A Grand Day Out: Chinese New Year

It had been such a long time since I’d done anything and I was in a surprisingly social mood. Perhaps it had something to do with the return of Joey – Mel and Steff’s former roommate. He’d originally left to travel down the east coast and I wasn’t expecting to see him in Australia again. It was a lovely surprise.

Joey met up with a friend from home and they were both staying at the hostel in search of work. They only planned on being in Sydney for less than a week so I was eager to do something with them before they left. To Google!

I found an event in Sydney Central in celebration of the Chinese New Year. This is the year of the dragon so I was expecting a spectacular parade. I saw how much they spent on fireworks for New Year’s ($6.3 million this year). Alright, it’s not quite on the same level as the New Year’s bash, but still, I thought Sydney would pull out all the stops to show off its diversity.

Joey and his friend Oriel and I got the bus to Sydney Central. Although the bus journey was only around 45 minutes, I was sleepy. It must have been contagious as I could see Joey and Oriel felt the same. We needed food and fast.

There were plenty of food stalls around but I had no idea which one to choose. In the end we just spent about an hour drooling outside stand after stand. We settled for ice cream instead. Random, I know. There was a choice between a Mr Whippy (McFlurry) style dairy ice cream or this weird ice cream of the future. The weird ice cream wasn’t ice cream, it was a tub of little balls, kind of like Nerds but smaller. I didn’t like the look of those frozen balls and went for the traditional approach. It was massive and had lots of sprinkles on. I was happy.

Brain freeze!

Chips...on a stick. Simple yet brilliant.

This guy looks happy with his purchase.

I kept seeing people walking around with red tote bags. I sniffed out a freebie. Where is it? Steff and Mel went to a free music festival whilst I was at work and came back with all sorts of crap goodies. I wanted the same shit stuff.

On the way we ran into an interesting booth…

It couldn't hurt right?

I was handed a burning incense stick and ushered towards the shrine. I placed it with the rest and bowed just like I did many-a-time in Japan. As I walked off I was given a "lucky lolly" for good measure.

With food and freebies still on the brain, we snagged some fortune cookies. This should be good.

What good fortune will be bestowed on Joey and Oriel?

Wait a minute...

What the f...?

What a disappointment.

It started to get dark and the lanterns that adorned the trees provided a warming path towards the stage. It reminded me of the lanterns I saw in Kuala Lumpur.

It's show time! One perma-tanned cheesy news host and another lady to translate walked onto the stage. I should have paid more attention to what they were saying but his tan and cheesy grin were too distracting.

First to perform was a sole aboriginal man with his didgeridoo. It was a little bit random but I guess the Aussies had to contextualise the event.

Next were the dragons.

That was pretty fun if a little short-lived.

Next came some scary dancers with even scarier singing voices. I could have done with their soundtrack when I had sinus problems. Their voices would have cleared that right up.

The long feathers on their heads twisted and twirled as they shimmied across the stage. That, along with the screechy singing made for an unusual yet oddly entertaining performance.

The mayor gave a long-winded speech thanking all the sponsors that made the event possible. We grew bored so decided to scout around for the freebies we hadn’t yet found.

We saw where people were getting the bags from. It was a game! I like games…I lost. I hate games. It was a weird game with ping pong balls. You had to feed it through a dragon’s mouth and have it land in the right spot to win a dragon cuddly toy. I really wanted that toy. I lost, Joey lost and Oriel was so close, but he too lost. Arse.

We walked away with our red tote bags and mouse mats. I pouted.

I soon cheered up after receiving a hug from Happy Dragon.

There didn’t seem to be much else going on so we went to get the bus. I was still hungry so we sought out a place to eat. I wasn’t sure what I wanted. In the end the guys went to Coles supermarket for their food shop and I had a crepe. Very random seen as it was nearing 11pm. Lucky for them, the night manager was still awake to let them put their food in the fridge.

On the bus journey back, I revelled in how easy it was to make Joey and Oriel laugh. I had many jokes with the crepe/crap wordplay. All-in-all it was a fun evening. We did expect more from the opening night of the Chinese New Year celebrations, especially with the long list of sponsors for the event but I guess these guys like to spread it out as there were more activities taking place over the coming days.