Life: Celebrating Chinese New Year in Beijing
Two days after my arrival Chinese New Year celebrations started. The festivities start on the night of the 13th to the 14th of February. In essence it is the same as we have in Europe: lots of food, spending time with the family, launching some rockets and fireworks, and boiling up some wishes and resolutions for the future. Over here it seems that every Chinese feels the urge to spend a perceived half-year salary on fireworks. Between the high-rise apartment complexes the explosions of the firework are twice as loud and you never know from where the rockets are flying. Luckily this will go on for the next 14 days so we will have plenty of opportunities to enjoy it.
For New Years Eve we went to Tiananmen Square with the expectation to see something but nothing spectacular happened there. More spectacular was the cab ride home as it gave you a great impression of what is must feel like to drive through downtown Baghdad. While all kinds of things exploded left and right from us the cab driver carried on driving with a calming nonchalance.
Going through town is absolutely mind-blowing as you can see and experience the break-neck speed of development that everyone is talking about. This city of 15.5 million is simply one of the most fascinating things I have seen so far.
Toby who?
I'm a passionate entrepreneur, nerd, investor, speaker, and startup evangelist. I love to start things and see them grow. Whenever I can I will introduce people to the option of being a free person through pursuing their own dreams and ventures.