On New Year’s Eve, my family and I decided to take a drive up to Chinatown in San Francisco to see the sights and decorations that were bound to be up for Chinese New Year. We first had a Malaysian kinda lunch at a Malaysian restaurant called Layang-Layang.
Check out that satay – man, it was good!
Well, it was rather chilly in San Jose that afternoon, and it was drizzling too, and we did question ourselves if it would be a good idea to drive up north. But we did it anyhow…
It took us forever to move around and find a parking spot. In the end, we managed to locate the underground parking garage near a children’s play area and we parked there.
The crowd was humungous! It felt as though everyone had come to Chinatown that day. There were people shopping for food and clothes, there were tourists busy snapping pictures, and there were even some people whiling their time away gambling in full view of everyone!
There were plenty of shops with Chinese New Year decorations, although we kinda expected Chinatown to be much, much redder than it was.
Many people were busy choosing flowers and plants to decorate their homes with. We even spotted the prosperity plants on sale!
Of course, it being Chinese New Year and all, there are bound to be stalls selling new clothes, all in the theme of the au-OX-picious year ahead.
And there were a few stalls catering to those who wanted a new bag for the new year too!
I also caught sight of this mobile hairdresser…imagine having your hair done in full view of everyone!
And oh, here’s something that reminded me of our tanahair…
Traditional Chinese medical shops could be seen at almost every street too, and of course, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this shop selling roasted chicken/duck.
I saw this huge line of people patiently queueing up at the roadside, and when I asked my hubby what they were doing, he pointed out that they were trying their luck at buying numbers, all in the spirit of Chinese New Year! LOL
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happy new year!
The Giddy Tigress says: Happy New Year to you!
dang…the satay looks mouth-watering… 😀
looks like you had a fun time in Chinatown – Happy Chinese ‘Niu’ Year! 😉
The Giddy Tigress says: The satay WAS indeed good. Happy Chinese New Year to you too!
what a new experience eh? Gong Hey Fatt Choy!
The Giddy Tigress says: Happy New Year to you too!
Chinatown in US also got New Year feel, so fun! 🙂
The Giddy Tigress says: But not as much *feel* as in Malaysia, I think.
Gong Xi Fatt Choy! I had yee sang with someone from China who had never seen or heard of it before this… and am eating kuih kapet now 😀
The Giddy Tigress says: Gosh you are so tempting me!
So this is the legendary Chinatown of SF! 😀 Why din show us the pics of old men gambling in public? LOL!
The Giddy Tigress says: LOL I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed to take pictures of them gambling!
Are those bags real or wat?
The Giddy Tigress says: Of course they aren’t real! I saw some similar COACH ones, but the logos were all G’s instead of C’s. This stall that I took pictures of, however, sells the ones with C logos 🙂
very happening in san jose! at least u get to feel the CNY joy and atmosphere over there!
The Giddy Tigress says: Well, not as much as in Malaysia though!
Any fire-crackers? 😛
The Giddy Tigress says: Nope, but I did see some kids playing with the pop-pop stuff!
wow.. got pirated DVD also?
Btw, a ‘loh ngap’ is USD7.50 per bird? That’s way too cheap!
We just had a blinking roast duck for dinner which cost us RM45 per bird (packed)!!
The Giddy Tigress says: Really? Don’t know how to read 😛