Chinese New Year Flower Fair

January 14, 2012 1 Comment

The beautiful weather will not let up. We’ve had nothing but warmth and bright sunny skies for months and there isn’t a cloud or drop of rain expected in the forecast. I know the skiers in Tahoe aren’t happy nor are the farmers who depend on winter rain to irrigate their crops through the dry summer months. But this girl? Nope. You won’t find her complaining. No siree.

Today was another one of those glorious days and I spent the late morning through afternoon with my brother and his fiance. We spent most of this time chatting about their upcoming wedding plans interspersed with browsing for items that could potentially be used during the ceremony and reception. Our first stop was the SF Flower Mart, which Martha Stewart Living claims to be the “best flower market in the country.” And, crikey! I would totally believe it. Since I knew not of it’s existence before this morning my mind was devoid of any preconceptions, which likely made it even more impressive, which is to say that it totally blew me away – the volume, variety, and number of shops was astounding. Apparently this is where florists, and even stores like Whole Foods, come to buy their flowers wholesale to sell to consumers.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of it (next time!), but after a quick detour to the Ferry Building for lunch and picking up fresh produce at the Farmer’s Market we stopped in Chinatown where they were having the annual Chinese New Year Flower Fair and this is where I felt compelled to whip out my camera and snap a few photos.

When we were approaching Grant Street and after seeing the sheer number of people flooding the streets I knew I needed to take a photo to remember this:

Holy cats that’s a lot of people, right?! It looks just like I remember China or even Istanbul. Come to think of it, I took a very similar photo in Istanbul a couple years ago. After digging it up – here it is:

Personally, I love it. I love the energy that people coming together can create.

At 6’4″ Zack (in the white cap) looked like a giant among the predominantly Asian crowd. It’s funny, the only times I’ve ever felt to have sizeable stature are the two times I’ve been to China – and I’m only 5’4″, mind you, so I can’t imagine what being in China would feel like for my brother. Though, maybe at that height he wouldn’t notice it because he’s used to towering over people and it’s really only people like me who are usually dwarfed by colossal American’s that notice. Hmmm.

As we made our way through the festival, we ended up taking a side street and went to a market where Zack and Susan picked up some produce:

I love the paper lanterns that line the streets of China Town:

Being a flower festival and all, it’s only expected that you’d see some lovely blossoms and orchids were out in full force. Why, yes, I’ll take one of these:

And one of these:

And something I wasn’t expecting – the streets were teaming with pinwheels! If you were a child under the age of 5 you’d likely be clasping one of these in your hands.