Happy New Year!

Or Sin Jia Yu Ee, as it’s said in the wife’s ancestral dialect. (She’s Chiew Chao ethnicity. Various spellings including Teochew.) The Year of the Snake.

It’s not an official holiday in Thailand, but ethnic Chinese dominate politics and business in this country. The large Chinese-Thai temple we can see from our condo is hopping today, and the sounds of firecrackers are everywhere.

Damn. And I’m still writing Year of the Dragon on my checks.

I remember a few years back, in Vietnam, when everybody laughed at me for writing Rabbit instead of Cat whenever I dated a document.

Gung hey fat choy!*

*No-doubt very inaccurate Anglo mistransliteration of the Cantonese…

Time to blow something up and dance with mythical beasts!