Today was the last day of the 15 day Chinese New Year Celebration. The fireworks started around 4:30 and just kept on going. It has been like a continuous 4th of July celebration for more than 6 hours.
The last day of Chinese New Year is also called Lantern Festival - so the Chinese Lanterns are everywhere. This is traditionally a time to spend with family, so a number of our single team members took us out to dinner tonight. We went to seafood restaurant, where you get to pick your fish from the live tanks. We had some very good scalops served on the half shell, as well as whole crabs. The most interesting thing at dinner tonight was the mutton stomach in chili oil. We also had some peanuts with dried small fish (they looked like minnows) and same very good octopus in black pepper sauce. Of course we had plenty of Chinese white wine - or as it is also known Chinese Gasoline...104 proof rice liquor!
The traditional food to eat on Lantern Day is sweet rice dumplings or rice balls. The team picked some up for us and the restaurant prepared them. They were quite tasty, like a pot sticker, only stuffed with chocolate. The dumplings are supposed to resemble lanterns and represent gathering around with friends and family.
It is hard to believe all of the spent fireworks. The paper is 1 foot deep in some locations. I'm glad we were able to experience some of the holiday here in Tianjin! Gotta call home and then get to bed now.
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