One of the best places to celebrate the Lunar New Year is Hong Kong: the city where East meets West.  Hong Kong has many events for the holiday including a parade, fireworks, flower markets, horse racing, a lantern festival and more!  Furthermore, most tourist attractions in the city remain open during the celebrations aside from museums.  All museums are closed on Chinese New Year’s Day and possibly the following two days.

New Year Parade

On the first day of Chinese New Year, January 23, there is an elaborate parade featuring themed floats, performances and marching bands.  It also features Lion and Dragon Dancing.  Traditionally lions are the king of beasts in the region and therefore the Lion Dance is performed to ward off bad luck and disaster while bringing peace and prosperity.

Lion Dancing

The Dragon Dance also holds traditional meaning, as the Dragon is a symbol of peace and good luck.  Over the past millennia Dragon Dancers have developed over 100 different dances.

The parade begins at 8pm and runs for about 90 minutes.  There is no admission fee to stand along the parade route but if you would like to buy tickets to sit at a spectator stand Tickets are available through travel agencies and the Hong Kong Tourism Board and don’t cost too much but are very limited.  Be sure to show up early, there are road closures and very large crowds.

The route is similar each year starting at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and then traveling along Canton Road, Haiphong Road and Nathan Road finishing by the Sheraton Hotel.

New Year Fireworks

The fireworks are held on the second day of Chinese New Years (January 24). Thousands of fireworks are set up on barges in Victoria Harbour lighting up the night sky starting at about 8pm.  The fireworks last for about 25 minutes but expect a massive crowd; roughly half a million people show up to see the fireworks!

Fireworks over Victoria Harbour

There are several great vantage points that include the harbor side (both sides of the harbor), Tsim Sha Tsui, Wan Chai, Central Piers, Causeway Bay and lastly Hung Hom Bypass, which is closed to traffic during the event.

Flower Markets

Locals at a flower market

Locals use flowers to decorate their homes during Chinese New Year and there are over a dozen open-air flower markets held around the city.  They pop up about six days before Chinese New Year but the best time to visit these markets is between 6pm and 9pm on Chinese New Year’s Eve.  It will be bustling with locals that just finished their New Year’s Eve dinner.

A couple of the most popular flower markets are located at Victoria Park and Fa Hui Park.  Remember to bargain prices!

Horse Racing

Horses at a race

The traditional Chinese New Year race takes place at Shatin Racecourse on Jan 25, 2012 (the third day of Lunar New Year).  There are about 85, 000 spectators making it the most visited race on the calendar.  It is an all day event that begins at approximately 11am.

Hong Kong is an unforgettable place to visit during Chinese New Year.  There are many more events aside from what we have listed during Chinese New Years such as the Lantern Festival and most other attractions are open giving you an opportunity to explore the city and experience the celebrations like a local!

Be sure to download the mTrip Hong Kong Travel Guide App to help you get around the city!

images by: EmmaJG, Maureen Didde, ncburton, Jason Chan & Thompson Chan

Take, for example, the city of Hong Kong. It’s a city with a bit of an identity problem, as it’s geographically quite firmly in the famously cheap country of China but retains a bit of the personality of its former English rulers. Hong Kong is neither amazingly cheap or outrageously expensive, although it has elements of both – and navigating the perfect path between those two extremes can be a challenge.

There are certainly well-known ways to do Hong Kong on a budget. Perhaps the most obvious one is the plethora of infamous hostels that often look more like slums in buildings inexplicably called “mansions.” While the horror stories about these hostels may not be entirely believable, the truth is that you don’t have to pay through the nose in Hong Kong to stay in a place that’s much nicer. The YMCA Salisbury Hotel offers a hostel experience that’s more typical of what you can expect in other parts of the world and it comes with none of the seediness of the hostels on Nathan Road.

Shopping is routinely listed as one of the main things to do in Hong Kong, and it’s certainly possible to spend a fortune doing so. Some would argue that you can probably find much of what’s on offer in Hong Kong’s designer shops back home for less than you’d pay in Hong Kong, but if the shopper in you can’t resist picking up a souvenir or two you can save money by avoiding the boutiques and heading for the markets. You’ll need to hone your haggling skills – and be prepared to walk away if you don’t like the prices offered – but this is one way to turn an ordinary shopping excursion into a cultural experience. And if you save money in the process, that’s even better.

When it comes to sightseeing and dining in Hong Kong, the good news is that it’s easy to do both on a budget without feeling like you’re being cheated out of a better (and more expensive) experience. Sure, there are ways to spend more in certain restaurants or by taking the gondola up the mountain instead of the bus, but when you get to eat really well in the many outdoor markets and take the bus (for the same view) for a fraction of the price, why waste the extra money?

What parts of travel do you splurge on?

- by Jessica of BootsnAll

photo by Engle & Smith

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