Picture of the Day: Blessed by a Lion

A red lion blessing one of the stalls in the wet market today

Kung fu groups are keeping busy through the 15 days celebrating the Lunar New Year. Their members perform lion dances for whoever wants their store, office building, shopping mall, apartment blocks to be blessed.

While the lions will be coming to my apartment building tomorrow afternoon, they were out in force in the nearby wet market today. I went to do my grocery shopping and heard the clash of the cymbals and drums.

On the second floor where fruits and vegetables are sold, a red lion was going stall by stall, performing the same ritual. It bows in front of the stall, then it opens its mouth and swallows the head of Chinese lettuce that's hanging from a hook with a lai see packet or blatantly, a HK$100 bill.

Meanwhile inside the guy is pocketing the money and then rips up the lettuce because after a short moment, the lion's eyes flutter, its ears move, and the it opens its mouth again and spits out bits of lettuce.

At the entrance, several lion heads are on display to add colour

Then it occurred to me -- are Chinese lions are vegetarian? Or they have a preference for lettuce...

Sang choi or raw lettuce sounds similar to "create wealth", and the wet market stall owners are hoping for a good Year of the Rooster.

And the way the economy is going, we're all hoping for financially better year, but we've been warned it's going to be a tough road ahead.

One can only hope a lion will bring luck our way...

Warm Lunar New Year

Does a Fire Rooster mean warmer temperatures in Hong Kong this year?

Lunar New Year is usually quite cold -- well cold for us who usually live in over 20 degree Celsius weather.

Temperatures usually dip around 10 degrees and last year it went as far as 3 degrees, with snow on Hong Kong's highest peak, Tai Mo Shan.

We drag out our heaters and bundle up in puffy jackets, boots, and scarves. Some even wear ear muffs, but they are mostly fashion statements...

But today -- the third day into the Year of the Rooster, it was really warm during the day -- it was so warm and humid I wore a T-shirt -- and I even got mosquito bites while in Pui O, an area south west of Mui Wo.

By evening there was some rain and temperatures fell again, but this year is certainly a strange one when it comes to the weather.

Does it have to do with it being the fire rooster this year?

Start of the Year of the Rooster

Lots of narcissus are already in bloom today due to the warm temperatures

I worked half day today, OK a bit more than half, so that by the time I grabbed some lunch at Mak's Noodles in Causeway Bay and walked over to Victoria Park it was almost 3pm!

And there were lots of people at the Chinese New Year fair! I'd gone last Sunday to take a peek but wish I had more time to check it out then so I wouldn't have to go back.

Will you win the horse race for the next chief executive?

There were so many people -- not yet to the point where you were squashed like sardines and pushed along by the crowd -- and also it was very warm, making it not so pleasant to be there for too long.

So this year I have to admit I didn't pass by every single stall, but there was quite a lot to see anyway. The political parties were out with their caricatures of the four candidates running for Chief Executive in March, while Demosisto led by Joshua Wong Chi-fung had a banner that read "Determine Our Future".

Audrey Eu Yuet-mee of the Civic Party was demonstrating her Chinese calligraphy skills. I watched her for a bit and she wrote some English with Chinese on some fai chun, or Chinese couplets which made me wonder if this was a new thing, or her own twist.

Or how about spinning the wheel for the next CE?

At the stall of the New People's Party, its founder Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee running for CE, there were no customers interested in buying rooster-related merchandise... while Lee Cheuk-yan was trying to get people to have fun by poking their head in a hole where a jockey's head would be first in a horse race with the other CE candidates not far behind.

Meanwhile there were many rooster or chicken-themed merchandise to buy. It was disappointing not to find a rooster that looked like Donald Trump. But then again when people were ordering merchandise many months ago, little did they know or think of something like that. Surely a Trump-looking rooster would have been really popular, especially on social media.

Gorgeous orchids (that aren't cheap either!)

The fair wasn't all political satire, there were also lots of snacks and puddings for the new year, and of course flowers. Many narcissus were already in bloom because of the warm weather and their fragrance is intoxicating. One stall sold roses covered in glitter! Also the orchids were lovely too -- some very expensive and in the thousands of dollars!

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year of the Rooster!

Picture of the Day: Trumping the Rooster

The giant inflatable rooster that bears a resemblance to Donald Trump

Well, it is the Year of the Rooster and the Year of Trump.

So why not mash them together?

That's what a Seattle-based graphic artist had in mind when he designed giant inflatable roosters whose headgear look very similar to the new American president.

"I can definitely say Mr Trump has a lot of similarities in that he likes to tweet," says Casey Latiolais.

"And he also likes to tweet at or around sunrise, and if you take away the fact that roosters are kind of loud and self-absorbed, then I think you can start drawing similarities that way."

The factory in Zhejiang province producing these inflatable birds can't keep up with demand for these Trump-like roosters, with workers going on their annual Spring Festival holiday.

But it's funny how Latiolais has drawn a link between the rooster and Trump, who likes to rule the roost, strut his stuff and puff up his chest...

Picture of the Day: Baby Fire Roosters

Lots of baby roosters hanging out in an office lobby

Chinese New Year is around the corner and it will be the fire rooster -- which means those who are born this year or back in 1957, are trustworthy, have a strong sense of timekeeping and responsible at work.

Many companies, hotels and restaurants have started decorating their public areas with New Year decorations.

In the lobby of an office building in Sheung Wan I spotted this cute arrangement -- lots of baby roosters hanging out on a tiered red platform.

They all wear little cross-body bags -- wonder what's in them?!

Not only are they sitting around, but also hanging out randomly around the floor.

Perhaps it's a fire rooster occupy exercise?