Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

Marcus by the rockpools, in his new coat. Jing's iPhone

So we enter the Year of the Rabbit, hopping that it'll bring the luck of the rabbit's foot....   Click on "Read more" to see more photos....

Plaza dressed up in Chinese New Year's finery.  Kids off from school

We went for a drive to Big Wave Bay, south Hong Kong Island
which really does have surf, check it out!

But here below is the Hong Kong government in typical mode: ban every bit of fun!  I remember we came across a sign somewhere in the UK in our last trip and it said something like, "do enjoy yourself here, have fun...."  Check out this one from the HK "Leisure and Cultural Services Department".  

BTW: even as this sign is right there by the beach, there are people surfing, shops selling and renting boards, people flying kites, people throwing "saucers" (aka frisbees), people kicking footballs, and even -- horror! -- dogs swimming (labs, of course) and none of this causing the sky to tall down... 

The infamous sign of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department
which really ought to be the Department of "You can't do nothin'!"

Nearby on the wall of one of the surf shops was this hand-made painting below, the significance of which I couldn't quite work out, perhaps a touch subversive? 

We stop off at the Yacht Club on the way home, Jing having driven, and me not having been too nervous thereby.... There were no cars on the road, the one day of the year that's so, so we could fang along to our hearts' content.  That brought up the 4,000 km in five years of ownership.....

Jing and the car, Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, CNY 11, 5 Feb.

Yesterday (4 Feb) Kevin and his Mum and Stepdad, took us in his motorboat over to Lamma, the back of the Island, for lunch at the "Genuine Hilton" Restaurant -- to distinguish it from the upstart "Lamma Hilton" restaurant, which we decided was actually the name of Paris' younger sister, Lamma.  Below, Jing pays homage to the spirits and the Lamma Tin Hou Temple, a traditional rite at Chinese New Year.

On Kevin's boat: his mate Tom, Step-dad John and Jing at back, and Mary, Kevin's mum. Bobbing in the Kai Sai Chau Typhoon Shelter, basically deserted and very calm, sipping a chilly Aussie white.