Well well, it's almost the time of the year that Chinese all over the world celebrate the new year. This is the time of the year when families get together, eat together and renew ties. This year marks the first year of my marriage and as custom dictates, me and my wife will be distributing ang pows to the little ones and single guys n gals.

Going back to yester-years I can still remember the time when fireworks were aplenty and there was always news of kids getting injured from home-made firecrackers. That's when the government started to clamp down on the merriment by banning fireworks.  In my area which is pre-dominantly Chinese populated, there is always the sound of fireworks as well as the noises coming from lion dance troupes. 

 This year though, the fanfare around town seems to be more subdued as evident from Chinatown areas such as Petaling Street where the atmosphere is distinctly normal. I guess this is why the traders there have engaged lion dance troupes to perform so as to attract more visitors and tourists. Decorations seems to be few as well except in shopping complexes where there is evidently a price war going one for the past several weeks. This has benefited the shoppers as prices of consumer goods dropped. In the past two weeks, yours truly have also gone to shopping with his beloved and bought new clothes and foodstuff.