Let’s go… to Chinatown!

What’s a Chinese New Year celebration without a trip (or two) to Chinatown? We don’t necessarily go to buy new year goodies but mostly to join the hustle and bustle of the activities and ok, maybe buy some unnecessary fattening snacks and knick knacks we don’t need. Please lah, it is impossible not to get sucked into the pointless consumerism when you are in Chinatown.

There is chinese new year music blasting from everywhere, hawkers shouting and clapping to get shoppers to stop at their stalls, seductive smell of barbecued bak kwa, squid, giant prawns and chestnuts in the air, dripping cold Taiwan jelly being distributed by overly enthusiastic dudes on stools and getting jabbed in the belly by excited aunties rushing to get free taste of butter roasted peanuts. Welcome to Chinatown!

I usually avoid going anywhere near Chinatown during festive periods because of the crowd and the noise. I wasn’t like this in the past though. You would never find me at home and I would always be at some crowded hotspot with my friends having fun. Now that I’m a mummy and in my 30s, I no longer find joy in mosh pits and (butt)cheek to (butt)cheek dances (aka being in crowded trains or places).

The Husband’s office is pretty close to Chinatown and Xander knows it. Whenever he and I go pick Daddy up at the end of the day or when Daddy needs to work late at the office, Xan will always beg me to bring him to Chinatown for a walk. This boy has the ‘I am so 可怜and cute’ face pat down so of course we simply had to make a quick trip to the night market lor.

After a quick dinner, I told Xan to look out for small decorative stuff we could buy to dress up the pussy willows he and Daddy bought from Ikea a few days prior. Give the boy a mission and he was kept busy the whole night.

We ended up going back a second time with Daddy over the weekend. He was very fascinated with the preserved leg of ham with the hoof. Xan kept mimicking the hoof with his hand, “Mummy! See! Same ah?”

In the spirit of festive joy, the little one was given some money to spend on whatever he wanted so he ended up with a pink fan and an inflatable sword with the words, 天下第一剑 printed on it. The Husband laughed and said “Wah! You are so 楚留香. Naturally, Xander didn’t care. He said he needed the fan because it was “soooo hot”. I rolled my eyes because it was the windiest Chinese New Year week I’ve ever experienced lor. As for the sword. He didn’t say why. He just had to have it. As much as I would like to linger around the market a bit longer, I wasn’t about to risk going into labour in the middle of the street market. I was so tired and was getting crankier by the second. The boys were very wise to agree and we quickly made our way back to the car and head to the nearest coffee joint for my coffee fix. Hehehe! I win!

So how did you prepare for Chinese New Year? Hope it was 马-vellous! Geddit? Geddit? Marvellous! Hahah!