I recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong where I spent Chinese New Year with my good friend Sarah who is currently living there. Whilst I was excited about being able to witness the festivities, I think it was the onset of a much-needed four-day weekend that Sarah was really looking forward to. But either way, we were both very happy I was finally going to see where she now lives, and see in 2014 Eastern style. It’s also much cooler over there in January, which made it the perfect temperature to be exploring a bustling metropolis rather than the sweaty humid heat of summer.
Sarah had warned me that it was going to be very busy and I was apprehensive about the number of people that would be in the tiny city-state, especially after watching the documentary she sent me The Last Train Home (http://www.documentarytube.com/last-train-home). The run up to New Year is the largest annual migration of people on the planet as hundreds of millions of Chinese make their way across the vast country back to their hometowns to celebrate the holiday with family. It was indeed, heaving. Many of the sites I wanted to see as a visitor were very busy with long queues, whilst the monasteries and temples were closed to the public. But the atmosphere was one of excitement and happiness and it was great to see Hong Kong in full swing.
All the shops and light displays had been decked out in red and gold symbolising good luck; wealth and happiness, with an equine theme to welcome in the Year of the Horse.
And round every corner, thousands of mandarin trees:
Everywhere we went we were greeted with shouts of ‘Kung Hei Fat Choy!’ – the New Year greeting meaning ‘happiness and prosperity’ in Cantonese – with Chinese dragons wandering the streets dancing and fighting while drums provided the soundtrack.
I have a slight addiction to street footwear so Sarah took me to indulge this at Trainer Street in Mong Kok – my Mecca.
Being the evening before festivities began, we quickly realised we had made a wrong decision. It turns out it is bad luck to buy new shoes over Chinese New Year so people were in a mad rush to buy new kicks before the shops shut and their luck was out. A crazed frenzy of last-minute purchasing, fuelled by speakers pumping out Chinese happy-hardcore style Canton pop and blinding neon lights, consumers flooded in and out of the many shops, making the most of the ‘Crazy Horse’ sale. It was an assault on the senses. Needless to say we didn’t last long and I had to hold off getting my fix until the crowds had dispersed a few days later.
We decided to escape the crowds on the Friday night of the long weekend and go on a camping trip to the nearby national park Sai Kung. Unfortunately this meant missing the CNY (what the expats are calling it now) parade, but when sunshine and a beautiful deserted beach awaited, I didn’t mind too much. It was incredible to think this oasis of calm was a mere 20-minute cab ride out of the city. 
Having said that, when I saw our friend Paul’s photos of the parade I did feel a pang of regret at missing it.
The second night of the long weekend I insisted we do something Chinese so we braved the crowded streets and headed to the harbour to watch the fireworks. I have never seen so many people in my life and understood Sarah’s reluctance to join the masses. The streets were cordoned off to funnel people through to the harbour and there was a sea of Chinese people as far as the eye could see. The police blocked the road in sections only letting through a couple of hundred people at a time, but they just kept coming in waves and waves. Thankfully the absence of alcohol ensured a calmer crowd than perhaps would have been present at home.
We took advantage of being gweilo (Canton word for foreigners, literally ghost man) and clambered up on top of a fuse box for a better view, and to avoid getting trapped. This ‘better view’ was only marginal, as some bright spark (no pun intended) had decided to build all the museums on the peninsula, blocking the best view of the harbour from the mainland – Sarah and Paul’s personal bugbear. However, it was definitely better than the people below us.
I was expecting an awesome show, this being China and all, and where fireworks were invented. We were not disappointed. At exactly 8 o’clock came a full 26 minutes of dazzling lights and explosions including butterfly and heart shapes, executed with military precision. It was pretty incredible. Photos of fireworks never do them justice but obviously I still had to have a go, as did the thousands of people in front of us: 
It was a fantastic experience for a CNY first-timer and I sincerely hope it will not be the last.
So it may not be the first place that comes to mind for Chinese New Year, but Hong Kong certainly has a lot more to offer than expected and I am grateful to have had the chance to go. But next time I will definitely try and catch the actual parade, rather than just the dress rehearsal the day before:
Read Sarah’s blog on her time in Hong Kong here – http://tqpq.blogspot.co.uk/
And Paul’s blog on the New Year parade here – http://zaijianvillanovanihaohongkong.blogspot.hk/2014/02/the-great-chinese-new-year-staycation.html
by TMS