Year of the Tiger- Raar!

This year, I was fortunate to have been invited into the home of my colleague Li Qin for the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year on February 13th. It is the biggest holiday of the year here in China, similar to our Christmas.

Everyone is off work (except those poor souls in the news industry) and gathers together with family. It's tradition to have a big meal together, complete with dumplings and a lot of meat. We had shrimp, pork, chicken, fish, tofu and some stuff that I'm not quite sure what it was. In fact, I am rather glad of this fact because they kept encouraging me to eat, eat, eat and I couldn't say no and risk being rude even though I am pretty sure there were some organs in the mix.

Below is Li Qin's 83-year-old Grandma. She lives with Lynn (that's her English name) who is the girl in the glasses. Her 2-year-old daughter is on her lap, seen in the first picture. In the photo with me are also Lynn's parents. Her husband, a police officer, had to work. All 6 of them live in one 2 bedroom apartment. Lynn's parents help take care of her daughter while she works. There is little space, no privacy, but also a lot of love.

Lynn's dad did all the cooking. Through Lynn's translation, he told me how hard life used to be. This feast was a symbol of how far the country has come and he seems grateful and proud to be able to share it with me. It reminded me that for all I find wrong with China, people here really are better off than they were.

Besides a big meal, tradition calls for big fireworks. They started Saturday morning and 4 days later, are still randomly being set off.

My friends tell me they will end on the 20th. Thank goodness. You will have to watch my video below to find out why. Or click on the YouTube Link....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28gP_sIv7yE

I hope you were able to see that, as words alone simply cannot describe what I saw. I realize this in no way compares, but if I had to imagine what living in a war zone sounded like, this would be it.

This is remnants from the morning after. Intense. In no way would you be able to buy these fireworks legally in the United States. You also wouldn't be able to set them off so close to buildings, people and cars. In fact, I live on the tenth floor and saw a firework bounce off my window! Not cool. People here, however, seem to love it.

Last year, I went to Bali, Indonesia for the New Year holiday. While my friends are soaking up the sun in Thailand this year, I am soaking in the sounds of a truly unique tradition. It's a once in a lifetime experience. At least, I hope I only experience it once!

WTF Wednesday- Seals the Deal

This past weekend was spent on the border of China and Russia- in a little city (4 million) called Harbin. It is famous because of its ice festival.

Imagine an entire village built entirely of ice. That's Harbin's ice festival.

For the month of December, locals collect, carve and light blocks of ice from the nearby river. When we went, it was -6 degrees (Brrr) and our guide said that was the warmest its been all winter.

Besides ice tunnels, you can see the Sphinx...

...their version of the Taj Mahal (which you can slide down),

...skyscrapers like this one, which chances colors,

...and of course Michael Bolton. "Can I touch you there?"

What ice festival isn't complete without a replica of Michael Bolton? Certainly not this one.

We found this bad boy in the "Hollywood" section of the festival. There were a bunch of "famous" people carved in ice, but of them, this is the only one we recognized the name of. Awesome.

Even more famous than the man with the mullet and jazz saxophone is Harbin Beer. It is one of the oldest beers in China and is now owned by Anheuser-Busch. Nothing like a giant, ice-cold beer... ahh.

But for all the beauty that was the festival, there were also some WTF moments in Harbin.

For instance- seals. We went to eat at a local restaurant and what do we find in the lobby? Seals. Three of them in fact. For less than a dollar you can feed them what the people in the restaurant don't finish.

Don't believe me? Watch this video:

All I can say is WTF? Who puts seals in a seafood restaurant?! Sure it draws in customers but these are seals! For some reason this really gets me. Can't be sanitary. Can't be just for the animals. Can't be real. Just can't be real. And yet, it was. Only in China.