Who knew that Chinese New Year is celebrated for nearly 2 weeks ? Thankfully the main celebrations are on the eve and day of the new moon, so this year the 22nd and 23rd January begin the year of the rabbit.
So what did we do here to celebrate with the Chinese? We dressed in red and gold for good luck.
Got involved in gambling (with guess how many mandarins in a tower, bingo, mahjong, poker and black jack), a champagne tower, lots of dancing to Asian tunes, and fireworks on New Year’s day.
We also had the Hokkaido drummers to perform again who were just as impressive the fourth time we watched them.
Also gave out hongbao – small red envelopes people put cash in and give as gifts. Unfortunately we didn’t receive any full ones. We made dumplings (apparently the more you eat over the holidays the richer you will be in the following year) and ate traditional foods such mandarins (for good luck and happiness), sweet Chinese breads, Peking duck rolls, takoyaki (Japanese fried balls filled with octopus), haman chicken and for breakfast ate longevity noodles.
We also had the usual bizarre characters like the dancing polar bears, the raving dragon and Pikachu who pop up everywhere.
Usually, there would be lots of Chinese in the resort this week, but as China have only just opened their border, there are no visitors from China this year. There are lots of Chinese speakers from Hong Kong here – some who would usually visit family in China at this time of year. And there are the Aussies – lots of Aussies who are always good fun in the bar.
Of course, ski and snowboard lessons just continue as usual with Pete and I delivering three private lessons each a day at the moment. We keep getting requested for more lessons so we must be doing something right ✅️ Shame we don’t get any commission or bonus on the number of private lessons we deliver here as some ski schools do 😉
