In the basement of the Paragon shopping mall, a few stores are open, even though it is only 9AM. Starbucks, da Paolo, Orange Julius. Breadtalk is not open for business, but the bakers are at work in the open kitchen. I ask and learn that the store will open at 11. Installed in a deep armchair at Starbucks with a latte and croissant, I observe the going-ons.
A couple of girls open the doors of the Guardian pharmacy. The lights around the metallic and transparent plastic shutters of Paragon supermarket have just lit up. Inside, staff are getting the displays ready. This means that the store will open just a bit later than usual.
Things have changed. My recollection is that even food stores were closed on Chinese New Year, but it appears that they have just a short reprieve in the life of this busy shopping mecca. They closed at 4-5PM yesterday, earlier than usual on the eve of the New Year, but they will open just a bit later than usual today.
Upstairs, the designer stores, of course, are all closed. It is rare to see this mall empty, with only a few isolated people walking around. No surprise either on Orchard Road: a few passers-by, very little car traffic. A troop of traditional Chinese percussionists is doing its rounds; it is at the Meritus Mandarin Hotel and will go soon to the Park Hotel across the road, where I saw such a group two years ago. During the dragon dance, the musicians’ purpose in this purely rhythmic exercise seems to be to make as much noise as possible with their drums, bells and cymbals, while dancers hidden under the dragon’s body and long tail dance frenetically in front of hotel guests and passers-by.
Around this time every year you see these troops criss-crossing town on flat bed trucks with their flags flying in the wind, going from performance to performance. They always exhibit energy and high spirits.
On my way back up the hill to my apartment, I hear the noise of another troop performing at the York Hotel. It is a lion dance this time, with a man making lions jump on a stool on the same noisy background.
