New Year's Eve

...consisted of going to the larger Flower Market. It actually wasn't as crowded as anticipated, probably because we went early afternoon rather than at night. On the news now are scenes of endless crowds of people at the Market. Also, there are scenes of crowds at the temple (wong dai seen) lining up to burn the first incense of the year at midnight. Our home is about 15 min walk from the smaller market (the largest in Kowloon) that I went to yesterday. On the drive home from dinner, we passed lines of ppl heading to market. There were police directing the human traffic. At busier intersections the police had to put up rope barriers to keep people on the sidewalks during red lights. Good thing we went earlier. Although we didn't buy anything from the market anyway since mom forbade any plants/flowers.

Also had the New Year's dinner (tune leen fan) tonight - about 17 ppl total. I don't know if the restaurants were busy cos we were in a VIP suite :) Actually, there's not much New Year atmosphere - Christmas is much more festive. I suspect it's cos New Year is more "traditional" and doesn't appeal to the younger generation as much. Anyway, tomorrow we're going to "buy leen" at grandparents' place, at which I hope to get some $$. I guess another New Year activity today was helping stuff the $$ pockets in preparation for tomorrow. Since mom is the oldest of her siblings here, she has to give $$ to her siblings, their spouses, their kids, and their maids. We'll also have to give $$ to any close friends we come across, their kids, and the security guards at the apartment. It adds up to quite a bit! Most stores are closed tomorrow, so probably won't be doing much.

Nothing else happened. I'm not feeling the effects of jet lag much - I feel tired, but not really sleepy. That's usually the case going to HK, though going to TO it takes like a week to recover. I guess it's cos there's no rush to recover when in TO. I wonder how I'll handle the first day back at work though...

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