Year of the Rooster

Once again, the lunar new year is around the corner. This year is the year of the rooster, a good year for those who are born in the year of the horse (1894, 1954, 2014, etc), plenty of cash and fortune (read from papers).

Paper cutting of a rooster

In the area where I live, many vendors put up tents for the exhibition-cum-sale of new year goodies from cookies to art-n-craft things. Usually the open-air stores will be opened until the last day before the near year, the new year eve.

This one selling art-n-craft things

This one selling new year decorating items

This one selling flowers

Another selling art-n-craft things

I am not too keen on cookies and food stuff. As usual I will throng the art-n-craft things on display, looking for good buys. All these stores are run by people from China where they can get their stuff easily. Things like vases, paintings, furniture, figurines, etc, are on display. As the days pass, the things will get cheaper and cheaper. The vendors do not want to ship the things back to China (doesn't make sense) once the festive season is over. Moreover, they also want to go home to spend the new year with their families.

This year the art-n-craft things on display are not that interesting. The vases are very common and are mostly mass produced. Eventually I settled on some stones and tea ware. These are what I was able to buy at a reasonable price.

Mountains-n-streams

Fortune tree

This year is bad for business due to global recession. The vendors worry that the sale may not be fantastic as compare to last year. But I believe that the things they brought in are not attractive. The buyers have a higher expectation and they usually don't part with their money easily. Of course unless the things they see are unique and interesting.

Anyway the tea ware suits me well as I have always wanted a bigger place to brew my tea. The two stones look funny and interesting. One has features that resemble high mountains while the other with features that look like a tree, money bearing tree; plenty of cash and fortune this year.