Chinese New Year in Penang...Year of the Snake
Chinese New Year has crept up rather unexpectedly and subconsciously I had made plans to avoid it. Well, not the celebration but rather the price hikes associated with the event. As it turns out I'm here just a few days before the expected influx of Chinese visitors thus avoiding those price increases.
According to the press, town-hall officials are organising an event to coincide with the countdown, its just a few streets across town so no great effort to get there and should be quite a spectacle of tradition, colour and above all, noise! yep, should be a good night, concluding with a firework display, and its all free - an open house they call it.
A nice walk at 9pm, past the Penang museum, the Orient hotel and various other colonial establishments bathed in floodlighting, making for some nice photography, giving the camera a pretty good workout.
Town-hall esplanade and park is the venue, and already thronging with crowds. The stage is set, local TV is in place and even satellite TV is here to film the proceedings which are underway with a colourful snake dance. And for the next 3 hours a mix of traditional dance with some modern turns proves to be quite an interesting night, especially the Chinese rendition of Michael Jackson.
Countdown, anytime now, but oddly there isn't. I mean no en-mass countdown like there would be from a western celebration, just a sudden explosion of colour as the fiirework display lights up the night sky for the next 10 minutes.
Well, that begins 2 weeks of celebrations to mark the year of the snake and more colourful events to come I'm sure. Better research the local press for a calendar of events. No point in trying to move from Penang anyway, all transport is fully booked according to new arrivals, who have all reported trouble getting tickets.
Chinese New Year has crept up rather unexpectedly and subconsciously I had made plans to avoid it. Well, not the celebration but rather the price hikes associated with the event. As it turns out I'm here just a few days before the expected influx of Chinese visitors thus avoiding those price increases.
According to the press, town-hall officials are organising an event to coincide with the countdown, its just a few streets across town so no great effort to get there and should be quite a spectacle of tradition, colour and above all, noise! yep, should be a good night, concluding with a firework display, and its all free - an open house they call it.
A nice walk at 9pm, past the Penang museum, the Orient hotel and various other colonial establishments bathed in floodlighting, making for some nice photography, giving the camera a pretty good workout.
Town-hall esplanade and park is the venue, and already thronging with crowds. The stage is set, local TV is in place and even satellite TV is here to film the proceedings which are underway with a colourful snake dance. And for the next 3 hours a mix of traditional dance with some modern turns proves to be quite an interesting night, especially the Chinese rendition of Michael Jackson.
Countdown, anytime now, but oddly there isn't. I mean no en-mass countdown like there would be from a western celebration, just a sudden explosion of colour as the fiirework display lights up the night sky for the next 10 minutes.
Well, that begins 2 weeks of celebrations to mark the year of the snake and more colourful events to come I'm sure. Better research the local press for a calendar of events. No point in trying to move from Penang anyway, all transport is fully booked according to new arrivals, who have all reported trouble getting tickets.
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