We snorkeled in two different spots, and were out about two hours.. Definitely the highlight of the week for me, and we will have to get an underwater camera for our next trip.

Fishing with a handmade line!

 One of our last evenings in Bali, we went out fishing and for a late afternoon boat ride along the coast. Dena fashioned an extremely long and intricate fishing line, that came to look like a quarter of a spider's web for lack of a picture. He started pulling out his line at one point, and literally took out 15 fish in one go. John and I had no luck with this method, however, so I suppose we will stick with reel and rod.  He gave us four fish to take back for dinner, and they were delicious.

John taking a turn

The coastline was quite busy at sunset as all the boats were coming in. Once it gets dark, there is no way to find the shore til morning, so we headed back in during the pink and purple twilight.

Holy Mackerel! 

There are little altars to the gods all over Bali. Depending on where the altar is, you can find lots of different offerings. For example, in the Denpasar airport, there are altars outside all the different restaurants and shops so Starbucks had a cup of coffee in their altar while the gift shop had some candied mago. Around Amed, the altars are very well stocked with flowers, fruit, and usually incense is always burning. A man came around daily to maintain the altars at the hotel. They often have umbrellas to keep the gods and offerings from getting wet.

Shrine with umbrella

Shrine outside our room

The morning before we left, we had one final "Islander's breakfast", which is a really thick crepe with pineapple or banana chunks fried into it with some golden syrup on top, a plate of papaya, watermelon, and banana, and tea.  It was a great week in the East of Bali, and we would certainly recommend it.

Last breakfast

Adventures in Bali: Part II

nuts and citrus fruits

We took a day tour of the East coast, driving through the mountains, and weaving between coast and inland roads. As I mentioned before, rice and peanuts are a big product of the East, but fishing is huge as well.  We continued on to a bigger market in Amlapura, where they were selling all sorts of produce, baskets, and relics. Most of the market was under cover to keep it cool. From what we purchased,  John liked the snake fruit (fruit peel looks like snake skin) in particular, which he described as tasting like apple. I think they taste more like jack fruit, but you'll have to try for yourselves one day.

Bananas and durian in the back

Taman Ujung in Karangasem is a palace that the former king of Karangasem built as a "relaxation spot" for himself and his 24 children. It is a collection of buildings and gardens, and even has its very own meditation and yoga room! The shade rule we aquired in Texas proved true here as well- it  always feels at least 10 degrees cooler in the shade! In 1979, an earthquake damaged the palace and surrounding area, and only parts have been restored.

Yoga and Meditation Room

Tamaran Ujung

Next stop was Tirta Gangga, the water palace. Coincidentally, this palace was built by the same king as above, yet the architecture is completely devoted to the gardens and pools here. The size of the coy fish in the pools was incredible They had a main entrance, then another entrance to a swimming area up above. We walked around the gardens and along the different stone paths over the water. Check out the lion statue in the picture below. It is portraying a lion costume, and the person's feet are the back leg support.

Lions

Coy pool at Tirta Gangga

The third and final installment of our Bali adventure will be up shortly. As they say in Balinese,
Suk se ma (thank you)