Lunar New Year Fair 年宵市場 (Hong Kong)

One of the largest Lunar New Year Fair 年宵市場 in Hong Kong is held at the Victoria Park in Causeway Bay for as long as I remembered. It is an event which starts a week before the Chinese New Year (CNY) and draws crowds from all over Hong Kong as part of customs. Hundreds of stalls would be set up to sell various CNY goods, both dry and wet items such lucky charms, toys, snacks, useless decorations, flowers and promotional items from various political parties would be widely available. There was no huge differences this year compared with the previous one, the pathways were constipated with CROWDS, stalls setup was similar and the smell of sweat was frightfully familiar ... except this year ... you would find CROWDS of ... AGNRY BIRDS merchandises, EVERYWHERE! (The Attack of Angry Birds!!)

Don't worry about not able to check out the merchandises due to the crowds, vendors were all over the places as in high above your eye level so you would not miss them.

Some would hold up poles and swing like a flags to ensure you know what they sell.

Some would just ... do whatever needed to catch your attention.

For those interested, this inflated "bra" is one of the many promotional items for very first Hong Kong produced 3D  R-rated "adult category" movie titled "3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstacy" based on a Chinese classic erotic novel written by Li Yu (李渔) during Qing dynasty in 1657.

Say hi to more Angry Birds items.

Feel like collecting the whole Angry Birds family? No worries, they got it!

Some vendor opted for a more peaceful and quiet approach. The star balloon has a while empty spot in the middle for you to write your wish, consider that a lucky star perhaps?

I was tempted to get one of those bunny ears for fun and in celebration for the year of the Rabbit but I would just look rather ridiculous right? 

I also wanted to get this Dim Sum cushion but I can get hungry whenever I use it ... so just in case, I walked away!

As I turned away from the dim sum cushion, I saw this HUGE inflated Bubble Tea flying above my head!! That I wanted as well but for the same reason as mentioned, I walked away ... self-control was the key!

I almost screamed just a few steps away from the inflated Bubble Tea because I was soon confronted with the wonderful smell of Stinky Tofu!

My friend dragged me along to prevent me from garbing my wallet and pushing my way towards to stinky tofu. A job well done by my friend ... IF it were for the ... Cotton Candy that appeared in front of me!!! It looked sweet, the girl making the cotton candy looked sweet ... the sweet looking girl the cotton candy was calling me over!

I always believe that "the best way to rid temptation is to rid temptation," but on this very occasion, I somehow restrained myself from losing self control when it comes to food and sweets. Perhaps it was the huge dinner I had.

The year of the Tiger (2010) was a volatile year for me to say the least, so I do hope the year of the Rabbit (2011) would be different in a positive way and I hope it would be a year full of new challenges and many new gastronomic adventures to come!