Friday, 3 February 2017

Central London’s Chinese New Year Parade





Kung Hei Fat Choy!  Wish all of you have good fortune in the Year of Rooster.  This was the first time my family spent Chinese New Year in London.  We were so excited to watch the parade which was held in Chinatown, Central London last Saturday.  We woke up at 7:00 a.m. and arrived at Trafalgar Square at around 9:40 a.m.  The event kicked off at 10 a.m.  Many people arrived there earlier and waited to see the kick-off ceremony.  The parade commenced in Trafalgar Square and ended on Shaftesbury Avenue where is next to Chinatown. 







The parade was fantastic and colorful, it featured color floats, martial arts, lively dragons, lion dance, cultural dance troupes and folklore.  The lion dance performance was very amazing.  I saw a foreigner dressed up as the Lucky Money God.  He looked so funny and cute.  All performers dressed up in Chinese traditional costumes in the parade. A group of little girls, who played floral drums, were very lovely. The streets were crowded with spectators; most of them were busy with taking photos and videos. 




In addition, there were craft stalls and food stands open during the day.  People queued up in front of the Chinese bakeries to buy Chinese buns and pastries. Buns come with dozens of fillings. Cakes are stacked with cream and fruit and decorated with geometric frosting.  I love egg custard tarts, pineapple buns and sponge cake very much.  When they are fresh from the oven, they are light, mildly sweet and fluffy.  They are very yummy.  If you have time to walk around Chinatown in London, do not forget to buy one. 





The restaurants in Chinatown got crowded after the end of parade.  We were so lucky that we got a table at Lido restaurant without waiting for so long. We ordered some dim sum, like king prawns dumplings, deep fried scallop dumplings, with Kataifi pastry, deep fried dough stick cheung fun  and a dish of fried noodles.  The tastiest dish is deep fried scallop with Kataifi pastry.  They are so crispy and yummy.  After finishing our lunch, we walked around the craft stands and food stalls.  We bought some buns and souvenirs. We spent a very happy day there. 


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