Greeting the Year of the Dragon in Hong Kong

What better place to greet the year of the dragon than in the land of the dragon itself? The Chinese New Year's celebrations actually take a week long, but the main events happen around the first three days. It's actually a very quiet and solemn period, and many of the shops in the cities are closed - much like the Holy Week period in the Philippines. The only firecrackers I ever heard and saw was the fireworks display at Victoria Harbor at the second day of the New Year - and what a display it was! I had to camp by harbor at the Tsim Sha Tsui side for more than 4 hours, despite heavy rain and cold, just to get a nice view of the fireworks. The fireworks start at 8PM, but both sides of Victoria Bay were already jam-packed early in the afternoon. It...

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Christmas Holidays in Singapore

I wasn't planning to return here anytime soon, but then they got Wicked the Musical on tour. I thought that's enough reason to go back. That and exploring the museums, visiting an old friend, checking out the Christmas lights in Orchard Road, spending a day in Sentosa Island, and checking out the Peranakan culture in the East Coast. Despite all of this, there's still that lingering feeling that I felt before: Singapore is boring - especially if you don't have much money to do stuff. I don't know, maybe it's too clean and organized for me that I'm finding it stale and sterile. There's a beach, and there are nature parks everywhere, but these are so artificially manicured that they have lost their magic on me. Still, it's a very attractive...

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