The Year of the Dragon is here, and my Birthday (33!!!)!

I´m on the road again... yes, but just for a few days... "celebrating my birthday and the Vietnamese/Chinese New Year".

I´ll share here at the end something about the Chinese + TET New year.

And something about Singapore and Malaysia (Peninsular+West Coast): mis forzadas vacaciones de 10 días debido a las celebraciones en Vietnam de TET, the Vietnamese New Year, que coincide con el Año Nuevo Chino debido a que es marcado por el calendario lunar. Las celebraciones, si bien similares, son diferentes.

Los motivos de porqué elegí Malasia... bueno bastante simple: la comida... y la comida India... que para mí califica en otra categoría dado la relación íntima que con ella tengo. Un "chai" (masala tea), puede realmente cambiar mi día. En cada ciudad hay un área llamada "Little India".

Hay un segundo motivo. Califica en la categoría "personal personal" que comenté en la entrada anterior.

Realmente estoy conforme con la elección (aunque termine el viaje arruinada económicamente!!!Grgrgrgr), y confieso que otra vez no planeé demasiado. Actually almost anything... just the plane to/from Singapore. Traveling in this way, I found out is a good way to understand more about how the place works. Despite this is a "typical holiday", I´m faithful to my philosophy... still.

 (Las primeras impresiones and more...the next post...)

Luego de dos días en "Singapura", crucé la frontera... half an hour to the overland border crossing, really fast and no problematic inmigrations (free 6 months visa to Malaysia...mmmm made me think in my next destiny...), and half an hour later I was in Johor Bharu Bus´s Station. There I had decided to take the first bus to anywhere in Malaysia. Because of that, and without any delay, two and a half hour later I was in Malacca (Melaka).

En mi camino hacia esta ciudad que desde el 2008 hace gala de su título de "World Heritage Site", y mientras me informaba sobre el lugar al que me estaba dirigiendo... decidí que esa misma noche podría tomarme a night bus to the north of Malaysia and then go down along the west coast. Tengo solo 10 días para Singapore + Malaysia....

I had really good fortune: right now is rainy season along the east coast, and most of the places closed. And nor ferries, no boats...etc...

Luego de siete horas de recorrido por la ciudad (disfrutando de sus deliciosa comida "fusión": malay, portuguese, india, chinese), tomé mi bus nocturno hacia el norte de Malysia, just next to Thailand, llegué por la mañana muy temprano, recorrí la capital, Alor Star, crucé a su famosa isla y playa "Langkawi", pero no lo sentí como el lugar para quedarme. Al mediodía estaba en otro micro ya descendiendo al estado de Penang, para visitar la tradicional and wellknown George Town. Simplemente una ciudad adorable. Allí disfruté el resto del día, pasé la noche, y al día siguiente, luego de desayunar en mi favorito restaurant indio, otro micro hacia Perak y la isla de Pangkor.

Aquí me encuentro ahora mismo. Aquí me quedaré por cuatro días. Simplemente las cosas se dieron de tal manera que deseo quedarme.

A "lone wolf" has found a new pack.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year starts with the New Moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.

In 2012, Chinese New Year Day will be celebrated on January 23. The New Year festival will start from January 22 (Chinese New Year' Eve) and end on February 6 (Lantern Festival). 2012 marks the 4710th Chinese New Year, and this time it is the year of dragon according to the Chinese zodiac calendar.

The dragon is the 5th sign of the Chinese zodiac and it is regarded as an auspicious symbol which stands for power, good luck, success, and happiness

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. The lunar cycle is about 29.5 days. In order to "catch up" with the solar calendar the Chinese insert an extra month once every few years (seven years out of a 19-yearcycle). This is the same as adding an extra day on leap year. This is why, according to the solar calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving. The celebration was traditionally highlighted with a religious ceremony given in honor of Heaven and Earth, the gods of the household and the family ancestors.

The sacrifice to the ancestors, the most vital of all the rituals, united the living members with those who had passed away. Departed relatives are remembered with great respect because they were responsible for laying the foundations for the fortune and glory of the family.

The presence of the ancestors is acknowledged on New Year's Eve with a dinner arranged for them at the family banquet table. The spirits of the ancestors, together with the living, celebrate the onset of the New Year as one great community. The communal feast called "surrounding the stove" or weilu. It symbolizes family unity and honors the past and present generations.

Tet: Vietnamese New Year

Tet, which means the first morning of the first day of the new year, is the Vietnamese New Year. The celebration lasts for 7 days. Like the Chinese, the Lunar New Year is one of the most celebrated holidays.

Preparation for Tet starts weeks before New Year's Day. Homes are cleaned to get rid of bad fortune associated with the old year. Families paint their homes to give it a new look. Everyone gets new clothes and new shoes. Pay your debts and resolve differences between family and friends.

A special ceremony called Le Tru Tich is held at the mid-night hour (Giao Thua) on New Year's Eve. The ritual involves firecrackers and gongs and other festive items that make loud noises to usher out the old and welcome the new.

Like the Chinese, Vietnamese people are very careful about what they do on New Year's Day. The events on New Year's Day determine your luck for the rest of the year. Therefore, everything and everyone you are in touch with on New Year's Day should symbolize good fortune. Don't visit people who are in mourning because they are associated with death. Children should not fight or cry on New Year's Day. Homes are decorated with Hoa Mai, a yellow blossom that represents spring.

Family members exchange gifts and pay homage to the Kitchen God. They also visit local temples to pray for prosperity and good health.

During Tet, Vietnamese families plant a New Year's tree called Cay Neu in front of their homes (I love this part!!!!)

A bamboo pole is often used as a Cay Neu. All the leaves are removed from the tree so that it can be wrapped or decorated by good luck red paper. Legends have it that the red color scares off evil spirits. On the seventh (the last) day of Tet, the Cay Neu is taken down. This is the last ritual of the New Year celebration.

Antes de viajar pude “disfrutar” de la vista y del caos por lo preparativos de TET: Flowers and fruits littered the streets as they flew from their branches off the back of motorbikes, their owners carrying the large potted plants home with utmost concentration. Houses throughout the neighborhood proudly boasted apricot blossoms and sour tangerine trees on their doorsteps, posters of good fortune taped to their windows and walls.

Entire streets transformed from selling every day household items to carrying pyramids of tea and candied fruits stacked on countertops, their unmistakable red and gold colors reminiscent of firey autumn leaves which had embellished the city only several months before. People rented vans and trucks to transport large cases of gifts home that would soon be distributed to visiting relatives and coworkers whom they wanted to thank or impress.

Next year I´ll stay there to celebrate maybe…maybe…

For me, now, this new year is much more than a time tracked by a calendar or a place somewhere in the world: my rebirth as a dragon!!