The Year of the Monkey

Photography by Ivan Gener

新年快乐 !
Happy New Year (Again) Folks!

For those who might be wondering if I am going coo-coo…nope! It´s the Chinese New Year today and so it is time to celebrate, don’t you think?

I decided since it was the New Year I needed a change, so I cut my hair! It’s also a little bit more blondie, but oh well! I kinda like it.

The New Year celebrations in London will last for over a week after so you are in luck my friend. You wll be able to get lots of festivities in you calendar and see the amazing parade happening on Sunday. Yep, that´s Valentine’s Day too. It seems like they like to mix things up over here!

This year is the year of the Monkey. The Monkey is ninth of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac cycle, which means every 12 years there is a Monkey year. More over, it is a Fire Monkey Year. Apparently each year is associated with one animal sign AND one of the five elements: gold/metal, water, wood, fire or earth. These elements of your birth will determine your personality and destiny.

I am from the year of the Dragon (the best year, OBVS) and apparently it says I am enthusiastic, confident, intelligent, ambitious, hardworking and straightforward. What do you guys think? BLIMEY, I think that sounds quite spot on? There´s also a whole bunch of superstitions to follow in order to have a good year: lucky numbers, colours, flowers, directions, lunar months…I better start working on it!

In any case, if you get a chance this week to get yourself to Chinatown and enjoy the festive vibe…DO IT. The lanterns are up and it just looks too cute to be missed. I think I’ve mentioned it a thousand times before but I love asian food, and even more so if it is Chinese food. Any opportunity is good for me to go there. Despite being very chaotic, dirty and loud, you won’t find a more intriguing and exciting neighbourhood (except for Soho, probably) in the city which is also open pretty much 24/7.

TCB x