Happy Chinese New Year

[glen]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy chinese new year.



I am actully in china at the moment on holidays with my family.



I wrote a blog post about some of my observations while I have been here. See link below.



http://www.melbournechat.org/index.php?a...wentry=117



All the best, Glen <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[petersj]

It was huge here.

We went to Box Hill and it was fantastic. Lots of colour and excitement.

[glen]

I can still hear fireworks going off in the background. We went last night and bought some small fireworks and fired them over the local bridge over the river which is only 50 metres away from where my wife's parents live. It was lots of fun. We will probably go again tomorrow and maybe try some slightly bigger fireworks. They sell the fireworks on many street corners during the festival period which goes for about 2 weeks.

[petersj]

Wow amazed you could buy fire works.

I loved what we in Australia called cracker night based on the English Guy Fawkes. Yes I know it had to be banned as there was a risk with fires and there were incredible injuries. But I admit I loved it. Very tempted to go buy some crackers. lol

Do they have it still in UK?

[glen]

Can you still buy fireworks in Canberra? You could when I last visited (which was quite a long time ago).



We went and got some more fireworks this evening. Just small ones. Was fun.



It was quite entertaining watching some people doing crazy things (this is why it is banned in Melbourne I guess). One person was holding by hand a tube full of 5 full size fireworks. She fired each one about 100 metres into the air before they exploded in a huge display. We had asked about this particular firework and were told you are not supposed to hold it in your hand. You are supposed to tie it up to something and run away. Anyway it was good that it did not malfunction and blow up in the girl's hand.



Afterwards a few other blokes did the same thing. One lit the fuse and then nothing happened for about a minute. I thought it must be faulty but then out of no where the rockets started firing. Lucky they did not blow up at ground level.



Another crazy guy had bought a big set of fireworks but the fuse must have been faulty. This is they type where it fires maybe 20 rockets into the air, maybe one every 2 seconds. Anyway he tried to light each one manually (presumably to get his money's worth) but the rockets only shot up maybe 2 metres high and then exploded (then are supposed to fly maybe 50 metres high). You would think one such malfunction would send warning bells but he did this abut 4 times before deciding he was soon going to blow someone up.



There was another type of firework that didn't realy fly so much as it made a realy big bang at ground level. This was done at the side of the road on a bridge over a river. And the motor cycle riders passing by were only maybe 1 metre away when there was a sudden (and for them a totally unexpected) and deafening BANG. Needless to say they almost had heart attacks as they rode past. Though no one was hurt.



Maybe Chinese people are just luckier than aussies. In Australia we have so many rules and regulations and yet we still seem to have lots of accidents and injuries. Over here there are a lot less rules and nothing terrible seems to happen.



Anyway, I might try and do some more fireworks tomorrow night! hahaha



Take it easy. Glen <img src='http://www.melbournechat.org/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[petersj]

I loved reading this.

Yes we do have far too many rules in life. I used to teach theatre combat and these days I wont because I am so scared someone will have an accident. No one takes responsibility these days for their own negligence. No matter how careful you are there can NEVER be a guarantee in sports that an accident wont happen. I know many fencing teachers who wont teach any ore.

Fire works however were pretty dangerous (but wow what fun we had).

[glen]

Thanks Peter,



I can STILL hear fireworks going off in the background. We just got back from the cinema. We watched "Jack Reacher" in english (with Chinese subtitles). Was a pretty good film. It cost 75 rmb which is about $12.50 AUS so the price is similar to what you pay back in Melbourne. We also saw "Cloud Atlas" a few days ago. That was not too bad.



Cheers, glen

[petersj]

I am looking forward to hearing and reading aout China. I have been mostly to Singapore and Thailand but I have always wanted to see China.



OH GLEN how I envy you in China.

You know there are very places I dream of seeing more than the Chengdu Panda base!!

[glen]

If you want to visit China the easy way then you cannot go past Hong Kong. That is the easiest for foreigners (i.e non chinese speakers). Second easiest would be Shanghai. The rest is not very welcoming to be honest.



But it depends on the type of traveller you are. Some people love the adventure of being in a foreign place and almost enjoy the language barrier because it adds to the difficulty of the journey and makes the trip more exciting. Others (like myself) absolutely hate the feeling of being "lost" in a foreign land and would only go to such a place with a tour group or with someone who can speak the local language.



In the city where I am living, I have seen on average, 1 westerner per day. And I would see a few thousand chinese each day. So that gives you some sense of the cultural mix. The main form of transport here is public bus. But none of the signs at the bus stop are in english. And the chinese charachters are pretty impossible to interpret for a westerner. Most taxi drivers would not speak english. So for me I find this very big obstacles. On the other hand, my brother visited china once and visited similar cities and seemed to get around ok. Maybe I just don't have the traveling know-how to overcome these obstacles.



It would kind great if I could just hire a car and drive around but the traffic here is crazy (at least in the city) plus they drive on the right side of the road.



Anyway, I hear the baby crying so gotta run!



Cheers, Glen