Auspicious underpants
To China Town for some photography. At least, that was the plan. No sooner had we alighted from the taxi than Chrissy something bright and shiny and started purchasing (mostly paper wall hangings for Chinese New Year), thus ensuring that 1) we had something bulky to lug through the dense crowds all day and 2) the stallholders could easily spot us as mug punters.As it happens, there wasn’t too much happening, so we snapped a few pics, wandered around in the noontime heat, and sat down at the Porridge king hoping for a cool drink. Unfortunately they seemed to be overloaded, so we assayed another foray of the market. I was sorely tempted by the Melon Seed King, since Melon Seeds are such a delicacy among the Chinese, but decided that beer had priority, so we settled for a few large bottles of Tiger at a Hawker stall. After which, Chrissy decided that we needed – absolutely had to have – a very large Chinese tea pot and a porcelain bear. I herded her towards a taxi, before she could do more stopping. On the way to the taxi I was tempted myself by some auspicious underpants. Red is one of the most auspicious colours for Chinese, signifying prosperity, so wearing red clothes at the start of the year should bring prosperity for the coming year. Hence the popularity of red underpants.