Happy Chinese New Year!

I just got back from spending a few days over Chinese New Year in Beijing.  I'm so glad I decided to stay in China for the holidays.  It's the biggest celebration of the year, and people really get into the spirit of it.  The most amazing part though is the fireworks!  I've never seen anything like it.

Remember when we were kids, around Halloween, someone's dad would go to the Indian Reserve and buy firecrackers and fireworks, and that kid would make a killing selling us his Mighty Mites, and Supercharged Thunderbombs, and Jumping Jacks, and my favourite, Whistling Bottle Rockets.

Well, that ain't sh*t compared to what you can buy in China.  We went to this place that looked like a munitions warehouse and they had everything you could think of in there.  We bought a chain of 2000 firecrackers for like next to nothing.  And these things that looked like sticks of dynamite.  And this huge box - the size of a box of oranges - with just one fuse on it (I had no idea what it was going to do).  And I can't even remember what else.  We had so much firepower, I felt like Rambo.

We were kindly invited to a friend's house for a great home cooked Chinese New Year Eve dinner and too much Chinese rice wine.  We ate and drank until close to midnight.  And of course, what do you do when you're drunk off your ass?  Go play with explosives!!

Just walking outside, the air was completely filled with the smell of gunpowder, and it sounded like a war zone.

Here's a video of what the city looked like.  It's unreal.