While the Chinese New Year occured on (I believe) Wednesday, London waits to have its celebration the weekend after, I guess to ensure that it's a proper occasion. London has the second-biggest Chinese New Year celebration in the world (following, obviously, China), so when Adrienne proposed going, I said definitely!
It started at noon today, but we left campus at two with Laura, Deanna, and Catherine. The festivities were held in Trafalgar Square and Chinatown, and it was PACKED with people, so many that you had to squeeze through any gap you could find to get further along.
This was all fine when we were in the Trafalgar Square area, but when we reached Chinatown and more narrow roads, it became a problem. There were some acts going on outside the various shops, further shrinking the streets, and there were a lot of people who did not have much common courtesy. There was a young boy in front of us on crutches, and people kept pushing past him without caring that he almost fell over every time.
For a good few minutes, we were at a standstill, the opposing crowd not allowing us to move forward. I had one hand clutching Adrienne's bag strap ahead of me and the other holding tightly to my own bag, which the crowd going the other direction was pulling with them. The man beside me had his daughter on his shoulders and at on point, her shoe was literally on my throat. Every time you thought the crowd couldn't squeeze you tighter, it did. I have never been in a crowd as rude as the ones at the festival; it took our entire side of the crowd pushing together to hint to the other side that they needed to let people through. I don't know if people aren't used to crowds, are just very rude, or both, but unfortunately, it kind of ruined the whole thing for us. Once we finally made it out of the crowd, our coats wet with other people's sweat, we refused to go back in.
I did, however, get two cool souvenirs:
I wish the crowd hadn't spoiled the event for us, but we did get to see some cool things and now I can say I went.
Now I must go and finish my analysis of A Doll's House... hooray :p
2 comments:
WOW! I find it amazing that it is such a big event there! Did you get to actually order any food from any of the restaurants? Maybe one day, you should venture back and try one.
It looked very cold there... or at least VERY gray. Which I guess made it better since the sun would have made walking in the crowds worse, I guess.
Mom
No, we didn't- there was no way the restaurants could hold more people. We are thinking of going back when it's sane, because the food did smell delicious.
It wasn't really cold, jut grey and windy.
Post a Comment