Malaysia, February 7, 2000
What a Lame-O New Year's!
Don't get your hopes up for a wild party on Chinese New Year's
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I'd been led to believe that Chinese celebrated their New Year's as we in
the West celebrate ours. I've seen the Hong Kong movies, and I'd heard
from friends, who live in San Francisco's Chinatown, that there would be
massive street parties on New Year's.
That Chinese would flood into the streets to watch colorful dragons whirl and twirl, and they would light massive strings of firecrackers to scare away the evil spirits, as they've been doing for the past thousand years or so. With this street celebration in mind, I found myself in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown on February 4, ready for the party to begin. It didn't. Okay, there was a mini-party at the hostel, but nothing worth writing about on this website. I did manage to grab one of the hostlers and wander out into the streets to look for the excitement. On a side street, we saw a single dragon dancing, at the beginning of what looked like a dragon-dancing contest. It wasn't much of a contest, since only one dragon danced before we (and most of the crowd) left in boredom. Walking down another street, I saw an odd sight, a closed bar. Can you imagine a Western bar or restaurant closed on New Year's Eve? Maybe one or two, but not all! There wasn't a single nightspot open, only the 7-11 (yes, they have them here) was dispensing the ice cream I needed about then. (That 7-11 became my second home since everything, and I mean everything, remained shut for the next three days!) Finally, on the edge of Chinatown, we found two outdoor cafes still open, and with one exception, the tables only supported foreigners. The locals, it seems, do not stay awake long enough to celebrate New Year's much. We did here a random string of firecrackers now and then, but it was after midnight before we noticed the time. A few beers later, even these cafes closed, and we walked back to the hostel along sleeping streets. After all the hype, it was a major let down. Hopefully, tonight the kids will be sick of spending quality time with the folks and will join me in experiencing a KL Saturday Night. -- February 9, 2000 Update -- After I wrote this, TWC, a Singaporean and fellow world-travel website author explained why my night was so quiet:
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