as last friday was the traditional day in which many chinese people clean their homes ready to receive good luck for the new year, i set about my cleaning mine on sunday (like most other working people).
the temperature jumped-up by 10 degrees to 24C so it was the perfect day to open all the windows and wipe away any bad luck.
following tradition, i shouldn't clean or throw away any rubbish until after the 5th day of the new year.
feeling very energetic i then went for a walk around my local neighbourhood.
it always surprises me to see people hanging out their washing on fences or even on parked bikes!!
although most of the washing is bed sheets and t-shirts, there were a few pairs of underwear handing around too... nothing fancy, just well-worn stretched off-white ones.
charming...
washing was not the only thing on display.
check out this man drying his fish on the fence!
he was constantly swiping at the flies who wanted to get in on the action.
then it was off to my local supermarket which was decorated in reds and golds for the coming chinese new year. the flower section was packed with strong elbowed (read: pushy) housewives buying peach blossoms (symbolized luck) and chrysanthemums (symbolizing long life).
i on the other hand opted for some white lilies. although not a new-year-flower, they look better in my apartment.
typically seen in HK; picking out live frogs & fish balls
i did decide to buy a chinese decoration though for my door this year (a first).
check out my double-dragoned glittery thing-a-ma-gig.
it says (出入平安); or literally "comings and goings be in peace"
mmm.
so only 5 more days at work and then we have our longest vacation for the whole year (a whopping 5 days off (including the weekend)).
i'm taking a trip deep into China's Yunnan Provence.
more on that later.
6 comments:
thank you for the pictures from hong kong! funny the things people put on public display. also- i like the pics from the supermarket.
i appreciate the sneak peek into every day hong kong life. :-D
* luuworld
thanks for the comment! i get all these hits and no comments...
tell me about it! strange to see such personal items casually thrown over someones parked bike!
where do people hang-out their washing in Norway?
it's so cold here, so people mostly dry their clothes in the house where they use a dryer. i usually just hang my clothes on a rack inside the house to dry. would feel weird to hang them in public, that's for sure!
Another good one! I so enjoy reading your blog too. Although I lived in HK for so many years it still surprises me how it look so different through a different person's eye even if we look at the same thing!
Keep the posts coming!
* Luuworld
oh yeah, it must be hard to dry them when it's so cold. i do the same as you, hung inside, but gotta switch the dehumidifier on in summer.
i'm sure your underwear is nicer than the ones i saw on display here :)
* pascale
thanks pascale, and likewise with your posts too! having lived in japan it's nice to see and read your thoughts on life there.
i have a itch to go back to tokyo at the moment...
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