and gong hey fat choy! (happy new year)

i thought i’d take a trip down memory lane and look at some pictures from when i was in shanghai and hong kong two years ago. i had a great time at the bird market, the night market, the museum of city planning, an acrobatic show, and looking in all the shops. i drank coffee mixed with green tea (weird tasting to me but very popular), had amazing dim sum, and tried to eat a head-and-shell-ON shrimp with just chopsticks. that was hard.

i remember there was a lot of “big news” from around the world while i was in china… the earthquake in haiti… conan was removed as host of the tonight show… the chinese government was not pleased with a proposed arms deal between the US and Taiwan… and google’s decision to ease up on self-censorship in mainland china was making waves.  (i was traveling alone, and newspapers were my dining companions on this trip.)

here are some little links from around the web to get you in the chinese new year mood…

-vogue’s slideshow of dragon-inspired gifts

-recipe for Chap Chai, a yummy-sounding Chinese New Year dish from Chopstick Diner

-go on a food-centric walking tour of NYC’s chinatown

-take a walk down grand street and keep an eye out for vendors selling durian, that kind of stinky ugly fruit. i have enough fun watching them scoop it out of the rind…

(top two and bottom two photos were taken in hong kong, middle photos were taken in shanghai)