China

Happy new year everyone!  新年快乐 We hiked up the side of a mountain near Xixi Lu to get good photos of the West Lake, alas there was nothing going on!  The real action was back in Xuhu district (where we live), so on midnight, we observed the most outstanding fireworks I‘ve ever seen – more […]

As I alluded to recently, Chinese New Year has been fast approaching.  Last night and at all hours we’ve heard sporadic fireworks, some big, some small.  Today CNY kicked off with a bang – it literally feels like we’re in the middle of a war zone – and since dusk our apartment has been surrounded […]

Tomorrow night is actually the proper start of the Chinese new year, but you’d be hard pressed to know.  Fireworks have been decorating the sky around HangZhou since early Sunday, and tonight has been even more pronounced.  If the past few days have been any indication, Chinese New Year will see the largest amount of […]