ghost town..

Aaah, it is that time of the year again when our island becomes a ghost town, what with today being the first day of Chinese New Year. Practically, half of the population of this island has left town – the foreign Chinese would have gone back home (wherever home is that is outside of Singapore) to spend the holidays with their families, the expatriates would have gone for their holidays somewhere exotic and off course, some of our Singaporeans would have left town for their holidays too. What Christmas holiday is like in the West, that is how it is like for us this time of the year in the East.

I love this time of the year. At one point, I would be one of those people who would be in a hurry to leave for my holiday during this time. Not anymore now. It gets very expensive to leave time during this holiday season and especially if you planned to leave at the last minute. I love to stay put in recent years because this is probably the only time where I can actually hear silence. Yes, the atmosphere is different. All the shops and eating joints are closed (very rare that this ever happens in commercially-driven Singapore), roads are less congested and the human traffic is far less than any other day. I woke up this morning and could hear the difference – it was quiet unlike other ordinary day. I just love it!

On top of that, this is one of the rare times of the year where we get a two-day public holiday. What more could one ask for? I will not going back to work till Wednesday and I am relishing every moment of peace and quiet and time away from work. Two more days of lazing around in bed till late morning….aaaahhh, heaven…