Happy New Chinese Year of the Rooster

Happy New Year of the Rooster!

Today is Chinese new year. Not only the Chinese, but some other Asian countries follow the Lunar Calendar, that's why their year starts today and their New Year's Day moves from year to year, but is always around this time, between end of January and mid February. 

The change of the year is a big event, as it is for us. The difference is, that in Asia, the festivities are more traditional and date back not centuries, but millennia. It is a very colourful and noisy event and whoever happens to witness it, will remember it for a lifetime. 

Something else is different. With the new year comes a new star sign. The year of the monkey just passed, and we welcome the year of the rooster, and not the year of the cock or chicken as some might say. People store or throw away whatever monkey decoration they had and bring out or buy rooster decoration and decorate their premisses and especially their doors and windows. People, especially the Chinese, are very superstitious and believe in spirits and supernatural powers.

New year means also the days of the Red Packages. Red is the lucky colour and whenever you want to give some Hongbao, you either put money in a red envelope and hand it to the person you want, or you do it electronically via WeChat and send a red packet up to 200 yuan (23 pounds) to a friend of yours. If you are a member in one or more groups on WeChat, click on the symbol as quick as you can before the money is gone and see how much you've got. The more people are in a group and the more groups you're in, the higher the chances you have to earn some money.

This is what it looks like on WeChat. In this photo you see my group and the Red Packet I sent. I donated 50 yuan to be shared among 20 people. You can write a message on your packet. Underneath there are the names of the people who opened the red packet. 42 is the name of my group (readers of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will understand the reference) and 142 are the members in the group).

 This is what you see if you click on the symbol above. You see the name of the donor, the message and some notification/information, which is usually in Chinese. Now you have to click on OPEN.

 Once you've clicked on OPEN, you'll see how much you've got and a list with the names of the people who also got lucky and the amount they received. As you can see the amount is random. You can set a fixed amount for everyone if you want.

This is a Red Packet I received from my dear friend Mi. Eight is the lucky number, so triple eight means lots of luck for me.

And here's some New Year's fun.

That's what decorated doors and windows look like (banners are usually in Chinese)

Here are some funny videos (may not show or play on iPhones and/or iPads). 

This is what my friend Jia Jia says (opens in a new window)

This is what a Chinese man says (opens in a new window)

Army of Terracotta Warriors

Most visitors come to Xi'an to see the Army of  Terracotta Warriors. The site is massive and you need a lot of time to see it and to travel to and from it. It is one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen and it is of unbelievable beauty. 

From Xi'an you need to head to the downtown train station and find the bus station. There look for the buses that take you to the site. There are frequent buses, every ten or so minutes, and tickets cost as little as one pound sterling. The journey lasts for about an hour (if the shabby bus won't break down, like in our case - then we had to wait for the following buses to pick us up) and you get off at the very last stop. Once at the Army of Terracotta Warriors site, the bus will leave you far away from the entrance, next to a car park. Walk towards the car park (or follow the Chinese who seem to know the way), go to the end of the car park and continue walking through food stalls, restaurants, coffee shops (yes, Starbucks and the like are all there) and eventually you'll get to the entrance. Try not to eat or drink or buy anything there, as it is quite expensive. 

The site consists of three pits, with Pit 1 being the largest. You'll see thousands of warriors and horses and carriages. You can't really go anywhere near the exhibits, but in Pit 2 are five of them on display behind glass. There is a kneeling archer, a standing archer, a cavalryman and his horse, a general and an officer. 

All three pits are very fascinating and you will notice that they soldiers' faces differ from each other. They all look different, surreal and as if they were alive. Legend has it that Qin Shi Huang believed that he would rule and reign in the afterlife and needed an army to guard and fight for him.

The site was found in 1974 by sheer accident, when a few peasants drilled the earth to build a well.

This is next to a shop in downtown Xi'an.

Not the Army of Lovers.... (Pit 1)

Some ladies are afraid of the sun. Stylish umbrella, by the way.

Pits 2 and 3

Another stylish umbrella.

If you would like to read more by me, my novel about a Taxi driver and my travelogue from the north Saudi desert, are both available on Amazon.