China Day 15 (New Year's!)

Woke up to go to Wanko and Veeko-- two stores that we always visit annually. Wanko always is a store we spend a great deal of time because of their massive sales.

I kid you not, 90% off. And this isn't dirt-quality clothes at dirt-cheap prices. This is pretty good quality clothes.

It's just that about 80% of the clothing isn't trendy. But for the 20% that are, it's a real good bargain.

It's gotten quite a lot more popular in the last two years. Previous times, there's only be a couple of customers inside, but this time, it was full. Perhaps it's because it's New Year's Eve, and thus people are off work, but it was quite a fit inside. This also meant not enough room for people to try clothes, and so it wasn't the best shopping environment.

Thus, we left with not much. Myself? I purchased a nice looking coat, clearly with Burberry influences.

Afterwards, as per tradition, we hung out at the Macca's next to it. Funny thing about McDonalds here is that they sell milk tea -- black sesame milk tea at that, which tasted like genuine tea (you could tell it was actually tea and milk, with no or little added sugar). They also provide corn as an option for their happy meal, in replacement of small fries. Food is also cheaper.

Officially the second McDonald's meal we've had thus far. 

It was in stark contrast against our dinner, which consisted of expensive abalone. I for once am not a huge fan of abalone -- it's alright, but I don't usually see its price-worth. I actually found the mushroom side more tasty than the abalone itself.

Chinese food doesn't tend to be very nicely presented (compared to other cuisines), so this is already pretty 'fancy' for their standards.

I feel like it's customary to comment on the fact that it's New Year's Eve. My plans are to attend an orchestral concert with my mother, which is here in Guangzhou on tour from London. I've never been to an orchestra (or at least, in a very long time), so I was pretty excited.

Outside the concert

I can tell you, my first orchestral concert was amazing.

Unfortunately, as expected, no photography was allowed during the performance, but here are some before. 

It was an orchestral performance specially for New Years from London, and it was spectacular.

I'm not the type for classical music, but it was still wonderful to my ears. I found my mind drifting to other things, but all in all, the music was absolutely gorgeous and I loved it. Definitely won't be the last time I attend one. (though I must admit, my lack of sleep meant there were times when I think I microslept)

I went with my mother, and she enjoyed it far more than I did. She loves orchestral and classical music. They also played a very nice Chinese classical piece, which was my favourite of all the pieces. It was beautiful.

As we left, we saw massive crowds outside. Everyone was coming out to celebrate New Year's, ready for the final countdown. Some of you may have heard that there were some trampling incidents in Shanghai, with the sad trampling of 36 people. That's how hectic it gets in China.

I'm soft serving it.

After finishing off, we went home, got ready, and then went off to a family friend's place for a final late night party and the countdown. Their apartment also had a stunning view of the Guangzhou cityscape.

ISO was extreme so I had to make it B&W

Currently as I'm writing this, it's 11:58pm, but the excitement isn't too extreme. I've never been one to blow-up celebrations for New Year's. It's always a bittersweet sort of celebration.

Yeah, a year has passed, but all in all, it doesn't mean much to me. New Year's Resolutions have never been something significant for me -- I think any time is the right time to change yourself for the better. Another year has passed and nothing's really changed, except the little number we write at the end of dates. 

My New Year's resolution? 4k. I think it's a considerable improvement from 2014's resolution of 1080pp. Hur hur.

It's a nice time to reflect though! To reflect on the year, what's happened and how you've changed. It's pretty amazing, really. A year's a long time, especially for us who are still very young. This year especially had been a very big year for me.

Cheers to the next one.