"Oh That's Different" No. 5

I've been delinquent with blogging lately! With the Year of the Horse, here's plenty more to observe.

1. No kitchen drawers. I've seen a fair number of homes now, from luxury places to hutong apartments and none of them has kitchen drawers for silverware! My silverware organizer sits on top of a wire rack in our kitchen and it drives me insane because it gets dusty and it looks ugly. I blame chopsticks; you can arrange chopsticks neatly in a cup and tuck it away in a cupboard. It's not as easy with forks, spoons and knives.

Perhaps I should invest in one of these and let guests choose their wares.

A New Year Temple Fair

So this is where all the people are during Chun Jie.

After those first few days during a long holiday, most people get stir-crazy and we hit that moment after three days. So on Sunday, we decided to do as the locals do and visit a temple fair, which is something many Chinese do during the spring festival.

Scott entering Ditan Park's temple fair.

The Year of the Horse (Xin Nian Kuai Le!)

On Thursday evening, Beijing started to shut down for the week-long national holiday of Chun Jie, or spring festival, the Chinese Lunar New Year. Millions of people trek back to their hometowns and there's a slew of gift giving, big meals and spending time with family.

The Year of the Horse!