The quiet in Beijing only lasted about 10 hours. I guess most people stay in their homes on new years day (sleeping in due to the night before, preparing dinner, etc…). The city is still fairly empty…most foreigners leave, people aren’t coming here on business trips at this time, many of the 100K + construction workers have attempted to make it home for the holiday as did the many Chinese who are not from Beijing.
The fireworks started up in Beijing around 8pm. Though no where near the craziness of Shanghai the night before (not sure what Beijing was like on new year’s eve), there were still a lot of flashing and popping around the city. Bars had decent crowds too.
Spring Festival (of which the new year is a part of) will last for 13 more days. On the fifteenth day, there is the lantern festival. I wasn’t here last year for that and don’t think I’ll be here this year…trip to Bangalore on that day.
Mike! I haven’t checked this for afew months since there didn’t seem to be any activity and was very pleasantly surprised to see all the new entries.
Good to hear your adventures again buddy.
Jim
Hey Jim, thanks! I will stick around here for a while
Hope all is well