Chinese New Year!

Bushes loaded with
fruit are displayed. 

The Year of the Rabbit--what does that mean? A mixture of traditions and modern influences, Hong Kong celebrates the Lunar New Year as a time of tradition, referring to an ancient recurring calendar to determine the animal for which the year will be named. The singular decorations have been amazing as they have appeared everywhere: strings of huge paper 'firecrackers,' big bowls of daffodil bulbs, tall orange, tangerine, and kumquat shrubs loaded with fruit, and even more amazing, huge peach trees in lovely urns popping out with pink blossoms, right inside buildings! Chinese New Year is about getting together with families. Most Hong Kong people work long hours with very few vacations, but the exception is this 4-day weekend where buses and ding-dings are full of families taking flowers and food to their loved ones. A spectacular fireworks display on the harbor was the culmination of the holiday--when they do fireworks here, you can hardly call it fireworks, it's so incredible! Kung hei fat choi (success, happiness, prosperity, and wealth)!

This blossoming peach tree is in the CAB lobby,
in the place where the Christmas tree was.