Xin Nian Kuai Le!!!

Happy New Year! Its the year of the pig. The golden pig to be exact, but in actuality its not a golden pig, its a fire pig I guess, because back in the day... ...its kind of complicated.

I have nothing of any consequence to report other than wish everyone a Happy New Year. I thought I was saying it correctly, but only after I had said it and written it to dozens of people, did I realize I was wrong. Its not "Ji Nian Kuai Le" but rather "Xin Nian Kuai Le"....and believe me, people noticed...because they laughed.

The most remarkable thing about this holiday was that everyone in the city buys fireworks. Remember also that the Chinese invented gunpowder. Yes, the city empties out when many people return to their hometowns and families, but there are still alot of people here...and they all buy fireworks. Big ones from multiple independent stands throughout town. Like this one:


I thought...OK, I have to buy a few, so I went to the stand by my apartment and got sold alot:


Really, most of the smaller pieces were pretty standard, but they had these big boxes which were like a Disney show in one tidy box.

You just open it and light it and then it shoots out big fireworks like 100 feet in the air. People buy these, then set them off in the streets. I didnt, but sometimes people put them really close to other signs, buildings and trees.


So Chinese New Year Eve is on Feb 17, but people were blowing off their private stashes of fireworks 2 days before, and they still are even two days after. However, the really crazy time was on the 17th, from about 6:00 pm until 1:00 am it sounded like I imagine war would. Honestly, I was in my apartment thinking...should I really go out there?

I really didnt get any pictures that fully represent the madness of having a whole city shooting off their large fireworks. I thought New Years in Mexico was crazy because some people shoot guns in the air....but here EVERYONE has explosives, so I dont know.

I did get a really good video though and I tried to put it on youtube. I had to change formats (which I am not good at doing) so it is ugly but you will get the idea...dont mind the language :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vwUvhfkL5w

Happy New Year!