Chinese New Year 2012 - Ang Pow (Red Packets)

Ang Pow or Hong Bao or Red Packets are a must during Chinese New Year. It is a gift of money placed inside the angpow given by married couples to those not married and also to elders. This being the Year of Dragon, so we can see many dragons pictures on the ang pow.

I saw these cute and beautiful ang pows in Guangzhou during my recent visit there. They were so cheap but gotta buy in bulks. 10 packets (each packets got 6 pieces inside) costs S$2 , yes S$2 for 10 packets - really cheap. Did not buy a lot cause can only use during Year of the dragon hahaha.


Most of the angpows I got free from banks. The above are from DBS Bank. Managed to get only 2 packets - sigh. They looked so beautiful.

Need different ang pows cause different ang pows for different amount of gift of money inside the angpows hahaha.

The closer your relation with the giver the amount will be bigger. We used to say the amount is not important but the receiver truly wishes for bigger amount so they can use it to buy the things they normally wont be able to afford to buy hahaha. When I was a child, going to the movies was a treat only possible during Chinese New Year when I received ang pows. :)

Like the picture on POSB's ang pow, shows family of three generation having steamboat reunion dinner, that's what I am going to have this Sunday for our reunion dinner.

Bought this from Guangzhou too, this angpow is used only for weddings as gifts to the wedding couple or their families. The word double happiness was flanked by the dragon and phoenix.

You can read the origin of the word double happiness from here.

Did not get much although it was super cheap at only CNY1.50 (about S$0.30) for 6 pcs of wedding red packets.

GONG XI FA CAI - Happy Chinese New Year

In 3 days, the year of the dragon will be here. Here wishing all who celebrate the occasion a very Happy Chinese New Year and Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Hahaha saw this God of Fortune on stilts in City Link Shopping Mall. Hope the sighting means Good Fortune coming my way. :)

Chinese New Year 2012 - Queueing for Bak Kwa in Chinatown

Bak Kwa is also known as rougan is a dried BBQ meat mostly made from pork. It is one of the most popular snack in Singapore and every Chinese New Year, we can see long queue at popular famous Bak Kwa Stalls/Shops.

Almost every Singaporean know this famous Bak Kwa Stall in Chinatown. If you think only two girls are queueing in the above photo, you are so wrong. Some waited for many hours just to buy the Bak Kwa.

It is a yearly ritual during Chinese New Year for most Singaporean to buy Bak Kwa from this famous stall Lim Chee Guan. It is not cheap, it costs aboutS$50 per kg for this delicious Bak Kwa. Some bought the bak kwa for themselves while others bought as gifts for relatives, friends or business friends.



Last week, I saw the queue was so long till it reached to some alley. Take note that some brought along stools to sit and queue lol. OMG, I wont queue that long, can always buy from other shops cause I think eating the bak kwa will be bbq in such a hurried to meet demands wont taste as nice as normal days.

Will only buy from this famous stall maybe after the first week of chinese new year hahaha cause we have 15 days of chinese new year to celebrate. :)

My World - Chinese New Year 2012 - Chinatown Singapore

Chinese New Year will be here in next week. This year will be year of the dragon. Chinatown was decorated with a huge dragon.



Lots of little dragon in our chinatown. So cute, actually I saw all these in Guangzhou, China when I visited last month. Of course they were much cheaper in Guangzhou as they were made in China.




Oh I like this this, lion dance puppet in my favourite colour.

Red is auspicious during the Chinese New Year, so everywhere will be decorated with red. This year I did not take much photos of chinatown.

Spotted these cute radish plants. In chinese, radishes are called "cai tou" (菜头) which sounds like the word ”good luck” (彩头). This explains why the plant is popular during Chinese New Year.


The word "orange" in Chinese sounds like "gold" or "good luck so anything plants or fruits orange in colour are popular during Chinese New Year too.



For photos on other parts of the world, please visit Our World Tuesday Meme. Thanks to the team of Our World for giving us the opportunity to share my world with the rest of the world.

Singapore Botanic Garden - Celebrity Garden

Inside the Orchid Garden (admission fee of S$5 is required, S$1 students, senior citizens, free for children (below 12 years), is also the celebrity garden. The orchid species were specially breed and named after visiting royals and celebrities.

Princess Diana was supposed to visit Singapore but was not so cause of her sudden death. The orchid was specially breed and named after her for her visit.


Very famous South Korean Actor Bae Yong Jun had orchids named after him too.


Our very own famous local singer Stefanie Sun, the orchid really suit her.



There are more orchids named after celebrity and royals.