Gung hei fat choi!
Gung hei fat choi and a very happy Chinese New Year! It’s the Year of the Pig, and as always, we gathered a gang together to join in the traditional celebrations in Chinatown. The celebrations were earlier this year than they were in previous years, meaning at 7:45am start on a Sunday morning. Rousing the troops and getting them all pointed in the right direction took some doing.
We arrived at the (normally deserted) train station to discover that we were not the only people in Canterbury with the idea of celebrating the Chinese New Year. The platform was absolutely heaving with people all headed to Charing Cross for the celebration. We settled in and made our way up to London.
After a brief discussion about logistics, we took our positions for the (very short) parade. We were pleased to see that there was a group from Chartham participating, just down the road. It turns out that jumping isn’t the only thing that white men can’t do… they’re rubbish at dancing with a dragon, too.
Despite having no reservations, quick thinking and an early start mean that we were seated at New World restaurant for dim sum by 11:45am – just in time to beat the hordes of people. They do trolley service of the dim sum, and I think we must have hit every trolley twice. Stuffed to the brim, we went out to watch the dragons dance from restaurant to restaurant in search of food and offerings.
