Year of the pig

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Through The Mist

Phil in Action

It's like war

Fireworks on the Bund

More Fireworks

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Chinese New Year
Phil and I were totally paranoid that the Chinese New Year in Shanghai would be like New York City when the ball drops; insane. We were so wrong. It was more empty than I’ve ever seen it, actually. We went to the Bund around 8 to see if any fireworks were going on. (not yet.) We wandered around, bought some overpriced New Year’s cake (made of nougat, nuts and dried fruit. Really dense. Tastes like a snickers bar.), bought some sparkers, and Phil had some red bean flavored cotton candy. He loved it, I thought it was gross. (and a great insult to the cotton candy tradition I admire so much.) Eventually we got fairly bored, until my phone rang. “Hey. It’s Greg. I’m in Shanghai. And it’s my birthday today. And it’s Chinese New Year. You’re coming out with me. You have no choice.” We really had no choice. We met up with Greg at his hostel which was only a few blocks from the Bund. The hostel was PACKED with foreigners. It was a fun night. Close to midnight a big group of us made our way back to the Bund to see the fireworks. There were people of roofs all over the place, setting things off. Once it started it didn’t really stop. It went on all night, bright and early the next morning (right outside my window I might add) and all the next day. It really did feel like world war III. Even if you weren’t looking directly at fire works, te sound was just as intense and EVERYWHERE and lights flashed against buildings and the sky. Check out the videos. New Year’s Eve was a Saturday night, and the noise didn’t really slow down until Monday morning.
Sunday morning Richard, Amanda and Clayton arrived in Shanghai on a boat from Japan. It was so great to see them! Sunday afternoon I had all my stuff packed and ready to go and joined them at the hostel. It was a pretty slow day; food, bookstore, Dvds, wandering.

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Photos

Kiss the Pig!
Greg and Phil fully embrace the new year.

Xin Nian Dan Gao
New Year's cake. stuff.

yum yum
tastes like a Snickers.

Improving my conjuring ability
Beware, I'm about to damage your personality by 15 percent for 60 seconds.

Pool
The evening finally winding down with Matt and Greg.

Comments

[Tamar]

Spell!
Carrie, a level 13 spell?! Wow. When you left the States, you could only do a level 9 spell. China has taught you well. Those fireworks really do sound like war- I would hide under my bed until it was over.