Counting down the months to going home for Chinese New Year 2012. I'm so excited! I will make sure that this year, I will go for the after-midnight Chinatown street shopping on CNY eve itself. I know I am going to be packed like sardines, but soaking in the vibes of my hometown is now more important than ever, after being away for almost a year by Jan 2012.

Hooraaaa!!!

Not to far now Hazel hope you have enjoyed your stay in the west!!!!! Hope one day you can see the east !!!!!

cheers!!

Hahaha thanks Dave... The East and so on will have to wait til end of next year when I finish with my course. Cos initially had booked the flight for home in Nov this yr but got stuff to do over summer so no holiday for me *sobz* So postponed trip home...

Happy to see you here . Anyway, when will be a time for a deep discount in SG? I feel like to buy something!!

Thanks for your welcome keke Happy to see you too!

June will be our annual Great Singapore Sale. Alternatively, Xmas Day and Boxing Day will often see great discounts!

I'm still wonder where I would be this new year coming but when thinking about it it's so thrill

Halo Soda, how r u? I saw you as a member when I 1st joined TF in 2009, but your profile photo is very different one at that time keke Ya, new year is always soooo nice n forward-looking, although sometimes I feel a bit sad when I feel I have wasted my past one year away...

Wooow, you are counting for a long time! Anyhow, I would like to see CNY once (but only if possible not to be in a too crowded environment )

Wooow, you are counting for a long time! Anyhow, I would like to see CNY once (but only if possible not to be in a too crowded environment )

It will be verrrryyyy crowded on the eve itself at Chinatown, from what I saw live on TV and what people who had been there before told me. However the reason why people still put themselves through the suffering is that it is the only way to really soak in the CNY vibes - even way past midnight e.g 3am itself,there are still so many people and the stalls are all still open that you almost cannot move much as though stuck in a human traffic jam hahaha

Even more fun is that on the eve of CNY after midnight, every CNY goods will go on "toa (Hokkien word for "big") lei-long (Malay word for "sale"), so you can get many things almost next to free e.g. festive sweets and cookies, CNY decorations, a type of CNY flower (can't remember the name) and mandarin oranges. I often heard that it is not uncommon for the stall-keepers to just throw the flowers and mandarin oranges on the ground beside their stalls at about 3am or so for people to just pick up as nobody will want to buy them anymore after CNY.

This year, I am planning to go Chinatown for both purposes - to enjoy the atmosphere and also pick up some of the goodies thrown away for some kids' activities with my nieces and nephews the next day (the first day of CNY), and also keep some (those non-perishable kinds) for CNY arts and crafts activities the next time I visit a charitable organization just before CNY One year, my cousin, friends and I went to an orphanage in Nonthaburi on 1st day of CNY and it is certainly the most meaningful 1st day of CNY in our whole life. Hoping to repeat something like this again in the near future...

Come to think of it, maybe can ask my friends to do this community service in a Home in SG on the CNY weekend... Thanks Kaunitz, for ur message which inspires this! ^^

Is CNY in Singapore like Songkran in Thailand without the water throwing?

CNY is big in Melbourne !!!!

Yes, Dave, u r rite! All the shopping centres, coffeeshops and some restaurants in SG will shut down for two days (1st and 2nd day of the CNY). On the eve itself, Chinatown is open almost until 6am the next day and it is absolutely crowded with people, and on the morning of the eve, most, if not all, wet markets will have stopped selling things so people usually stock things up way in advance.

It sounds like great fun I hope to visit there when finance allows me!!!! thanks Hazel!!!

HHaha I'm sure you will some day soon cos SG is so much cheaper than ur Mel! Contact me if you are in SG the next time!

No Worries Hazel our dollar is very good at the moment due to all that activity up north from where you are!!! On a serious note hope you have enjoyed your time in OZ I think the food in Sing would 'taste and be cheaper" there than here!!!!!!! And the Laksa would be really nice in Sing !!!

YES, definitely the food is soooo much cheaper back and spicier (I like spicy food lots!) back home! U mean the mining? Ya, actually I heard that they almost wanted to split away from the rest of OZ cos the people here where I am think that all the $$$ is going into the rest of OZ but they get very little in return... I recently learn some funny words from a local friend, not bad words but not very polite words also hahahaha e.g. "hoons" and "go hooning around" LOL

The food here is not to "spicy" as "farangs" like it mild (you would have to beg to make "laksa" spicy here) lol lol !!

No disrespect to the west (the east is different) (would love to hear your comments on the "east" if you come here!!!!!

Hoon is very aussie I don't do it!!!!! {to old) love reading your blogs keep it up cheers !!!!

:D ...farangs... hoons... 555