Hong Bao River 2014 (春到河畔)

We went to Hong Bao River on its last day - 8 February 2014 as I wanted AJ to experience the Chinese New Year (CNY) mood.  He got so excited about the trip that he even made a booklet to write down the experience along the way (live recording).  So, instead of me writing, I invited the boy to 'transfer' what he has written on his booklet to my blog.  The video & photos were taken from my camera. So I have a guest post here, from AJ:

Wow! Mum said we’re off to Hong Bao River (春到河畔)!  It’s going to be a great trip! I can’t wait any longer!

By the way, Hong Bao River was at Marina Bay Floating Platform.  There were many Chinese New Year decorations & some performances.  I was wonder how it would look like.  Hmmm … …

Wow! The trip to Hong Bao River was gorgeous! When we reached there, we were greeted by a massive collection of food.  I saw some ice-cream & I wanted to eat some!  Mum agreed.  But there was such a long queue!  I asked mum to stay put & I rushed to the side to take a closer look.  Oh! No wonder!  The ice-cream man was playing with his customers!  He was shaking the ice-cream up & down (the filling didn’t fall out because it was Turkish ice-cream) & he also gave his customers just the ice-cream stick!  He was pretty good at his ice-cream sticks (I mean tricks!).

After that, we met a GIGANTIC 財神爺 (God of Fortune). Not bad, but he was a little bit too young to be a 財神爺 (爺 means ‘grandpa’). Some people also touched the ‘money’ hoping to get more money.

Then, we saw some statutes of the 12 Zodiac Animals, namely, the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog & the boar.  There were also some explanations given by fortune tellers to explain how each person born in that year will behave & how much luck he/she will receive.

We met a huge pagoda (look at the cover page of the booklet).  In front of the pagoda were 3 men, 張飛, 關羽 &劉備.  They were 3 sworn brothers & warriors in the ancient China.

There was also a stage.  Mum felt that it was a little bit wrong.  Why?  Because they were playing Malay music!  “Geylang si papu Geylang, Geylang si rama-rama, … …”.  She said, “I just do not understand why.”  Then I replied, “You do not need to understand why.”

There was also a place that explains all the Chinese festivals, including the Lunar New Year.  The Lunar New Year is divided into a few parts (important days of the New Year).  There are 16 days in Lunar New Year, I am including除夕 (eve of Lunar New Year) as well.

Then we went to a calligraphy stall.  We saw different types of Chinese art everywhere.  They were so beautiful.

It was also 18:15 at that point of time & mum said that it was time for dinner.  It was indeed a memorable day for us!