My Chinese New Year's Eve (龙年除夕夜) 2012 - Reunion LUNCH (团圆饭) & Night Market in Chinatown

Lunar New Year's Eve is always a busy day for Chinese and i am no exception myself especially when the past few months have been so filled with work!

Nonetheless, i managed to tidy up my room before the start of the Dragon year. [psst, shall blog on the latest state of this room in due course].

There was also the very important reunion lunch! Most Chinese have reunion dinners but our family decided to have it earlier so that my sister can have her reunion dinner at her in-laws. Nothing's wrong with that since the purpose of reunion is togetherness and you can practice it even during breakfast!

To get into the festive spirit, mom and i took to the streets of Chinatown pasar malam! As expected, it was people mountain people sea (direct translation from 人山人海).

Maybe this picture is better suited to describe the Chinese idiom. In a way, i feel that the crowd is more manageable this time - i wasn't stuck in the intersections like in the past. Must be because of the incessant rain that started from late afternoon.

Although i was in the same market a week ago [look here for the post], it was during the daytime and there were some stalls that only start their operation at night. For one, i don't even remember seeing these tins of love letters for sale!

Super absorbent (according to the lady) floor mats for the new year! I don't remember seeing this either even though these solid colour mats were easily available in a lot of places.

Self-curling hair device - frankly, the organisers should allow only vendors who are selling products related to Chinese New Year (CNY) or entrepreneurs with unique wares to offer. Common floor mats?! *roll eyes*

These are quite special; fruits that resemble gourds. I have no idea what they are and am in fact, regretting not buying any to try out!

Balloon dragon dancing to the sky!

This stall selling Taiwanese mochi and festive sweets was already slashing price at around 11.30pm, attracting customers who could not resist the good deal! I could not blame them as it's better to clear these perishable festive stocks before CNY to cover the cost.

One big bag of goodies, filled to the max, cost merely S$5 (originally, it cost S$1.80 per 100 gram)! Our two bags of achievements cost only S$10 for 3.2 kilograms!

Good deals aside, i could not stand this auntie whose hand kept reaching out to grab the goodies (we counted no less than five times) even though she had already paid, filled up and received her bags! This was indeed ugly behaviour to the max! By the way, she was captured in the previous photograph. *smirks*

This stall at another street was actually quiet initially but once the vendor dropped the price from S$10 a bag to S$5 a bag, it was swarmed with customers within five seconds!

Sometimes, it is not good to wait till the last minute as well. Some products were already sold out before midnight and mom, who loves novelty peanuts, did not manage to get any.

Flowers at only S$10 for three bouquets. Since retail stalls are generally closed for the few first days of CNY, i believe the price would drop further after midnight.

Such 'roof' is necessary in case of rain.

And it did rain heavily fifteen minutes before the clock strikes twelve! As you can see, the street was almost devoid of customers - everyone was just looking for shelter to protect their purchases.

We went to the food centre where mom can rest comfortably while looking at the performances.

The cool weather required a cup of Teh-O. A handful of hawker stalls were open to cater to the drinking crowd and it was therefore not hard to find my tea.

This was where we welcomed the Dragon year! Visitors to Singapore, who always assume that Singapore is a sanitised society, would be in for a big shock here. Dirty dishes strewn all over the place, people openly gambling in the public etc etc.

One stall vendor was already done with praying when we took the street again twenty minutes past midnight. My parents heard that the best time to pray to the Jade Emperor is 5am this Dragon Year and woke up purposely at that time to pray for the family's well-being.

This was the same stall where we bought the goodies at S$10 for 3.2 kilograms; everything was cleared out!

Boxes of mochi at hugely discounted prices. S$10 for a bag and you squeeze as many as you can. On the sideline, i heard a happy customer commenting that he managed to put in fifteen boxes into the plastic bag.

Another place where you can get massive discounts - shops that sell decorative items, especially those imprinted with the Dragon zodiac. If they don't clear it, they have to wait for the next cycle which is twelve years away.

Human jam at Chinatown MRT station. Thank god the trains didn't break down or i can imagine the amount of complaint postings on facebook overtaking those with CNY greetings.

Mom did her first praying for the lunar year at this temple beside Amoy Food Centre. There was actually a reason for it - something to do with a dream. Ask her if you are intrigued.

By the way, Happy Chinese New Year!
龙年快乐!