Santa Comes to Hong Kong

Maybe, like me, you weren't sure if they celebrated Christian holidays here in Hong Kong. Or maybe you're a smarty pants and knew this city went hog wild for Christmas. Either way, I still think you'll be blown away by the following pictures which capture just how much pageantry goes into the holiday season here. They don't let a little thing like snow (or lack thereof) slow them down.

I'm sure I've mentioned that Hong Kong is a huge mall fest and that these malls are basically enclosed Rodeo Drives and Fifth Avenues. Well, the malls here are D-E-C-K-E-D for the big day early in November...

Here's IFC -- check out the tiny carolers and monster holiday ferris wheel:





Here's a traditional one from another mall in Central, whose name is escaping me:


Then there's my favorite display from Elements, the mall underneath Vin's office in Kowloon. They went with a French boudoir can-can theme, which I'm sure all you Bible beaters out there love to hear! I actually like it -- just from an aesthetics perspective. (Kate Reilly, this is what the DKO Road Show should look like this year -- it's fierce!)




And then there's Discovery Bay, which appears to have the lion's share of all Hong Kong children. You knew they weren't going to be outdone. You can't walk 5 paces in DB without running into a Christmas decoration. And it's not just the town -- I cracked up when I was walking along the beach in 80 degree weather and saw a beachfront house who had a commercial-sized blow-up Frosty the Snowman figurine in its backyard! This thing should've been outside of a Wal-Mart...




They also celebrate New Years Eve here, but it's not as big as the Chinese New Year, which is January 26-28 this year. Everyone gets like 3-5 days off work and the city erupts into this big party. Vin and I are hoping to get away to Thailand for the long weekend during the new year.

Little Known HK Fact #613 -- They celebrate Valentine's Day here on both Feb 14 (the western V-Day) and on Feb 9 (the Chinese Valentine's Day). I don't know the background on this holiday, but will certainly milk two Valentine's Days out of Vin.