The Year of the Snake and the Bougainvillea

The year of the snake has arrived, with much less fanfare than last year's dragon, it must be said.  I'm a little sad about this, as I was born in the year of the snake, so I did a quick search for all the good things that the Chinese zodiac says about the serpent.  Apparently the snake symbol is associated with intelligence, charm, balance and elegance.  Yay!  Go snakes!  There may have been some other stuff about egotism and sneakiness, but I didn't like the sound of that so much, so I've chosen to ignore it.

For 2013, according to Chinese astrology, my lucky colours are yellow and red, my lucky numbers are 2,4,7 and 9, my lucky day of the week is Monday and my lucky directions (lucky directions???) are southwest and northeast.  I think that means that trips to Vietnam and China are on the cards this year, which is jolly lucky really, as we had intended to go there anyway.

Many people choose to leave Singapore during Chinese New Year but the lovely C and I tend to stay here and enjoy the atmosphere and nowhere is more atmospheric for the fortnight of CNY than Chinatown.  If you are reading this in Singapore and haven't been to Chinatown recently, drop whatever you are going and go there now.  If you fancy a spot of lunch, visit Smith Street.  This unusually (for Chinatown) named street runs through the heart of Chinatown and is named after Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, a High Commissioner at the end of the 19th century.  He was clearly very well thought of, as there is also a Cecil Street and a Clementi Street - the trifecta.

So what can you get up to in Chinatown apart from eating?  Well, shopping obviously - for more or less anything.  If you're feeling under the weather, you could visit the wonderful Thye Shan medical hall to consult with a Chinese physician, have a massage or buy some horrible (oops, herbal) tea.  If you fancy a spot of out of season mooncake to go with your tea you can find that too, or if Chinese opera is your thing, pop along to the Chinese Opera Teahouse in Smith street on a Friday evening.  For the bargain price of 35 sing dollars, you get dinner, a pot of tea and an opera performance.  

If you plan to spend time shopping in the stalls that line the streets of Chinatown, I would strongly recommend either developing an addiction to "Gangnam Style" or else buying a set of earplugs - the song is playing non-stop on a loop the length and breadth of Trengganu street.  I'm a big fan of his Psyness, but 30 minutes was enough for me.  I predict mass suicide among the shop assistants of Chinatown if it goes on much longer.

But enough about Chinatown and the year of the snake; what about the bougainvillea of the title?   Well, I have the lovely C to thank for that.  I had been feeling pretty down about something that had happened and when Chris realised, he went shopping.  And what did he come home with?  A bunch of flowers or a box of Dairy Milk?  Mais non!  He came home with two delivery men and four trees.  I didn't get to keep the men of course,  but the trees - my favourites are the bougainvillea and the water jasmine - have taken up residence on the balcony and look absolutely beautiful.  They make me smile - not quite as much as Lola does, but then again, they smell better.