Happy Chap Goh Meh

Yes, I know that I am a bit too late in wishing everyone a Happy Chap Goh Meh. Oh well, lost track of time a bit yesterday. And I also just realised that I had not posted about the Chinese New Year - Year of the Fire Pig. Well, there was nothing to write really about the CNY celebrations here because.....er...nothing happened here. There were no fireworks, no Chinese lanterns and not even a mention of the day itself (there is no Chinatown here). A stark contrast to the Christmas celebration whereby the stores will begin to put up Santa in various poses three months before the actual event. And Christmas isn't even a holiday here!



Anyway, to make up for the lack of festivities here, my friends and I decided to treat ourselves to a nice Chinese dinner in a Chinese restaurant located at Kyoto Station. It is a nice place and the food was not bad. I love the pau there, I miss good ol' pau! I half expected the restaurant to be full seeing that it was the first day of CNY but it was rather empty. After that, we had a little Starbucks and went home. I contemplated throwing oranges into the Kamogawa river for tradition's sake - Chap Goh Meh was such a lovely day here yesterday; the sun was bright and shining and for once, I did not need to wear my heavy winter coat! But I decided against it because for one, oranges are expensive here and therefore should be eaten and not floating along the river and two, I will probably get caught for littering! And the full moon was gorgeous. So here we are at the end of the Chinese New Year celebration and at the brink of a lunar new year. What will it bring?