Well Wishing Festival in Tai Po

 People catching gold fish to take home as good luck pets.

The Old Wishing Tree. It is custom to write your wish on a piece of paper and then attach it to an orange, which you throw at the Well Wishing Tree and if it stays in the tree, your wish will come true. As a result of all the orange throwing, the original tree has lost many branches and been put on permanent sabbatical by the government. There is now a new Well Wishing tree - a fake tree (below) that will withstand the abuse- and fake oranges are thrown.

Ernst threw one of the fallen oranges, and it stayed in the tree, much to the amazement of the guy on the left, who was on his 8th attempt to get his orange to stay! You can see Ernst's "that's how it's done" expression...

Chinese family lunch - hot pot - a big boiling pot of water in the middle of the table, which cooks the meat and veg and everyone helps themselves. We look forward to trying this out when we have visitors!

Children and dogs are treated very well in HK... a friend of a friend of ours, is a vet in HK and he told a patient to take her dog for a 20 min walk every day for a week. The following week, when she returned, the dog looked even worse and the vet found out that she had been taking the dog for a walk in a pram!! It's not uncommon to see dogs being pushed around in prams and getting VIP treatment. The dog above takes the Christmas cake...

Lady selling organic veg at the market.

 Narcissus plants are everywhere- a very popular part of the CNY festivities.

Can't remember what this was called- didn't have an English name, but it's a gooey, rubbery dough like thing, filled with crushed sweat/spicy peanuts and served on a banana leaf. Not bad... it's apparently very traditional and only made for the Well Wishing Festival.

 And "egg balls" which is like an 'egg ball' shaped waffle, served warm and really yum.

Even Arden liked the egg balls.

Cantonese Cooking Class!!!

I enjoyed 8 hours of cooking at a Cantonese Cookery class, held by Marsha Sherpa http://www.marthasherpa.com/. There were 4 others in the class and she took us through 5 Canonese dishes and shared so much of Chinese culture and cuisine with us. I had lots of "aahhaa" moments as she explained customs and things that have been puzzling me. Martha wore a mask "for hygiene purpose" the entire class, which combined with her accent, meant we had to concentrate!

First up, we each made Singaporean stir fried rice noodle. She showed us how to cook and fry the noodles properly- didn't know my current method could be so wrong! This dish actually originated in HK and is slightly spicy with shrimps, bbq pork, onions, sprouts, carrots and chives. What can I say!

Learning to stir fry rice with egg in it. Lots of tossing and patting at high speed and temperature.

Hong Kong Fried Rice with bbq pork, shrimp and green peas.

Crispy Chicken with lemon sauce... mmmm. Learned that the Chinese don't like chicken breast- but they'll eat any other part! Thigh and wings are favorite. That's why chicken breast is so cheap.

Preparing the pork for deep frying. Martha is a perfectionist and made us all work very methodically and meticulously (not my usual style).

The result- Cantonese style sweet and sour pork with pineapple and peppers. After each dish was cooked, we got to sit around the table and eat and ask questions. The food was really really amazing and I can't wait to try it out at home.

And lastly, we watched, as Martha taught us how to turn this fish...

into this...

into this- Cantonese style crispy fish with pickled vegetables in sweet and sour sauce. I really felt like I left with a greater appreciation and understanding of Chinese lifestyle, food and customs and there are a whole lot of ingredients that I'm now not scared to buy! Know what to do with them!

Sushi

Sushi is super cheap and very delish in HK. It's made fresh every morning at the super markets and then marked down by 25% at 7pm, which is when we cash in.

Treasure discovered!!

 Had the most amazing (and very productive) time walking around the Jade market. It is any woman's dream- stall after stall bursting with pearls, jade and other stones of any shape, size and colour imaginable. And with sales people desperate to sell- you set the price, they decline with much disgust, haggle haggle and then consent with a smile that says, "you really have twisted my arm, but fine, just take it!"

A different perspective

All the maps in China (well, all the ones I've seen so far), look like this- with China in the middle. It's funny seeing such a familiar sight take on this new form. "China" means middle kingdom- makes sense when you look at it like this.

Old sailing Junk in Victoria Harbour

Chinese New Year- Fireworks

We were already battling the crowds for a spot on the pavement, to watch the fireworks, 3 hours before it began. It was actually lovely sitting on the pavement, eating supper and New Years cakes that people gave us, watching the sky grow dark and the city lights come out.

Arden was very expectant as we had tried to explain 'fireworks' to him- but the minute it started, he dived into his pram and covered his head with all his blankets and lay there like a terrified rabbit, sucking his dummy for dear life! I finally managed to coax him out and he seemed to enjoy it, by the end he was pointing and saying "pretty".

I've never seen such a magnificent display, set to music.

By the finale, the entire night sky was ablaze.

After the fireworks, we got hot chocolate from Starbucks and walked around a lantern display and then headed down Nathan road, to experience it by night.

Nathan Road.

Chinese New Year- Soho and evening Street Parade

We took a ferry to Hong Kong Island and explored SoHo- the more Western/European part of HK. It is packed with western pubs, restaurants and cocktail bars and boasts the world's longest covered outdoor escalator (below).

People camping on the streets, waiting for New Years Celebrations to begin.

Ready and waiting, 3 hours before the parade began. If we had arrived much later, we wouldn't have got a place to stand!

Traditional dragon dancing.

Arden was wide awake long past his bedtime! He was entranced by the parade and managed to ensure that we got all the free handouts, including bunny ears, balloons, candy floss, lucky packets and all sorts of other junk! Seems like we are already experiencing (chinese accent) "much prosperity and happiness in year of rabbit" or it that just because our little bunny is so dam cute?

Street Parade- was incredible. Lots of music, dancing and bright costumes. Well worth the 3 hour wait!

Floats.