Happy Chinese New Year!
The official start of Chinese New Year was last weekend and lasts for 15 days. This year is the Year of the Snake (lucky me) and there have been celebrations going on throughout Singapore for the past few weeks. We got a nice 4 day weekend though, so I can't complain!
It's been very interesting to learn about the customs of Chinese New Year: hongbaos (the red envelopes with money given out by married couples to single people, especially children); presenting not one, but two mandarin oranges to someone as a symbol of abundance and good fortune; participating in a 'Lo Hei' or prosperity toss of different types of ingredients as a 'Good Luck' appetizer at a Chinese New Year lunch or dinner.
One of my coworkers took me into Chinatown a week before the official start of CNY. There were a bunch of street vendors selling everything from chopsticks to candies and cakes to jeggings for people to buy as CNY gifts.
There has been a carnival in Marina Bay as well called River Hongbao. They have some of the same games and rides that you'd find in the states, but there were some pretty elaborate decorations too.
Here are some pictures of the fireworks that they did for the start of CNY:
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