Stepping out of the chronology on the blog for a moment, we are in Beijing for the Lunar New Year! What a crazy time of year to be here. It's freezing cold, but that's OK because everyone is in a festive New Year spirit and our room has heat. We've been eating lots of Peking duck and wearing all the clothes in our backpacks.
I'd heard that the Chinese are into fireworks for the Lunar New Year, but I was nowhere near being prepared for the reality outside our hotel room last night. The fireworks started early in the day and built to a crescendo at midnight. By 1:30 or so they'd quieted down, but the festivities returned at about 5 and have been on and off all day.
Here's a little taste of what it was like to be in Beijing last night. Happy Lunar New Year, and may your Year of the Dragon be full of health, wealth, and happiness!
More China to come... but first, back to Mumbai!
Um. Unpleasant?
Posted by: Jodi | Monday, 23 January 2012 at 13:44
Chúc mừng năm mới!
Posted by: Gastronomer | Monday, 23 January 2012 at 17:42
Happy Dragon Year!! What a great time to be in China!! I miss Beijing...
Posted by: Ling | Tuesday, 24 January 2012 at 00:36
It was too crazy strange to be really unpleasant... unless you were trying to sleep! Though I wonder how many people present at hospitals with firework injuries during this time...
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Tuesday, 24 January 2012 at 07:02
Thank you so much! And... I looked this up. :-) cung chúc tân xuân!
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Tuesday, 24 January 2012 at 07:04
Happy Dragon Year, Ling! Beijing is intense - I feel like we've barely scratched the surface here, and we leave tomorrow!
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Tuesday, 24 January 2012 at 07:07
Holy crap! That looks and sounds SO cool! They don't play around over there.
The rooftop in the foreground of the video looks like it belongs to an older
building-- was your hotel built in a more traditional Chinese style?
Posted by: Clinton | Sunday, 29 January 2012 at 16:49
No, they definitely don't! We're across the country in Sichuan now, and there are still nightly fireworks. Yes, we were in an old hutong neighborhood in Beijing. I gather there are only a few of them left.
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Tuesday, 31 January 2012 at 23:10
are you planning to go back at all this trip??
Posted by: Ling | Monday, 06 February 2012 at 11:32
To Beijing? No, I don't think we'll make it back this trip... we'll just have to come back to China! (And bring neti-pots and antibiotics, apparently.)
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Thursday, 09 February 2012 at 01:59