Celebrating Chinese New Year in Macau and Hong Kong is definitely very different. This was my very first time being in Asia during Chinese New Year, so I was very excited to see how it is celebrated there. I thought the flight prices would be much more expensive during this time, but I was surprised to learn that it was actually not much more than the typical price to fly to Hong Kong any other time of the year. This gave me even more reason to check it out during Chinese New Year.
I landed in Asia a week and a half before Chinese New Year, giving me some time to explore the city before shops close for Chinese New Year. The timing was so important because when shops close for Chinese New Year, they don’t close for just one day. They typically close for at least three days.
Macau already had decorations set up all over the city. There were also a lot of other tourists visiting Macau for Chinese New Year too, and some places were so packed that you had to squeeze through to get by. Temples were filled with people as they offered incense and prayed for good fortune. There was also a Chinese New Year Market, with booths to play games, buy things, and an area just to buy flowers!
In terms of shopping, we had to make sure to stop by all the pastry shops for souvenirs before they closed for the year. There were some shops that close before Chinese New Year too, and lines were out the door! A lot of people also buy snacks as gifts to families and friends during Chinese New Year, so some shops were already out of stock when we got there. Uniqlo also had some cool t-shirt designs in celebration of Chinese New Year – I was so tempted to buy one.
In Hong Kong, the shopping centers were very well decorated. Some also had special pop-up stores selling specific Chinese New Year items! A lot of the street markets sold red envelopes, decorations for your home, and flowers.
The Victoria Park Lunar New Year Fair in Hong Kong was extremely packed – it had way more people than the market in Macau. The fair had a lot of food booths, game booths, informational booths, and, of course, booths for you to shop at. I was originally very excited to check it out since I’ve never been to one, but there were so many people we couldn’t even see any of the booths! Everyone was pushing to try to get through, and at one point there were so many people that nobody was able to move.
The days before Chinese New Year, families would gather for their 團年飯, or reunion dinner. I got to have mine at Hotel Lisboa in Macau, and there was so much good food, including suckling pig, steamed garoupa, and a clay pot with 18 different items! The food and large gatherings continued into Chinese New Year as well.
A lot of restaurants were closed during Chinese New Year, making it difficult to find a place to eat if you didn’t have a reservation. The Chinese New Year Market had performances the night before Chinese New Year, and the crowd was so excited (especially the kids)! The Macau Tower was also lit up in red. Everyone was in a good mood, and a lot of people carried red envelopes with them everywhere since they would hand them out to restaurant staff, parking staff, and other friends or relatives they meet up with. Some restaurants and hotels even had 財神爺, the God of Wealth, walking around, and everybody wanted a photo with him!
On the third day of Chinese New Year, the Macau Tower hosted a charity walk up to the 61st floor – that’s 1,298 stairs! I also joined in on the fun. It was actually not that bad! At the top, you get to enjoy the views from Macau Tower for free, and you also get a snake plush for the Year of the Snake! It was such a memorable experience.
It was so great to be able to be in Macau and Hong Kong during Chinese New Year – I’d do it again…if it’s not so packed!