New Year Celebrations (lunar style)

The temps are finally rising above freezing. The days (and even the house) are finally feeling less unbearably cold. I've been able to shed a layer of clothes and even turn down the space heaters and come out of my protective blanket-cave at home. And I ventured out to explore my local city a bit. New Year's decorations are out (for those of you who don't know, January 1 is not a big deal here. Lunar New Year is the biggest day of the year). The fireworks are going-I fall asleep to the sound of exploding fireworks, and wake up to it in the morning.

I love this time of year. I wish I lived in a city away from the capital, where rules are not really enforced and the fireworks were going like crazy all the time. But I don't. The fireworks I deal with are minimal, and if I go into the capital, I won't even notice them because there are even less there.

But that's not the only cool part of this celebration. There are decorations everywhere. This is the time of year to clean your dwelling, buy new clothes, and put up bright new decorations welcoming the new year and proclaiming blessing and happiness over your home and family.

The city and streets are decorated, stores are decorated...it's like Christmas time in the West. As I was driving through my city (the city I live in, not the capital) I drove past a big grocery store that I love but don't go to often. Two blocks away is a new store that I decided I should explore (found some great Chinglish), and in between the two is a park that was all decked out for the new year.

So...come on a walk through a park with me...(and imagine seeing this all lit up at night)

There's the park, across the road...

And here's the entrance....

There are actually two of those archways, with this big ...thing... in the middle...

Gigantic cherry blossom structure...

A row of humongous street-light-sized flowers...

Of course there's a ridiculously large dragon and phoenix...

Walking past the dragon and phoenix for a side trip. Here's the kite sellers...

Past the kite sellers, here's the parking lot next to one of my favorite grocery stores. I love all the lanterns...with bikes on the left, cars on the right.

Walking back towards the kite sellers and dragon & phoenix. Stop to take a picture of the balloon seller's bike...

Here's the phoenix. Look at how big that thing is!

And here's the dragon...

And here's ...big flowers ...and... I have no idea what that is...

And more HUGE flowers...

And...gigantic pumpkins?

Lots of kite flying going on (look carefully above the white tower)...

This guy (center) was making his eagle kite (right side) fly in low circles...

More lanterns (and check out how we wrap & decorate our trees to protect them from the winter cold)...

A grandpa sitting and keeping a close eye on things...

Another huge decorative structure...

And, of course, no park (or any open area for that matter) is complete without the exercise playground!

Well, thanks for going on that little walk with me. Next time I'll share the Chinglish with you!