Singapore, Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the Lunar New Year, especially by people outside China. It is an important holiday in East Asia. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. This year is the year of the Rat and the celebration started on January 19 until February 24th but New Year's Eve was on the 7th of February.

A few nights before we went with the Lebanese students to Chinatown and enjoyed a good Lo Hei. This dish is traditionally served on the seventh day of Chinese New Year, which the Chinese celebrate as "everyone's birthday." The higher you toss the salad, the greater your luck and prosperity in the New Year!

The night market in Chinatown was packed and we wandered in the streets filled with colors and music, and weird little things to buy!






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Singapore, weekend in Bintan (Indonesia)

For the first weekend in february we've decided to explore the islands around Singapore. Bintan is one of them at roughly 2 hours door to door east of Singa. Bintan Island or Negeri Segantang Lada is an island of 1,866 square kilometers, and is part of the Riau Islands province of Indonesia.

We stayed at the Bintan Lagoon Resort and unfortunately like it is usually in January and February, it was raining the whole weekend.





How to get there from Singapore: Take a bus to the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. The island is just over the Strait of Singapore and it takes not more than an hour to reach. Fare is S$57/2way/adult/peak hour and $46/off peak.