恭喜发财!

Yes, this is the typical word that Chinese will utter when it comes to celebrating Chinese New Year, but ironically I seldom say it to my friends. Perhaps it is due to the meaning it connotes, which means 'may you be blessed with abundance and wealth'... I guess it is more appropriate to address it to the older generation who has earning capacity...

But I have received a very nice gesture from a classmate of mine. She asked me initially whether there is any special gift that we will receive (obviously, she is comparing CNY with Christmas) and I told her something about our 'ang pau', the red packet which contains money and is given by the elders to the younger ones. And I told her that my dad ain't giving me one this year cos I am thousand miles away from home. Guess what, she is so sweet and she hand-made a packet which (she thinks) resembles an ang pau with 2 pounds in it.

Well, its appearance doesn't really resemble a typical ang pau, but it is the thought of hers that counts.

Anyway, CNY is all about EATING, and yes, I have been doing that...


My reunion dinner with 2 of my absolutely adorable housemates...

Ok, this is the 'big' occasion that I have even created an 'event' on Facebook.. A posh and scrumptuous dinner in Paddington Pearl Liang restaurant... 9 of us altogether and it was just nice... Andy came all the way from the lonely Sheffield of his to join our crowd. And of course, such occasion will not be complete without the presence of my Fantastic 4 (i.e. Mimi Thong Jason and myself)!!

We have even ordered crab noodles...


What did they talk about which leads to gloomy faces on both of them?

As usual, the must-have group photo shoot...

The crowd in Trafalgar Square on Day 4 of CNY was ridiculously large like last year; however, the performances were ridiculously hideous. They got some White people trying to sing Mandarin songs with a Chinese-Western fusion style of music and it was appalling.
Lion dances are fairly attractive as well... There was this performance where the lion is supposed to climb on a pole, and the dancer for the 'lion's head' did not wait for the 'tail' one and he climbed at a much faster pace, so the spectators clearly saw that the 'tail' dancer was eagerly trying to catch up.



Mimi's brother was here as well...



The taste of bah-kua on the night of Feb 10 is the offcial closing ceremony of our CNY celebration. It's a pleasure to be with you guys!