Chinese New Year

So it's Chinese New Year in Taipei, with all the fun that entails. Fireworks non stop for 5 days now and everyone on vacation. I'm surprised I can even access the internet as the lag has been horrific lately. Half the shops are closed but the rest are constantly busy from what I can see.

On Chinese New Year (CNY), Felicity was kind enough to invite me to her house for dinner. Then she included lunch too so I went over around noon. I've had traditional CNY food but this was a first. The first dish that came out was deep fried fish, that we aren't allowed to eat. It has to have a head and tail, and stay on the table for good luck. Then came a pan fried salmon fillet with a pepper sauce on the side that was really good. Some of the other dishes were rather unique too. One dish looked like pigs feet, another was baked chicken served cold sliced, the final dish was an interesting one with Tofu and egg whites.

Dinner was much the same except there was a vegetable dish with mutton in it. I liked the vegetables, not the mutton. There was lots of fruit served with lunch and dinner plus a vegetable soup. I was really surprised that there was so much meat despite Felicity's mom being a vegetarian. She didn't eat any of it, but I guess that it's tradition to have lots of meat at CNY.

After lunch Felicity and I watched some movies and she answered some Chinese questions I had. It was a pretty lazy day all and all. Eating, napping, watching TV, eating some more, more TV. I'll probably have to spend the next week in the gym to make up for how much they fed me.

In the mean time, I'm still working and fireworks are still going off. I have to fly to Macau again next week, this time to get a new 6 month visa. It should go off without a hitch I hope. They offer same day service so I'll fly in the morning, get the visa, and return in the evening.