Hokkien New Year in Penang

The Hokkien New Year is celebrated on the ninth day of the new Chinese calendar each year.
The enormous ethnic Chinese Hokkien community in Penang, Malaysia celebrates in grand style.

Offerings of food are laid out to beckon good luck and fortune for the New Year.

Glutinous Turtle Cakes

The main celebration here in Penang took place this year at the Chew Jetty.
Hokkien are predominately boat people and live close to the water. Several family clans have elaborate homes built on the jettys.

We joined thousands of others in the celebrations which began at dusk.
An enormous rainstorm hit just about two hours into the celebration and we took cover in a small open air bar (although covered) called Amigos. The downpour lasted 90 minutes. We made our way back to our guesthouse as the weather cleared and the fireworks began.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year

It's the Year Of The Snake and both Alan and myself (Herman) were born during the Snake year so we're hoping for a great year.

We're celebrating as we did two years ago in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
The city hasn't changed much in two years.

Malaysia has some of the best Lion Dancers in the World and they will seldom disappoint.
The only disappointment was that we didn't see nearly as many Lion Dancers as we saw two years ago.
But nonetheless KL is a great eating town and we did our fair share of it.

We arrived from Chiang Mai on Chinese New Years Eve and our hotel in the Bukit Bintang area was charming but right in the middle of where a huge party was going on.
There was non-stop music, firecrackers, lion dancers, and some very bad karaoke going late into the night.

More CM Flower Fest and Parade

The second of three days of celebration of the Chiang Mai Flower Festival included a parade snaking its way through town, and yes, creating a massive traffic jam in its wake.

Prizes were awarded and presented to the winners the day before and everything was displayed beautifully for all to see.

Here we are with some of the very elaborate, flower decorated floats used in the parade.

It's the Annual Chiang Mai Flower Festival taking place this weekend (1-3 Feb 2013).
May be one of several happening during the year but we're glad this festival is going on now.

The Orchids are incredible and so many varieties we haven't ever seen before.

Hard to judge but there seems to be plenty of ribbons awarded.

Chiang Mai with friends

It's always fun to meet up with friends while traveling. In a way, it tempers homesickness but also allows you to share traveling experiences with people you enjoy spending time with.

Although we only met Bob and Brian recently, they seem to have a very similar adventure to their traveling as we do. We were glad to show them a few of our favorite spots in Chiang Mai.

Wat Si Supan

Wat Chedi Luang

The Long Trip Back

After two years, we're finally back in our favorite city in Thailand, Chiang Mai.

The trip over was grueling to say the least. Three flights, three layovers, and some 33 hours later we touched down in Chiang Mai.
It was our first trip on the "super-sized" A380 and we must say that we were not impressed. Boarding went smoothly even with some 470 passengers to get on board. Luckily our luggage went straight through to Chiang Mai and we weren't subjected to the "cattle call" of collecting bags from the A380 flight.
The non-stop portion from San Francisco to Hong Kong took an incredible 14-1/2 hours (I never remembered it taking quite so long).
Singapore's flight crews are usually very good as was the case on the flight over, however the food on this particular flight was mediocre.
The A380 is no doubt a huge plane but the cabins are separated into groups small enough to resemble any other long haul plane.
Did get to catch up on some films we wouldn't have paid to see in theaters though.

Spring at Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree - A great place to hike, especially in the spring when things are blooming.

We've moved recently to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park is a stone's throw away.
We've always talked of hiking and exploring the Park but thanks to our friends Mark and Glen it became a reality. The introduction (or push) certainly has made it easier to venture out to JT more often.

Thanks to Glen for the people pictures. A camera is never far from his hands.