According to our Western counterparts, the New Year is well and over, done and dusted. However, we Asians are either a little slower than our foreign friends, or that we like to take our time doing things. For most Asian countries, our new year lies between Feb-April. Thus, its only natural that all our celebrations are done during this time. In my local area, one of the biggest events of the Chinese New Year is the Springvale Chinese festival. It is an annual tradition that Springvale, our local suburb, would puts on a festival to commemorate the turning of the clocks, another year over, a new one has just began! The festival typically consists of vibrant colours, delectable food, dragon dancing, childish rides, games, people spruiking and terrible traffic and pedestrian jams!

The crowds that frequent the festival each year can be easily categorized into two groups:
1. Men, woman and kids who go to taste the variety of foods and games on offer
2. Impressionable adolescents who are all pretending to be ‘cool’

Every year, the majority of the crowd are made up of insufferable teenagers. They use the festival as a vessel to get together, flirt and perve on one another, and ultimately (sometimes) hook up by the end of the night. This has always been the way from as long as I can remember. I use to participate in these rituals many moons ago when I was an influenceable teenager, not the hooking up part, I should be so lucky LOL. However, it was only natural for me, when I hit my twenties, to take a step back and retire from such shenanigans and leave the mating rituals for the next generation of obnoxious teens.

But this year, my friends and I decided to belong to the former category on our return. After numerous years of boycotting the event, we all began to feel the urge building up inside of us again. Let me just take this moment to clarify the nature of this urge; it wasn’t an urge to go to the festival again and relive our hey days! No, our maturity simply won’t allow that. The urge I’m speaking of resonates purely from the stomach. The thought of all the exotic food available there makes our mouth salivate with hunger!

The first thing we noticed when we arrived there was the authentic Asian aromas which infiltrated the air, the lovely scent of herbs and spices. Stalls after stalls of different asian cuisines were available, for the right price of course. It was a hot day that day, plus the crowd was enormous, which equated to frequently bumping and touching sweaty bodies. I felt a sudden sense of claustrophobia and my personal space was non existent!
The boys tried their luck with some of the carnival games, and surprising their strengths and accuracy were rewarded in the form of large soft toys! Vann wanted to be in touch with his inner child by going on a ride which was only ever occupied by kids. The look of jubilations which was etched all over his facials were enough entertainment for one afternoon. His twirls and triple twirls, which he did in quick and steady successions, and all with a gleeful smile, seemed like a desperate cry from a grown man wanting to be young once again LOL.

My nephew Kai, who is but a mere 4 months old, was also brought along to experience the Springvale festival for the very first time. Even though the conditions were humid and cramp, he seemed to enjoy himself like a little trooper! By the end of our outing, he seemed to have over exhausted himself and fell soundly asleep in his little pram. Bless.