Bow Wow - Kong Hei Fat Choi
Happy Chinese New Year everyone! (Kong hei fat choi is Canto for happy new year) Hong Kong is going to be empty for the next few days and in fact it has already started. Chinese New Year is like Christmas and New Year rolled into one and most people are going away cos Monday and Tuesday are public holidays.
We decided not to go away this year because we've never had a CNY in Hong Kong and also because when you go anywhere you generally go along with the rest of Hong Kong, China and Korea.
So it will be good to see the celebrations here. Hong Kong loves fireworks and we have got reservations at a restaurant on the 28th floor across the harbour so that we can watch them . I'll try to take some pictures and post later.
Unfortunately, it is extremely gray here and I can hardly see across the harbour from our flat. Hopefully the weather will get better over the next couple of days.
Anyway we are about to usher in the year of the Dog. Apparently, people who are born in the year of the dog possess the best traits in human nature - they care little for wealth but always seem to have money.
Tradition here is that you have to give money to various people in red envelopes- called Lai See packets. It is not enough togive money - the notes have to be brand new so the banks all print a load of new notest for Chinese new year. Apparently each note costs 50 cents (Hong Kong) (approx. 3 pence) to print and it actually costs about HK$24 billion (or some such) to print all the additional new notes needed for lai see.
I have to give Lai See to my secretary, all the secretaries on my floor, the receptionists at work, the doorman, our cleaner, all the people who work in our apartment block and basically anyone else who I come into contact with during the day (possibly even the ladies who make my coffee in the morning at Pacific Coffee - HK's version of starbucks). The thing is, I went to the bank yesterday to get these new notes and, I think in the space of a month, the bank isn't there! it's been converted into yet another designer clothes store... so I didn't get the new notes and the banks are shut for the next couple of days. Of course, it is much more offensive to give old notes than to give nothing at all so I am just going to have to give the Lai See later than normal.
The good thing is that the last test match between India and Pakistan starts tomorrow and I've got Monday and Tuesday off so that I can watch the whole day's play. Hopefully won't be as boring as the previous two tests about which I'll post separately.
Anyway take care all and best wishes for year of the Dog
We decided not to go away this year because we've never had a CNY in Hong Kong and also because when you go anywhere you generally go along with the rest of Hong Kong, China and Korea.
So it will be good to see the celebrations here. Hong Kong loves fireworks and we have got reservations at a restaurant on the 28th floor across the harbour so that we can watch them . I'll try to take some pictures and post later.
Unfortunately, it is extremely gray here and I can hardly see across the harbour from our flat. Hopefully the weather will get better over the next couple of days.
Anyway we are about to usher in the year of the Dog. Apparently, people who are born in the year of the dog possess the best traits in human nature - they care little for wealth but always seem to have money.
Tradition here is that you have to give money to various people in red envelopes- called Lai See packets. It is not enough togive money - the notes have to be brand new so the banks all print a load of new notest for Chinese new year. Apparently each note costs 50 cents (Hong Kong) (approx. 3 pence) to print and it actually costs about HK$24 billion (or some such) to print all the additional new notes needed for lai see.
I have to give Lai See to my secretary, all the secretaries on my floor, the receptionists at work, the doorman, our cleaner, all the people who work in our apartment block and basically anyone else who I come into contact with during the day (possibly even the ladies who make my coffee in the morning at Pacific Coffee - HK's version of starbucks). The thing is, I went to the bank yesterday to get these new notes and, I think in the space of a month, the bank isn't there! it's been converted into yet another designer clothes store... so I didn't get the new notes and the banks are shut for the next couple of days. Of course, it is much more offensive to give old notes than to give nothing at all so I am just going to have to give the Lai See later than normal.
The good thing is that the last test match between India and Pakistan starts tomorrow and I've got Monday and Tuesday off so that I can watch the whole day's play. Hopefully won't be as boring as the previous two tests about which I'll post separately.
Anyway take care all and best wishes for year of the Dog
posted by Akash at 10:09 AM
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