Chingay and beyond

Singapore's Chingay celebrations end today, the 7th day of Chinese New Year (CNY). Growing up in Penang, Malaysia, I'd always associated Chingay as a fun Hokkien event with floats and giant flags, and was pleasantly surprised to see what a huge event it is in Singapore! In typical Singapore fashion, the government imported this idea from Penang (where it appears to be no longer practiced), made a huge commercial event out it and called it its own - "the new Chingay stands for spontaneous expression of a new communal spirit and Singapore soul." BTW, the government originally introduced Chingay in 1972 after a public ban on firecrackers. They had to find something to keep the people happy (!)

Hubby and I are enjoying our first ever CNY together in Asia with family, friends and even colleagues. Our only regret is that the public holidays went by too fast and though we got two days off (which we never had in the US), there's so much more obligatory visiting to do in Asia. When visiting, it's tradition for the host to provide an assortment of tastes, receive (and give in return) two Mandarin oranges. The picture below shows some CNY goodies laid out on our table. Those red packets of money given to children (mentioned back here) are also pictured here.

I didn't have time to take many pictures, but loved this community spirit shot of how the nearby Indian temple "celebrated" Chinese New Year along with their Chinatown neighbours.

Now that the big spring festivities are winding down, work is winding up and I'll be making several Asia-Pacific business trips over the next few weeks. Though the countries are ideal tourist spots, I suspect my schedule will be pretty much airport to hotel to the office(s), and back again. The only tourist-y thing I'll get to do is compare the hazy views from my hotel room. Here's one from Bangkok just over a week ago: