Today begins the celebration of Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, and the Year of the Rat. Based on the cycles of the moon, Lunar New Year is traditionally focused on family and remembering ancestors. Famous folks born in the Year of the Rat include Mozart, Marlon Brando and Gwyneth Paltrow. Lunar New Year is celebrated many different ways, and if you decide to go out or stay in, there is something for you!
Check out Min’s blog for her plans for CNY – this year she is cooking the big dinner herself! Shar Scott from Planaganza has some great ideas on how to organize yourself to throw a Chinese New Year’s party of your own. Some of our travel blogger friends have written about their plans from around the world. Globetrotteri wishes us Happy New Year from Hualian, Tiawan; GoVisitHawaii has put together an excellent list of ideas for celebrating in Oahu; Peter from PulauPangkor talks about his plans in Kuala Kurau; and Beth Whitman of the SeattlePI has written about Tet (Vietnamese New Year) festivities planned in Seattle. (psst…I found all these blog posts using our new travel blog search tool!)

In Silicon Valley, my friend Cam Chan describes her plans for celebrating:

My family and I are planning to celebrate Tet (Vietnamese New Year) and Chinese New Year pretty much the same way that we have celebrated it since I moved to the Bay Area 10 years ago. I am Vietnamese and my husband is Chinese, so we try to incorporate a little of each tradition. I will purchase several banh tet (Vietnamese savory rice cakes that are traditionally eaten during Tet) and a tray of sweeten goodies (sugar coated ginger, melons, etc.) which we will graze on next week. We went to my in-laws’ in San Francisco for the traditional Chinese New Year dinner on New Year’s Eve. Grandma Chan cooked a 9 course meal made from scratch (yummy!).

The grandparents handed out red envelopes or lucky money to the kids (including us) and the grandkids (our children). We have officially entered adulthood in both the Chinese and Vietnamese traditions because we are married. Therefore, we will be expected to give out red envelopes to all those who are younger and unmarried. For us, this means that we are obligated to give money to Albert’s sister and our three children, though we do give out additional packets to the children of our friends also. We also plan to take our 3 year old to Grand Century Mall in San Jose to see the Dragon Dance next weekend. Our three month old twins will have to wait until next year to enjoy the festivities as the performance and festivities are usually very loud and crowded.

The San Francisco Bay Area is chock-a-block of celebrations for this festive holiday, check out some of these suggestions:

Vietnamese Spring Festival and Parade, San Jose, February 10
Lunar New Year Celebration at Children’s Discovery Museum, San Jose, February 16-17
Chinatown Community Street Fair, San Francisco, February 23-24

How are you celebrating this Year of the Rat? Did we miss your favorite festival? Let us know!!

From guest blogger Glenda Watson Hyatt, The Left Thumb Blogger, continued from Traveling with a disability in North America: Hotels and Cruises.

Air Travel

Navigating airports can be daunting for the seasoned traveler, as well as those with disabilities, whether permanent or temporary (i.e. a broken leg), for those traveling with children, and for those who find airports too crowded and, thus, are reluctant to travel.

The key is to arrive at the airport in plenty of time before your flight to minimize the rush and stress of navigating check-in, security and customs. Check with your airline for the time they recommend you be at the airport. For international travelers, particularly those with disabilities, it may be three hours or more.

• Staff know their way around the maze of an airport. Accept their offer to assist and save your energy for your vacation.

• If you are a slow walker or have a temporary disability, request a wheelchair for getting around the airport. Many airports have wheelchair lanes through security, which can be much quicker.

• Arrive at your gate in plenty of time prior to departure. This way airline staff will likely pre-board you, which gives you time to get comfortable in your plane seat before the general boarding.

• Guide and assistance dogs, with appropriate identification, remain with you at all times. They are not checked into the cargo compartment like other pets are.

• When traveling with an electric wheelchair or scooter, know the type of battery: gel cell or wet cell. Typically, if it is a gel cell, you can stay in your own wheelchair all the way to the gate and it’ll be waiting for you when you deplane at your destination. With a wet cell, you will likely be required to give it up when you check in and then retrieve it with your other luggage. This means you’ll need to use an airport wheelchair while waiting for your flight.

Air travel can be a lot of hurry up and wait. Be sure to pack plenty of patience and take a book, small games or even a portable DVD player to entertain yourself or your children or enjoy a leisurely meal to help time fly by.

Ground Transportation

From personal experience, ground transportation, particularly for two people in wheelchairs traveling together, can be the trickiest part of the trip to arrange. Most accessible taxi cabs, if they are available, only take one wheelchair, and public transit isn’t always the most convenient.

• When booking accessible transportation, such as airport transfers or a sightseeing tour, Harington recommends ensuring the vehicle is lift- or ramp-equipped if you cannot transfer. She says that sometimes tour operators think that all wheelchair-users can walk a few steps, and they provide standard vehicles with wheelchair-storage space for folks that need accessible transportation.

• When you are doing a road trip, Candy Harrington suggests looking for the newer fast-food restaurants for accessible rest stops. “Granted they may not have the most nutritious menus, but most have nicely accessible public restrooms.”

There are many travel opportunities even if you have a disability. The key is to do your homework prior to your trip to minimize any unexpected bumps along the way.

Happy travels to you! Please share any tips and tricks you have found for making travel easier for you!

Additional Resources

• Accessible Transportation: In Flight Safety – Frequently Asked Questions
• Access to Travel
• Emerging Horizons
• Mexico Accessible
• Candy Harrington’s Blog
• Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality
• Travelers with Disabilities and Medical Conditions

From guest blogger Glenda Watson Hyatt, The Left Thumb Blogger

With both my husband and I having significant physical disabilities and relying on electric wheelchairs for mobility, traveling can be challenging but, with some planning and research, definitely possible. Most recently, we have enjoyed cruising from Vancouver to Los Angeles, playing at Disneyland, and spending four nights in Las Vegas. I have also done some traveling within British Columbia. All with only minor glitches and some important lessons learned.

Hotels

When traveling in North America, keep in mind that Canada and Mexico do not have legislation similar to the American with Disabilities Act, which specifies requirements for physical access. However, this does not mean these two countries are not accessible; quite the contrary. But, it does mean not all hotels and resort destinations will meet your accessibility needs.

• When booking hotel rooms, keep in mind that “accessible” (or “ADA compliant” in the United States”) means different things to different people.

A couple of years ago, I traveled overnight to Victoria for a board meeting. The organizer booked an accessible motel room for me. If accessible room meant only a wide door, then, yes, the room was accessible. If an accessible room meant being able to park my scooter beside the bed or to get into the bathroom to even get close to the tub, the room was not accessible. The room was doable for one night. Had I wanted to take a shower or bath, the room was definitely not accessible.

Be specific about your needs. Do you need a roll-in shower? A bath bench? A flashing fire alarm?

Candy Harrington, editor of accessible travel magazine Emerging Horizons and author of 101 Accessible Vacations: Travel Ideas for Wheelers and Slow Walkers, recommends asking, “Can you block that accessible room for me?” In hotel terminology, “block” means to reserve a specific room for a specific guest. Asking the clerk to “guarantee the room” is the wrong terminology as that means “to secure with a credit card’. Harrington says if the clerk is unwilling or unable to block a room, then make your reservation elsewhere. If you can’t be sure that accessible room will be available when you arrive, then what good is your reservation.

• If there is a problem with your room upon arrival, politely bring it to the staff’s attention.Frequent business traveler Eric Lipp, Director of Chicago-based non-profit Open Doors Organization that teaches businesses how to succeed in the disability market, advises people with disabilities to speak up when they encounter an obstacle at a hotel. Ask to see the General Manager or the Manager on Duty and calmly explain your problem. Tipp who uses a scooter for mobility points out, “…you are probably the first person to bring it up. A hostile stand off doesn’t work. My experience has been that most managers are willing to come to a reasonable solution.”

• If you use an electric wheelchair or scooter, pack a power extension cord. There may not be an electrical outlet where you need to charge.

Cruises

Cruises are a great way to travel, particularly for those with mobility impairments, because everything is right there: accommodation, dining, recreation facilities and entertainment. The newer ships are quite accessible. However, the main issue is the number of accessible cabins and which passengers get them.

According to Lisa Burbank, contributing editor for National Geographic Traveler, “Cruise-line policies vary on booking such rooms in advance. The policy often depends on how quickly a ship is filling up.”

• Complete documentation. Cruise lines typically require a medical form, which will indicate an accessible cabin is necessary, so assignments shouldn’t be arbitrarily switched.

The special-needs department can also help with requirements such as flashing fire alarms for guests who are hearing impaired or Deaf and special menus for cruisers with severe allergies.

• Have your travel agent flag your reservation with a note “do not upgrade” in your record so you will not be bumped up to a non-accessible space. If you’re traveling with a group, Burbank suggests linking reservations together so one person’s cabin or dining assignment will not be changed.

I wish we had known this before our first cruise. During the registration on the day we left, we were told we had been upgraded at no additional cost. We boarded and eventually found our cabin. My husband unlocked the door and realized his power chair would not fit through the doorway. No way, no how. Things didn’t look promising when we could not even get into our cabin.

We found our way to the Purser’s Desk, where we were told the ship was fully booked and, thus, we couldn’t simply change cabins. Once they realized we were unable to park our chairs in the hallway and walk into our cabin, they told us to go have lunch while they tried locating the passengers in our original cabin to see if they could switch to a non-accessible room.

Dishearteningly we ate our first meal onboard, thinking that may be a mighty expensive lunch if we needed to disembark before the ship sailed. Eventually, we were reassigned to our cabin, which turned out to be ultra accessible. It was smooth sailing from there – until the seasickness struck.

Do you have any accessible tips to share? Please pass them on!

Additional Resources:

Disability Travel: Part I: Plan Accessible Trips
Disability Travel: Part II: Getting to the Destination
Disability Travel: Part III: At the Destination

If you visit San Francisco Chinatown these days, you will find that the 2008 Chinese New Year animal is the Rat, as in the rat in Ratatouille, The Green Mile or Mousehunt (1997). There will be rats (live or not) in the homes of more than 1.3 billion people in 2008. (I received two pigs in year 2007!) Chinese New Year is the most significant holiday for Chinese people around the world, regardless of the origin of their ancestors, or their current locations. Feb. 6 2008 will be the last day of Year of Pig according to Chinese lunar calendar and Chinese will celebrate Rat Year 2008 that night!

Chinese New Year History

Today, we call Chinese New Year day “Spring Festival” (春节, chūnjié) which was officially set by Nanjing Temporary Government in 1912. Before 1912, the Chinese New Year eve was simply called “Nian”(年) (means “year”), and the first day was called “Yuán Dàn” (means “the first day/dawn”) which we now use to refer to Western New Year’s day – Jan. 1. The origin of Nian can be traced back to Zhou Dynasty (1066 B.C. – 256 B.C.) or even as early as 2600 B.C.

There are a few different versions of folk tales about the Chinese New Year history. One of the most famous legends is that Nian is an extremely cruel and ferocious beast, which the Chinese believe, eats every creature including human being. After years’ observation, people find out that every 365 days Nian comes out and eats people. Red color, the fire and loud noises were proved to be most effective in scaring Nian away. Since then, red-paper couplets are pasted on top and both sides of doors, torches are lit, and firecrackers are set off throughout the night. Early the next morning, as feelings of triumph and renewal fill the air at successfully keeping Nian away for another year, the most popular greeting heard is Gōngxǐ (means “congratulations). So, maybe you also know why color red is the color of China.

Another slightly different version is that Nian is too dangerous and people don’t know if they can survive through the next day, so it becomes extremely important that all family members must come together on New Year Eve. The parents will prepare a feast with the best food they can afford for dinner. After dinner, the family will stay up until midnight, praying for safety. A third less well-known version is that a young guy whose name is “Wan Nian” (means “ten thousand years”) invented the lunar calendar and thus the King named the calendar “Nian” after his first name.

The first two legends actually explain how Chinese people celebrate the New Year. But since China is such a big country, the tradition is very different from region to region .

Chinese New Year Food

New Year Eve dinner is the most important event in celebrating the new year. I remember my mother spending days preparing the dinner and snacks when I was young. We have several must-have foods on Chinese New Year eve. Generally speaking, people in North China eat dumplings (called Jiǎozi, 饺子) which are made of wheat flour, stuffed with minced pork and vegetable and taste salty; people in the South eat a kind of round sweet dumpling (called tāngyuán, 汤圆) which is made of sticky rice flour and stuffed with black sesame paste or peanut paste. People in the Middle, along Yangzi River eat rice cake (called “niángāo”, 年糕) which are be in various styles and flavors.

Today a new trend is that more and more families don’t eat home-made dinner, but go to restaurants for the feasts. I agree with this trend so that my mother, the best chef of the world, can take a day off!

Chinese New Year Activities

CNY holiday is the longest one in China – 7 days. Since it is the only chance for many city immigrants to go back home and meet with families and relatives, many companies, especially self-owned (as opposed to state-owned) will grant a much longer holiday to their employees, from ten days to two weeks. But most MNCs just stick to the law. What do people do in such a long holiday?

• Bàinián (means “greeting the new year”): Visiting friends and relatives in their home. This the most fun part for kids since married grown-ups will give them some money (called Yāsuìqián in North, Lìshì in South) in a small red-paper envelope to protect the kids whom are the most vulnerable target for vicious Nian beast. It is more an obligation than a good will today. This is a Chinese version of Halloween “All Treats – No Tricks” game for Cantonese kids (Hong Kong and Guangzhou area). They will come to you saying “Gōngxǐfācái” (as the characters in the right image) , and you must then give them a Lìshì.

• Go to temple fairs or flower markets or firework shows or parades：Temple fairs are held at various ancient temples in North China. It is a kind of mass gathering that integrates religious worship (for Buddhist and Taoist), entertainment and commerce, (check here for images about temple fairs). Cantonese people go to flower markets instead.

• Travel: More and more people in the cities take leisure trips to escape the cities. As the United States has become the most popular outbound travel destination for China as of December 11 2007, it is certain that you will see more Chinese people in big cities like San Francisco or attractions like the Grand Canyon this year.

• Do nothing but relax: Shanghai is the tourist hotspot for Chinese people. Shopping district like Nanjingdong Road is always fully packed with tourists in holidays. So a few people choose to stay at home to avoid crowd.

What are your plans for Chinese New Year 2008? Does your family celebrate by going out or staying in? Or, have you had the opportunity to experience the celebration of Chinese New Year where you live? We would love to hear your stories!