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Wishing you a Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year

Among the various and many celebrations and festivities for the Chinese, Chinese New Year is always deem the most important of all. Chinese families living in different part of the country or the world will make it a point to gather together for Chinese New Year (CNY). This homecoming is very similar to the Western concept of getting together during Christmas.

Chinese New Year is also known as Lunar New Year as well as The Spring Festival. Each Chinese Year is also symbolized by an animal, very much like the Western Zodiac. The animal to symbolize CNY 2007 is The Pig. In 2006, it was the Dog. There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac and each animal will not appear again until 12 years later.

Chinese greetings for Chinese New Year

If you have Chinese friends, do visit them at home during CNY and you will be most welcomed. Make sure you learn a word or two of CNY greetings.

The most common festive greetings for Chinese New Year are:

“Gong Xi Fa Cai” - Have a prosperous new year

“Zhu Ni Nian Nian You Yu” - Wishing you an abundant year

“Sing Nian Kuay Le” - Happy New Year.

Also, you may like to bring two oranges when visiting. Oranges. looking like gold ingots, symbolizes that you are bringing wealth to the family. If the Chinese family is someone that you are familiar with, you may even want to give red packets (containing a token sum of money) to their children. If you have children, you are most likely to recieve red packets for them as well.

Remember to wear bright colors when you visit!

Last Thursday, I went to KL and fortunately I got some free time so I went to Taman Tasek Titiwangsa. As I already knew from the paper and TV news, there is a huge ferris wheel which was launched on 6th January and open for public untill 31 December 2007.

Named as “Eye on Malaysia”, the launch of the 60m-high ferris wheel is also a mark of the beginning of Visit Malaysia Year 2007.

The Eye On Malaysia has 42 gondolas. 41 are regulars and one godola is for VIP which is completed with leather seats, DVD player, plasma screen, fridge and glass flooring.

The ticket price is not expesive, which is RM15 for adult and RM8 for children. And there is also a special package for groups.

Quote from TourismMalaysia.com.my

The Eye on Malaysia, the largest portable ‘observation wheel’ in the world, was unveiled by the Hon. Prime Minister of Malaysia on 6 January 2007 in conjunction with the grand launch of the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 celebration.

This giant ferris wheel allows visitors to experience a 360-degree panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur during a 12-minute ride that goes 60 metres high. It offers a magnificent view of Kuala Lumpur and over 20 kilometres of its surroundings including KL Tower, Istana Budaya and Petronas Twin Towers.

Similar in concept and style to the famous London Eye, the specially commissioned Eye on Malaysia is expected to be a hit among locals and tourists. There are a total of 42 gondolas comprising 39 units for the public, one for VIPs and two for disabled passengers. Each of the gondola can carry eight persons.

The Swiss technology used to make the giant wheel is the result of a strategic partnership between a Malaysian company, MST AD Suria Sdn Bhd, and an Australian enterprise.

Tickets are available at the sales counter in the Titiwangsa Lake Gardens. It costs RM15 for adults and RM8 for children aged 3 to 12 and senior citizens. The operating hours for the ferris wheel are from 10am to 10pm daily.

Titiwangsa Lake Gardens will be transformed into an audio-visual wonderland as four of the world’s largest and most high-tech water screens will show the faces and images of Malaysia combined with a fireworks display.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to ride on the wheel. I just shot a few photos of Eye on Malaysia.

From Eye On Malaysia