Chinese New Year Holidays (02/2010)

The Lunar New Year is a very important time in Asia, often marked by numerous celebrations and festivals. Taiwan is certainly no exception. The festivals I attended will be the subject of later posts - this one just covers the second week of February.  The sheer sights and sounds surrounding the preparation of his holiday are impressive. The first few photos below reflect merely shopping for snacks to be presented during this time.

During the holiday week itself (starting Feb 15 this year, with the proper evening being Feb 13), most of Taipei supposedly goes back to their respective hometowns, leaving the city a veritable ghost town.  Evidently that was not the case this year as queues and crowds were aplenty.

Having not wanting to have imposed myself to my Taiwanese friends I remained elusive about my New Year's plans, specifically the evening - I decided upon a solemn but reflective dinner at the local 7/11 which turned out to be quite good (as every other business was closed that night).  The next day, was quite nice as I was invited to my professor's house along with her family and some students to enjoy traditional home-cooked Taiwanese food. Sheer joy!

Escaping Taipei was a nightmare along with the considerable rain, so much of the week was spent in parks or hot springs :).