The Chinese like big bangs more than the Russians!!!

You could be excused from thinking that Civil war was breaking out in China during the new year celebrations! Although the chinese don't go in for home made explosives (unlike the russians!), they do go in for the biggest bangs possible! During the week leading up to the New Year we had seen numerous stalls selling fairly impressive looking fireworks and were quite confused that we had't seen any advertisments for public displays- this is because the whole of Beijing was one big public display! If there was a 3 meter square section of road or path that was empty then somebody would be setting off a firework! At 9 pm, after a lovely family dinner with our friend, we decided to go for a walk around the block to watch some fireworks! 4 hours later we made it back to our hotel just about in one piece! The fireworks were set off continuously during this time and we had trouble deciding which direction was the best to look whilst trying to avoid being blown up - the safest option was to watch for men running and follow their direction! Dad: you would not have been very impressed! all fireworks were lit with cigarettes and old cartons were reused to launch less stable fireworks! sorry!

After the night of what can only be described as absolute mayhem we decided to head to a festival fair in Ditan park. This completely summed up chinese new year (at least from a western point of view!) red lanterns galore, countless food stalls, drum parades (but no dragons?), and generally a really good atmosphere. Everybody in China celebrates the new year with their family (some travelling for a few days at a time), which to them is the most important thing about the new year, so the festival was full of families with small children and grandparents just spending time together.

We left Russia slightly earlier than we had planned to make it to Beijing in time for the new year celebrations and it was completely worth it! Especially as we were able to join in with Leslie and his family to celebrate - it made us a little less homesick! Thanks Leslie!

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