New Years continued...

I've realized that Chinese New Year would be nothing without its fireworks. For the last week, fireworks have been going off 24 hours a day. Firecrackers at 5am, loud crackling bottle rockets in the afternoon, Roman candles at any time of night. Even as I type this, the streets outside my apartment sound like a war zone, exploding with street level fireworks.

Tianjin has virtually no laws or regulations about buying or setting off fireworks, so anything goes really. We've seen huge light shows right outside our 22nd floor apartment window. And there have been countless people setting off flares and bottle rockets in the middle of the streets, even as cars go by.

But the best part was on January 23, when the entire city of Tianjin seemed to be lit up. From our rooftop, as the clock struck midnight, we could see fireworks all over the skyline. The views were unlike anything I've ever seen before. Being on the 48th floor, we could see everything. It looked like the whole city was exploding with fireworks.

None of the pictures do any kind of justice to what it was really like. I had my heart set on huge dragon parades and festivals, only to find out thats actually done in Hong Kong, not mainland China. But the fireworks display made up for it.