Lantern Festival

Weather: mild
Temp: -4 - 15
Exchange rate: RMB1 = R1,42
Boom, boom: the view from our lounge last night. Beijing celebrated Lantern Festival in style with millions of fireworks.

Last night we headed to HouHai to enjoy the fireworks and to soak up some of the festive vibe. The Lantern Festival marks the end of the New Year celebrations and it's also the last day that you can legally shoot off fireworks in Beijing. And boy were there fireworks. And celebrations. It started at about 3 in the afternoon with crackers in the streets and just escalated from there. People were out in the streets, chilling, playing with their kids and watching the fireworks.We went to HouHai Lake for dinner and although we wanted to go check out Nuage, Vietnamese restaurant, we ended up at our old favourite, no name, where we had a great view of the fireworks from Tiananmen Square. Besides the really delicious food, no name's best feature is it's upstairs glass terrace. It's heated so you don't freeze to death and has a cocoon like feel to it.

I signed up for a fashion design course at the Expat Learning Centre and start in about 2 weeks. I'm super excited. Now I just need to get a sewing machine and I'll be all set. Set for what exactly I'm not sure, but set, nonetheless.