Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! For the first time in my life I made the effort to go catch a Chinese New Year parade in Chinatown. I woke up pretty early for a Sunday, which I usually sleep in, but this time I dragged my butt out of bed to get there by 9am. The parade was moved up earlier in the morning to accomodate the traffic that was expected for some of the olympic events nearby.

To my surprise crowds of people were already gathered in Chinatown ready and waiting for the parade to start when I arrived. The parade was filled with colorful costumes, dancing dragons, beating drums and the explosive pop of firecrackers. City officials greeted spectators and handed out red envelopes and balloons.

After the parade, crowds continued to roam about Chinatown snapping photos of old buildings, people in costume and street performers, which is exactly what I did! (More photos here.) The man in the photo above was followed by a mob of people all wanting to get a photo with him. He must have felt like a celebrity.