CNY -- Round Things & Square Things

Two Melons Intricately Carved with Dragons

  Can't get enough of this Chinese New Year!  It's actually a 15-day period, so I'll be able to write about it for days to come, and I probably will! 


      Anyway, we went off to spend the first few days of it on the nearby Malaysian resort island of Langkawi, which was totally caught up in the festive atmosphere.  

A beautiful round thing

     It was only 108 km from our doorstep to the Westin Resort & Spa, where we stayed. But, since we flew there, it felt like we'd gone miles and miles away and were in a whole 'nother country (except that our cell phones still worked because we were still in Malaysia.)  

Square pools & CNY Dinner Set-up

 The Westin has a wonderful swimming area that's half pool and half natural spring.  Very fun to lounge around, especially if you have a sunburn, because there are lots of little nooks and crannies to hide from the sun in.  But they also have two square pools, the one on the left above being the kiddies' pool and the one on the right featuring a swim-up bar, which makes it so very easy to spend money and stay pleasantly tipsy.  (You just sign on your room tab.)  The night of the gala Chinese New Year dinner, they set up tables all around the kiddie pool and provided a lovely candlelit buffet dinner, complete with entertainment at poolside.   Very "cruise-ship-esque" but fun!

Yee Sang -- Chinese raw fish salad 

         Another round thing was this traditional Chinese salad served on New Year's Eve.  It's called "Yee Sang" and it contains various foods that are considered symbolic of abundance, prosperity and vigor. (THE key word for CNY seems to be "prosperity"!)


    And lastly in the "round" department, on the morning breakfast buffet, there were lots of elaborately carved watermelons with messages and here's one for you:

2012 (or 4709 in the Chinese Calendar)