Chinese New Year is never the same without bringing the kids down to Chinatown for a walk and experience the festive mood. Sometimes I ponder how many more years will our kiddos follow us to squeeze through the crowd during this period of time. :)

The streets are always buzzling with people especially during the weekends but it is also the best time of the year to witness how vibrant and exciting Chinatown is! Surprising Denver and Gladys did not complain about the heat and jostling among the crowd. On the contrary, they pretty much enjoyed scanning through the CNY goodies with us and had some rounds of food-tasting along the way.

In less than 2 weeks, we will be welcoming the Year of the Water Snake. Snake sculptures, decorated with lanterns, can be found along New Bridge Road and South Bridge Road. Personally, I preferred the cuter snake (formed by about 850 yellow sky lanterns) that was looming above my head. Didn't really get a chance to walk to the front and grab a nice photo shot of the snake, so I can only view from the back.

It is uplifting to hear the stall owners and assistants yelling at the top of their voice to bring in more sales, to see the crowd choosing and grabbing their CNY goodies and to feel the sea of red once more.

We spotted a pretty Happy plant on sale. It looks really interesting and easy to maintain. Unfortunately, this little green bag is a bit too pricy that we have to give it a miss.

 

Hubby bought some yummy candies for Denver and Gladys to replenish their 'sugar' that they might have lost during the long walk. ^_^ It always works to increase their happiness level.

As for myself, I always enjoy looking at the flowers and hope to bring home a pot of Pussy Willows this year. ^_^ Visiting Chinatown is the mark of our CNY celebrations.

During the Lunar New Year period, Chinatown (牛车水) is definitely the place to be if you want to soak in to the CNY festive mood. It is the central hub of all kinds of activities with night markets, colourful streets, nightly performances and all kinds of CNY decos, goodies, flowers on sale! Although the prices might be slightly pricier compared to the neighbourhood and we have to take little baby steps squeezing through with the crowd along the streets getting ourselves all hot and smelly, we always attempt to bring the children here every year to let them experience this very important festival of the year.

The festive bazaar is situated along Temple, Smith, Pagoda and Trengganu Streets (near Chinatown MRT), there are over hundred of stalls selling all kinds of souvenirs, festive goodies like sweets, assorted cookies, waxed duck, barbecued meat, pomelo, oranges, cny decorations, flowers, clothing, drinks and many more. Visitors will be spoilt with choices

As the night falls, the pretty lights and lanterns will dazzle the entire Chinatown. It is also at this time where the crowd starts to swamp in to have their dinner, shopping, photo-taking or simply immerse in the pre-CNY atmosphere.

If you are tired after walking through the bazaar maze of stalls, you can head towards Kreta Ayer Square (right behind the splendid Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum) where there are nightly stage performances or have a look at the longest Chinese paper-cutting exhibition (Impressions of Singapore).

Each paper cutting tells the different stages of the development of Singapore and I was impressed by the art craft.

Alternatively, get entertained by the amazing "The Spheres" performance by Strange Fruit Dance group from Australia. Initially I thought they were just big lighted balls on the poles but it turns out that the performers are on top of the 5m high flexible poles and doing their act! WoW! From now till 29th Jan, you get to see this show at the open car park beside Banda Street.

There is a full range of activities held within Chinatown and not forgetting the Chinese New Year eve count-down party on 2nd February! If you still did not feel the festive season knocking on your door yet, quickly head down to Chinatown and feel the heat!