Six ideas for Chinese New Year in Singapore

Not sure of how best to see in the Year of the Snake? Make like a local, and try these ideas for Chinese New Year 2013, Singapore-style.

Join the Crowds. There’s no denying it – if you want the full Singapore CNY experience, you must make a trip into the heart of Chinatown. There you will find lanterns, decorations, street-stalls, bazaars and night markets, acrobats, lion dances, fire-eaters, and musical performances.

Oh, and fireworks, of course. It’s the ultimate Chinese New Year carnival. Be prepared for crowds though – you will mix and mingle with an estimated 2 million other people. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. From 8^th February, admission free.

While in Chinatown, the CNY Light-Up is a crowd favourite, showcasing amazing street light displays. 2013’s offering includes a 108 meter long snake sculpture (apparently destined for the Guinness Book of Records), and 850 sky lanterns fashioned into the signs of the Chinese zodiac.

Hong Bao, Baby. A Chinese New Year tradition is to put small bills into red paper envelopes, and dish them out like candy. This custom has also lent its name to the Hong Bao Carnival, which sets up along the Marina Bay each CNY.

Enjoy cultural performances, open air food stalls, and more lights and lanterns. And of course, the obligatory fireworks show too. As a bonus, marginally less crowded than Chinatown. Between 8^th and 16^th February, admission free.

Chingay, Chingay, Chingay. If you want to see the closest that normally square Singapore comes to Mardis Gras, then the Chingay parade is for you. It’s a two night street party, where about 8,000 performers from all over the world march in procession, accompanied by an armada of stunning floats.

In 2013, organizers are promising the "World’s First and Biggest Fire and Snow Parade", with a simultaneous “ocean of fire and snow blizzard down a 360-meter runway” (otherwise known as the Formula One pit straight). Expect colour, noise, and spectacle. February 22^nd and 23^rd, tickets $30 - $60, buy online at sistic.com.sg. More info: chingay.org.sg.

Culture, anyone? With all the hoopla, it’s easy to forget that CNY has a strong cultural element. The Huayi Festival is a CNY showcase of traditional and contemporary Chinese arts: opera, music, theatre, and visual arts.

Complete the cultural experience with a Chinese zodiac reading of your birth date. Or, get your name written in Chinese calligraphy. It is Chinese New Year, after all. Esplanade, 15^th to 24^th February. Some events free, others require tickets. More info: www.huayifestival.com.sg.

Toss Some Fish. The yusheng, or lo hei, loosely translated meaning the Prosperity Toss, is uniquely Singaporean (it was invented in a Singapore hotel in 1964, although Singaporeans try to pass it off as an ancient custom). A salad of raw fish strips and other ingredients is placed on the table; diners pick up long chopsticks and toss the salad in unison.

Each ingredient has a meaning in some way associated with wealth and prosperity, and is accompanied by an equally meaningful Chinese exclamation. Think Yi  Ben Wan Li - “may you make 10,000 times profit on your capital” - while salad oil is added, the oil symbolic of money flowing in from all directions.

Ask your waiter/waitress to explain them all. The higher and louder you toss the salad, the more prosperous your new year will be. No surprise that post lo-hei, tables often look like a bomb has gone off on them. Yusheng is available at almost all Chinese restaurants, and in most fine hotel dining rooms.

After, snack in the streets for a major sugar-rush – at CNY a huge variety of sugary-treats come out to play, symbolic of a happy and sweet year ahead. Try bakwa, a local specialty of sticky BBQ pork or chicken strips, so sinfully delicious they should legally be classified as desert.

Other Singaporean staples include pineapple tarts (considered auspicious because in Hokkien, pineapple translates as ong lai, which means “prosperity is coming”), and nian gao - sticky rice cakes in various flavours, reputed to enhance good luck. They are chewy, gooey and utterly addictive.

Shopping – NO! We all know that Singapore is the land of the endless mall, but CNY is the one and only time each year when shopping takes a backseat. Many stores close. So for once, you will need to find something else to do in Singapore besides shop.