Chinese New Year 2011

Chinese New Year fireworks go on every night for two weeks. Some people here start complaining about them after the first few days and quite often by the first week or so. I love them! My only complaint is when they set off really exciting sounding ones after I've already gone to bed. I can't help jumping up again and looking out the window so I tend to get less sleep for a couple weeks. It is pretty amazing seeing the magnitude of these fireworks right out on the street between buildings. I'll definitely miss these when I move home to where even sparklers are illegal!

Here are some photos and video I took last year when I lived on the second floor and the fireworks were being set off right outside my window.

This year I moved all the way across the street and up to the 30th floor. I had a buildings in the way more often this year but I could see more fireworks being set off around the city.

Here is my video from this year. (I think last year's video is better though.)

--Sarah

Chinese New Year Fireworks

Here are some photos and a video of the fireworks that go on during Chinese New Year here. Every single night. Right outside. For two weeks. When I wasn't trying to sleep, I loved it!

Here's the video:

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Langkawi, Malaysia - Sunshine and Saltwater

For Chinese New Year this year, I escaped the cold Beijing weather and enjoyed the sunshine in Malaysia. We thought about staying here:

But, there was no vacancy. We didn't do much on this trip. Mostly, we read books, spent time in the sun, swam in the pool and ocean, and relaxed.

We were visited by wildlife poolside.

And on the walk to and from the pool.

We decided one day that we should probably leave the hotel and see something else, so we booked a trip to go check out the mangroves.

We visited a bat cave.

We saw some wild dogs.

We licked salty leaves.

We had lunch in a floating restaurant.

In the evening, we went to the night market.

When we got back, we canceled everything else, so we could lie by the pool and on the beach, read, relax, and swim. We also had massages.

More photos at flickr.

--Sarah--

Temple Fair in February

It seems that I need to update again and let everyone know the recent happenings over here in 北京. (Hopefully your computer can recognize Chinese characters or that last bit may have looked completely different than I planned.)

Back in February, my school put on the annual Temple Fair. This day was to celebrate the Chinese New Year and there were lots of booths on the playground for the kids to visit. There were also some acts to entertain us.

Here we have a stilt-walker who was so talented she could even text message while stilt-walking!

Here is a very tall unicyclist unicycling around things.

The yam seller cooking up the best treat at the fair.

Here is a boy playing keep-away from the lion.

Here is a short video of the lion dance as well.

I will try to get more of the February and early March updates up this week. Remember to check my flickr site as well to see many more pictures! The link is on the right side of this page. My mom comes to visit on Saturday! I will be sure to post our adventures in Beijing while she is visiting me!

--Sarah--