Chinese New Year

I could have watched these guys all day. There are two men inside the lion outfit and they did some incredible stunts.

It is Mickey Mouse's year (even though I thought he was a mouse and not a rat...?).
I wish you could see the eyelashes on this thing.
The art of Chinese brushstroke.

I should have done a bit more research before I made my plans for Chinese New Year. I was thinking that I would get to see a whole bunch of festivities while I was in Singapore. I was wrong. The New Year for the Chinese is something that is spent with your family. Since most of the people in that country are of Chinese decent, many of the businessmen had left to go be with their families. Many places were closed and the whole place seemed somewhat deserted. I was able to catch a lion dance at a mall near Chinatown which was fascinating.

Chinatown was alive and well early in the week which I was thankful for. Even the Chinatown there is clean, way cleaner than the one in Bangkok. More open, easier to walk through, nicer products. While I was shopping, I was caught off guard in an antique shop. A very handsome guy, twenty something, Chinese, started chatting me up in the store. I happened to be looking at some very provocative ivory carvings of various extracurricular positions. He asked the usual questions. Where are you from? Are you married? Boyfriend? I was flattered to be getting such attention as he was a handsome fellow. But then the questions changed a bit. Where are you staying? Would you like for me to come over? Whoa buddy...this was the middle of the day in an antique store. I could see something like that happening in a club at night after a few drinks but this felt totally out of place. And then he said, "Will you pay me?" This was a first for me. I have never been asked to pay for services of that kind. Pay? I wondered if he did this all the time. Was he a pro? I didn't think they had prostitution in Singapore as it is such a wealthy country, but I am just naive I guess. Even though I really did want to take a closer look at the salacious little figurines, I turned on my heal and walked out of the store.

But what I really wanted to ask him was how much it would cost. Not that I would have paid or anything, just out of curiosity.