So what’s new? It snowed in Indonesia and the Philippines and Singapore has been experiencing some nice, cool and windy weather lately. Some nights were as cool as 23 deg C. I hope this lasts.
The supermarkets have set up tents to display their goodies. Pineapple tarts, love letters, kueh bangkit and mandarin oranges, I bought them all. I even bought bak kwa for the kids. Yes, Chinese New Year is in the air. All this reminds me of my favourite Chinese New Year song.
谁说是春眠不觉晓只有那偷懒人儿才高眠…. I have the perfect picture to go with it.
Below are some of the other pictures I took in Chinatown.
Reunion is always a problem in my family. I have one sister in Australia and another sister in America. Staying at home for Chinese New Year this year, I have (in a very kiasu manner) ensured that my family’s food supplies for the next few days are secured. Sadly, by this time, the lettuce and other eaten-raw vegetables left on the shelf are of “leftover” quality. I guess I’ll only be making dishes requiring lettuce when the supermarkets reopen.
I know some people consider it a hassle (so do I), but if I were to stay home for Chinese New Year, I would like to be able to visit my parents, close friends and relatives as a family. How I envy families that understand the spirit of this festive season. This is the time to meet up, catch up and reminisce. This is not the time to open up old wounds and inflict new ones. I can only shut my door and hope for the kind of peace that the more reasonable people in Bangkok are praying for.
Recovering from two very difficult years, the only promise that 2014 holds for me, is that it’s going to be more happening. It’s a year for me to take flight, to break free and go all out in pursuit of my new dreams and ventures. Yes, I’ll be travelling quite a bit and I’ve also discovered some of the amazing opportunities in Kindle publishing which I was totally unaware of. There is new hope for my publishing career even though the sales of printed books have been less than encouraging. It’s going to be a busy year at the keyboard for me.
After e-book Red Dot Rants, I’m going to do Red Dot Rants 2. I also plan to write a sequel to Spellbound in Chiangmai under the working title of Cursed in Chiangmai. In this e-book, you’ll find the usual love stories and a few more horror tales thrown in. There will also be some travelogues, fitness tips and with these topics, I’ll launch dozens of other e-books in 2014. I’ll be printing fewer books (that’s for sure) as my main target will be the Kindle market in the US, UK and Australia, but these babies will still come in handy when I hold presentations and other social functions in Singapore.
What about you? I hope you’ve got equally exciting plans. Tell me about them.
Here’s wishing everybody
新年快乐！
身体健康！
万事如意！
心想事成！
© Chan Joon Yee
New Book!
