fat rabbit new year to all

Kung Hei Fat Choi, everybody....i can't believe as of tomorrow, the year of the Tiger will be over, making way for the fresh new year of the Rabbit.guess the lunar calendar didn't intentionally plan out the hilarious irony of last year for this guy. having spent the last 6 years in Vancouver, i had a little exposure to Chinese New Year (CNY), which entailed getting dragged invited to a corporate dinner celebration a couple of times. now that i'm a little closer to the motherland, i'm gaining an increased appreciation for what CNY means to the people here.

a quick coles notes version for those of you at home>
it's the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays, and results in public holidays this year for 3 days....which doesn't really affect my schedule so much. a ton of decorations get set up everywhere, mainly red lanterns and mandarin orange plants. similar to many north american holidays, it is a time for families to get together, and a fair amount of 'mainlanders' come into HK to get down. some interesting traditions are to clean your house immediately before the new year to 'sweep away' the previous year's bad luck. by far the most interesting tradition IMO is the ritual of giving money to people in the form of new crisp bills inside red envelopes. it is common practice for people to approach their boss/parents/elders directly and proceed to do the classic throat clear until the red envelope is coughed up. i'm excited to look under my pillow tomorrow to see if the rabbit leaves me something.
so, that's basically a beginner's guide to CNY, and i'm hoping to expand on this a little once the actual holiday is upon us.

speaking of furry animals, i didn't really have the capacity/sobriety to explain yesterday's picture of me in the mink. as part of my own personal pre-CNY party, i had the pleasure of hopping into a refrigerated vodka bar, in the heart of the bar district in HK called Lan Kwai Fong. and yes, it was meat locker cold...but a cool experience nonetheless.
oh, and for some reason, CNY wouldn't be CNY without the cheerleaders from LSU. no joke, they are in town for the CNY parade. random, yes. guess they were going for a cross between Tigers & Bunnies. happy rabbit!