I'm Overwhelmed! Chinese New Year in Xi'an, China
I am in Xian China and tomorrow is Chinese New Year and in this video we are going to find out how China is celebrating this and how it is to experience this as a foreigner I'm a bit overwhelmed now to be honest I will be joined by my friend Steven Deana and I can already say that this day is going to be full of surprises so what's Xian China like on Chinese New Year and how are people celebrating here let's find out feel free to join and welcome to Xian the oldest city in China and the former capital of China and today is February the 9th basically New Year's Eve here in China and the first mission that we have today is to get some traditional Chinese clothing you can see it all around the city that people dress up very nicely in these clothings and seems like there are many shops around can you help because we don't know okay so we're going to get a Chinese makeover now going to dress up in traditional clothes and then I'm guess we're going to wear that all day yes all day all night oh Steve already looks like like a here this is the greatest New Year ever okay so I heard before that you should actually not wear black color on Chinese New Year so I'm actually surprised that they are recommending this one to him I thought Chinese New Year is you have to wear red okay seems like I have to get a black one they all said black is okay today so I'm trying this one here now so no 190 190 yeah yeah not true okay so we spent around half an hour in there trying on different clothings the girls there were super friendly and helpful and in the end I looked like a Chinese King 188 and I return tomorrow 188 and I'm looking like a Chinese King for the rest of the day and for the New Year's countdown tonight okay and just like that we are looking Chinese traditionally Chinese now I feel like a different person Steve and Ivana they are both looking like a different person they did a really good job with all your hair styling the makeup and everything thing and check it out the first time Steve is having hair the first time that I see you with hair at least since 10 years by the way we also have sorts yes so I feel like a warrior they're very helpful in the store they said you can have the sword but don't bring it on the subway okay because it's actually going to hold for a second it actually feels like a very legit sword it's pretty it's not cheap plastic it's actually pretty heavy yeah it actually feels like a weapon to be honest yes it does the only thing it's not really sharp so but this is legit man so I hope I don't get arrested with that so the goal was now to explore the city of Chiang get some First Impressions try some food and very important to find out where's a good place for the New Year's countdown later so this man just stopped me and he's very keen to uh give me his ice cream I think oh what is this looks like rice R sticky rice with ice oh interesting combination well the problem is or the difficult thing is to get my wallet out of all the layers wearing he's busy putting on the sprinkles on top so this is almost like a fake ice cream some kind of cream fake why is it fake well it's not melting is it is it ice cream looks like cream right looks like cream and then there's rice beneath it how much 10 10 no thank you no thank you no it's my friend my friend okay nice to meet you nice to meet you okay okay okay wow I wish I filmed the initial uh interaction with him we were walking by and he just stopped me and basically pulled me to his shop he literally grabbed your arm and said you're buying this now but in a in a friendly way and he forced me to buy the ice cream not in a bad way so let's try it it's not ice cream something else it's cream cream it's cream with a lot of sprinkles and candy on top and then sticky rice right something different it's good I mean cream and sprinkles it's not bad the cream is cold and the rice is warm it's a very interesting combination so it's not like a cold ice cream on the streets never before seen interesting interesting little snake here but I like it yeah so this is the rice part here which is like brown red rice I've never seen this before me Nei so it's not ice cream actually it looks like ice cream but it's not okay so right behind this beautiful old building here we have a very interesting and busy Market Street which is full with people and yeah keep in mind this is basically New Year's Eve it is currently about 3:30 p.m. so the New Year here starts in less than 12 hours and yeah we are getting a lot of reactions from the locals here many people are taking pictures of us saying hello smiling at us I don't think that many foreigners are wearing these traditional costumes here but you see a lot of locals are doing this especially many girls here oh anyhow and he looks also like a warrior with a black dress so I think like the girls are wearing mainly red and white colors and all the guys are wearing black oh wow so cool thank you if you want attention as a foreigner in China wear something like this H hell one more one more maybe she doesn't want a picture maybe not I think her mom wants the picture but she doesn't really want I can go down okay let's take a picture here oh I'm having like 10 cameras pointed to me now check it out okay nice to meet you bye-bye byebye okay and there's so much food here so I'm getting hungry and check it out this looks interesting here how hello what is this here something sweet well guess I have to find out oh but check it out that looks huge here and it smells delicious not sure what's on top of it OS Manus cake not sure what OS Manos it okay uh how much ah check it out how she cuts it here she's slicing the whole cake here and then putting a stick inside and then slicing it again oh and then she has these small pieces there ah and she's dipping it into the sauce over there okay okay I paid 10 un and I got three pieces so one for each oh thanks buddy steaming hot and she put like the the pink sauce on top of it R I don't know that's a go ahead I tell you what you guys look so awesome I'm just standing here holding this camera and I'm like you guys look like a million bucks cheers it's like sticky rice very good sticky rice I think this is Rose yeah like a Ros Flav syrup but mine is like it's quite good yeah it's quite good and the part at the very end I ate it already that's uh something sweet maybe a sweet date taste reminds me of a date the cake is quite yummy because it's not too sweet it's just kind of flavorful and quite yummy that's actually what I like about Chinese d birs often they are not super sweet so you don't feel like you're overloading with sugar good how how very delicious thank you very much something that I noticed here that I haven't really seen that much in other cities in China you see a lot of Muslims here you recognize them because they have this typical Muslim headwear and I see some Halal signs on the stores here I think this is the Halal sign actually so you see the the green sign on top here this one I think this means halal Halal right oh yeah I was wondering so this is the Chinese sign for Halal are you from Chiang Shanghai from Shanghai yeah oh nice where you from I'm from Germany from Germany which city from near bman ah okay you know brayman yeah yeah I heard oh not many people know that City and I I noticed that many shops here are Halal Muslim because this street is the Hal Street it's a Halal Street here so there's a Muslim Community here ah okay so this street the Chinese name is the Hal so you cannot find the park okay okay interesting okay enjoy your holiday thank you very much PE you bye-bye okay so there we have it this is called the Halal Street in Chinese that makes sense oh we can get a painting here ni how long does it take to paint how many minute does it take 10 minutes and how much black and white 30 you and K and we can do a three people we would like to get a picture with all three of us right yeah yeah but maybe they charge a bit extra then that's okay you look so cool with your meat he got some lamp there chewing a big bone of lamp 90 un so I think it we pay three times the price yeah okay okay let's sit down and get a painting wow I'm excited to see it you're going to love it Kev it looks good already very talented lady good job I want have to surprise I haven't seen it yet okay the picture is finished now let's have a look the big reveal oh wow this is really cool oh check it out wow that is very nice sh oh that looks amazing wow and even like the the CH buildings here that you can recognize yeah yeah yeah wow what a great job this is amazing thank you very much oh I can try Okay some snacks here delicious okay oh it's actually very good chocolate it's really try it oh it's amazing have more may chocolate chocolate chocolate I think it's a rice cake type of thing it's actually so good the texture is like it's almost like it's a rice how much is it no this one how much five okay I take one back please one for me one for him this is a mixed different chocolate and this one mix mix okay okay okay I take this one now the thing is I need to get my wallet out it's somewhere hidden in here there it is thank you very much healthy and delicious where are you from from Beijing from Beijing so you come here for Hol yeah my hometown's here your hometown is here where can we go tonight for the countdown what is a good place to go for tonight there that's south of the South right that's the same place the guy yesterday we commed great because we were looking for a place where we can go later on for the like midnight celebration where did you buy oh there's a shop over there we rent it for one day for 24 hours so so just the whole day exactly because we see so many locals wear this yes they like to take pictures with it TR we thought we want to do this as well ask my uh Grand shter take a picture with picture with you sure sure you very handsome nice to meet you you very much okay byebye bye bye byebye oh wow I'm amazed the people here are so friendly I feel very well welcom here this is really really nice I have no idea what she said but uh I think it was I think she wants a photo niow hello hello hello everyone hello so we were standing there for literally like 10 15 minutes taking lots and lots of pictures but this is nothing compared to the amount of pictures we will take later in the video stay tuned for that Steve do you feel like a celebrity a little bit a little bit I tell you what I thought I would be more embarrassed to wear the in public but I feel very comfortable because everyone's reaction is so good what's going on video yeah video okay this by the way behind us is the bell tower here which is in the middle of the roundabout a very iconic place here in Xiang as you can see many people come here to take pictures I'm not sure how many photos I have taken today with people here but it must be around 100 already so I feel a bit overwhelmed here but yeah as I said earlier everyone is super friendly they're all saying thank you once the picture is taken so everyone is very friendly so Abol absolutely no problem right no problem to take so many pictures no problem no it's fun it's fun yeah quite fun so so far this is a great uh New Year's Eve totally agree and it's about uh 5:30 now so we have 6 and 1 half hours left until midnight and the idea is now to get some food right let's eat yeah we are hungry let's get some food oh check it out she has a little cat here how old is the cat uh maybe a few weeks uh one year one year uh this Mayo Mayo no mayo means no the cat looks like a few weeks old oh what's so cute little cat here oh Happy New Year's happy New Year okay oh just uh carrying her her cat around the city a very cute cat okay maybe we are going to get dinner here that looks good let's see if they have a seat available you have table for threee oh it smells delicious oh have a look cooking some noodles here okay and the food has arrived and it smells really really delicious already so I am having a beef noodle soup with a crunchy chickpeas inside some vegetables some sesame seeds I think and then of course the beef and what are you guys having BRAC chicken and BRAC pork BRAC chicken and BRAC pork with I guess it's soup and the rice on the side yeah so we all ordered not spicy not spicy let's test that theory first there were four different options on the menu from not spicy to very spicy and we all chose not spicy because yeah the evening will continue not spicy very very good I think you'll be you'll be safe okay let's try the beef First Chinese really know how to cook meat the beef the pork the chicken it's always so soft and tender like it's been braced for hours always so delicious oh you even have potatoes in there right mhm oh nice like you said the meat so so tender and like succulent so so uh soft and I really like it in Chinese dishes when you have these little chickpeas in there because they always add a very crunchy nice flavor to it y okay so this is our New Year's dinner now yeah last dinner of the year last dinner of the Year okay and fast forward a few hours it is now almost 11:00 p.m. and we came to this place here next to the giant goose pagod that's the name here everything looks so nicely lit up I absolutely love it here and so many friendly people here everyone is still as friendly as earlier today Steve just had a little encounter with the police here you want to tell the story quickly yeah sure so I was flying the Drone because all the lights are so bright and there's a huge strip here it's really beautiful from the sky and uh hi hi hello Shon Hello nice to meet you oh happy New Year may I take a phot sure sure ni Hello nice to meet you hello and suddenly we have a crowd around us again oh oh look at all the cameras here hello happy New Year happy New Year and you may notice I look very tall now because it's a bit chilly now so I'm wearing my hood thank you no problem enjoy your night oh I don't speak Chinese happy New Year happy New Year happy New Year yeah yeah yeah okay okay thank you wait I think Steve wanted to tell the story we're going to finish that in a second sure sure sure okay okay thank you what's going on the thing is one once uh one person starts to take the pictures now everyone thinks probably I'm a celebrity or something everyone is stopping here now thank you very much with him welcome to China yeah yeah okay okay oh I can't say no okay okay he was probably asking can I take a picture I'm a bit overwhelmed now to be honest hello hello want to my okay okay okay Steve 5 minutes later after taking 100 pictures we interrupted your police story so it's F the Drone got some really nice footage and then couple guys came over three or four for very polite very friendly they said because there's so many people here it's a no fly zone you can't have drones over so many people's heads yeah and they said we'll give you the Drone back we're just asking you to not fly again yeah so I will obey the rules and I appreciate their very kind and very uh you know not rude at all message true true so okay for me so no drone flying here today but it still looks amazing here but we are still not sure what actually is going to happen at midnight here no idea because we heard there's no official firework allowed what was the reason again I guess because of pollution pollution I think so so maybe there's not going to be a big official firework but maybe some private firework yeah or maybe a drone show maybe a drone show maybe everybody just cheering I don't know we will see in about an hour yeah okay I hear people screaming here this is funny so there's a fountain here and every time the water splashes up the people are screaming for some reason what's going on here what is going on my guess would be this is some kind of tradition maybe to scream aray or scare away the the ghost or something like that if anyone of you can explain in the comments feel free to do so why just screaming here oh this is funny but wow I really have to say the area here looks amazing it's a very long Street it goes on and on and on and all the buildings around us are looking so incredibly nice this is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in China definitely and something that I also notice is if this would be in Germany where I am from like less than 1 hour before midnight on New Year's Eve it would be a very different place because everyone here would be drinking alcohol people would be loud drunk there would be loud party music everywhere and here it feels more like it's for families you know it's a very peaceful friendly atmosphere here nobody is drunk or partying so that's a big difference I noticed compared to New Year's Eve in Germany where I am from this is definitely more like family friendly Vibes here okay and we have these cool LED lights here on the floor and if you step on it the colors are changing which is actually pretty cool and we do have a big dragon right here which is fitting to the theme because the new year is the year of the dragon and the Luna calendar by the way I keep saying Chinese New Year but the official name is actually the Luna New Year so the Chinese New Year or the Luna New Year is at a different date every year because it's following the Luna calendar I think it's it's usually between mid January and mid-February but to be honest there's something here that I am missing last year and I think the year before before that I was in Chinatown in Bangkok during Chinese New Year and there were many parades like with these Chinese costumes like tiger costume dragon costumes and I was somehow thinking that this is going to be here as well like parades with Dragons so I'm a bit surprised that that is not the case here but maybe that's also on a different day maybe tomorrow and just not tonight okay it is about 10 minutes before midnight and there is some firework going on here and there which uh surprises me because we heard officially there's no firework allowed so I guess these are like small private fireworks and I'm really curious now what is going to happen at midnight here so we figured this is like a square here so this is maybe a good place to be at midnight and look at this old couple here tired can't even make it to midnight pass our bedtime time past our bedtime 10 more minutes can you make it we're going to make it I'm going to be on my feet in 10 minutes or maybe nine I'll be ready behind the scenes of jet like warriors on camera energy level high off camera they are sitting here like this okay we do have a crowd of people gathered together here now it is uh 2359 February 9th let's see what's going to happen we have no idea so some fireworks is going off here and there around us already oh we have a countdown Happy New Year I think that's it that's it happy New Year that was the countdown there it is hey happy New Year kid happy New Year Happy New Year everybody I have the feeling you're going to have a very special year oh thanks man happy New Year happy New Year thank you thank you thank you and also happy New Year to everyone watching this video absolutely have a good year guys so there is firework going on around us but not no big one firework you know just some small fireworks here and there around us but no Big Show or one main event you know yeah I guess Ivan says maybe most people are at home family time yeah yeah I think it's more like home celebration than being outside here it's also cold it's around 0° so yeah maybe the last minute was a little bit not so big but the whole day was amazing yeah yeah the memory was amazing but it was more about the day and experience than just the last minute also I read before that the Chinese New Year celebration or the Luna New Year celebration is not only one day it goes on for like 2 weeks or so right so it's not everything just happening today it's like an ongoing event so all around us there is firework going on just small fireworks though not big ones just way less than I would have expected to be honest I mean this is the country where firework was invented right so I actually would have expected a huge firework show but as I said earlier we heard that it's banned here actually today wow what a day this was very memorable one of the most random funniest and best days I ever had in my life this day was full of surprises full of nice interactions with the people here so I absolutely love this day I'm very happy that I came to China to witness Chinese New Year in China and if you haven't seen my previous video where I was still in Beijing then feel free to check it out right here stay healthy stay positive happy New Year ciao guys
2024-02-13 23:20
