The World is your Oyster

So, I have just experienced my first Chinese New Year, in Asia- and it was pretty cool!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the lunar new year celebration, particularly after the build up to Christmas was so big, but then the day itself barely seemed to be noticed by the ordinary citizens. But I had a good time being culturally educated about the biggest event in the Asian calendar.

Firstly, Chinese New Year is a time to be spent exclusively with your family- and it seems the larger the family gathering, the more legitimate your celebration! I was lucky that my mum arrived in Hong Kong just in time for new year, so although it was only the two of us, we could celebrate together.

On New Year’s Eve all the shops closed early, except for the flower market which was in full swing, selling bouquets of beautiful flowers, plus tangerine trees (with golden fruit, signifying prosperity) and trees I don’t know the name of, but which have bright pink blossoms on the end of their spindly branches. We saw people wrestling with them on the train, trying to get them home without them being crushed in the crowds! People were already wishing each other ‘happy new year’- Kung Hei Fat Choi!- and buying last minute gifts and red envelopes. Mum and I cooked ourselves a family dinner in my hall and ate together, which was really nice :)

On New Year’s Morning, I went into Central to check if the buses were still running (luckily they were)- and the place was a ghost town. I’ve never seen Hong Kong so quiet; almost all of the shops (except 7/11, naturally) were closed up, shutters down, as were all the banks in the financial district. There were virtually no people on the streets, except Filipino workers with the day off, and very few cars, taxis or buses on the roads. The markets in Wan Chai were all shut, except for a few Indian hawkers, and Causeway Bay looked like a scene from a zombie apocalypse, it was so quiet. My mum and I headed off to the East of Hong Kong Island to hike the Dragon’s Back trail (appropriate in the year of the dragon) and while we saw a few Chinese hikers, almost everyone on the trail was an ex-pat. That evening, we headed to Tsim Sha Tsui to see the New Year’s Day parade, but it was so busy we couldn’t see anything.

The first day after New Year’s Day was also a public holiday, with many of the shops still shut, plus all of the museums and attractions. We ended up sitting in a cafe for much of the day as it was absolutely arctic outdoors, and neither my mum nor I had the clothing to keep us warm! In the evening, we headed to Wan Chai to watch the fireworks over the harbour- braving the crowds yet again! Luckily we could see a bit more this time, and were pretty amazed by the full 20minute display which lit up the water and the skyscrapers.

The second day after New Year’s Day was the final day of holiday for most people- but by this time, many of the shops had reopened. We headed to Sha Tin Racecourse to watch the first horserace of the year, and to have a flutter. I managed to win on horse number 8 (auspicious or what!?) which I presume means I’ll have fantastic luck for the entire rest of the year…let’s hope so! This year apparently was the coldest new year in Hong Kong since 1996 -it certainly felt it, as we sat in the stands waiting for the races to begin, being whipped by an arctic wind. I was wearing 7 layers of clothing- new record. We had a giant hot-pot in the evening to warm up, which eventually did the trick!

Sadly I didn’t get any red envelopes (traditional packets that older people give to younger generations of the family, or to friends- generally containing lots of cash) but I did have a nice new year with my mum :) I didn’t expect Hong Kong to be so quiet or to shut down the way it did, but it was quite nice in the end- to see everyone together with their family, enjoying some quality time together, and forgetting about the outside world for a few days.

Just about to submit my entry for this National Geographic competition, for young travel writers.

I wrote a piece about my experience watching the hand-tapped tattoo being created in Borneo- it was one of the most magic nights of my life, amazing! (you can read the original blog post here if you so desire!) It was a bit of a challenge to try to capture the atmosphere in only a short number of words…I just hope it comes through in my piece!

And if I don’t win…I can always just visit Chengdu like any normal tourist :)

Hong Kong in January is very quiet, pretty cold and unfortunately a little bit miserable.

The exchange students who were only here for semester one have all left, gone back to their friends and family in their respective countries, to tell their amazing travelling stories and to catch up on 6 months of missed tv, music and gossip. Back to the normal after a crazy half-year in Asia.

The exchange students who are coming for semester two are slowly arriving, in ones and twos, excited to be in a new country, so far from home, after all the anticipation and planning. They ask my advice on signing up for modules and which bus to take to town, but they are new here, and I am not, and the experience gap is too wide a gulf to bridge right now.

So I sit in my cold room and listen to the rain on the metal air-conditioning unit outside, missing everyone, blue and grey. January is always the worst month; I don’t know why I expected it to be better here. I’m spared exams, but also the focus and purpose of revision, a project or a deadline. Now, I just have acres of time stretched out in front of me.

My new year’s resolution was to make the most of my precious time, and to not waste time or opportunities. I’m definitely failing to keep it so far- I feel like I’m sat here wishing my life away, and I wish I wasn’t.

After Christmas dinner was eaten, Boxing day leftovers were demolished and traditional (!) karaoke was warbled, Sam and I flew off to southern Taiwan for a bit of must needed rest & relaxation. We flew into Kaohsiung and then took the bus to the very southern tip of the island, to Kenting National Park. We stayed in Hengchun, a cute little town with super~friendly locals and more bakeries than I could have dreamed of!

We spent a few days before New Year’s Eve exploring the area on a tiny little moped, zipping around the country lanes and racing people at the traffic lights. Neither Sam or I had driven one before, but we both picked it up quite easily, and it was so much fun!

We rode North to the hot spring town of Shuchunghsi, and then wound our way up the steep mountain roads as far as Mudan Bay, where we saw the power of the Pacific Ocean smashing against the rocks. Somewhere out there was America- a pretty crazy thought!

Riding home in the dark, we managed to run out of petrol on a huge hill, 2km from home, having passed not one but two petrol stations a few minutes earlier, and deciding that we had plenty of petrol to get us home…rookie error! We were rescued by a Taiwanese couple who drove us back to the petrol station and then, when we realised we had nothing to carry the fuel in, downed a huge bottle of mineral water and filled it with petrol for us, before dropping us back at the scooter, which miraculously started. Belief in humanity reaffirmed!!

We also rode South through the big town of Kenting, along the surf beach coast, and past famous rock formations. We stopped off briefly at the southernmost point in Taiwan (along with several coach loads of Chinese tourists- my favourite) which was incredibly rocky and desolate, only a couple of tiny fishing boats out in the water stretching towards the Philippines. On our final day of renting the scooter, I was allowed to drive, and we explored the West coast of the peninsula, travelling along roads hugging the ocean, to beaches made of fossilised chunks of coral and black volcanic sand.

We ate so much incredible food, it was amazing- just what we needed, to get to know each other again after 5 months apart and to escape the crowds and high-rise, high-tempo, high-stress life of Hong Kong for a blissful week.