HAPPY NEW YEAR!

from Diana and myself,

 during the day we popped over to the market,

 Diana wanted to buy some fruit to make a bowl of it for a Filipino New Year tradition,

 but in the evening we were out for the New Year celebrations,

 Diana wearing one of her Christmas dresses,

 in Walking Street all of the lights were on,

 the street a blaze of colour,

 the Sea Zone sign amongst the best displays,

 the big screen as you go into Walking Street was now working,

 we were going to walk along Beach Road to look at the many stalls that had been set up, but it had not been closed off to traffic, it was so packed with people and cars it was dangerous, so we gave up and returned to the street,

 which also was packed,

 we were almost swept along with the crowd even though it was only 09.00 in the evening, there were so many people there,

 we eventually made it to the Bali Hai area, where party goers were lighting paper hot air balloons on the beach,

the problem being it was a bit windy, this one ended up in the trees!

 the beach itself was quite crowded as well,

 as was the pier, which it has to be said is a great place to watch the fireworks,

 but we decided to find a seat and were lucky when we called into the bar that we normally sit at when we return from the coral island, we found a table and chairs that were unoccupied,

 'Cheer's!',

 all night long hot air balloons were going past the moon,

 or was it an alien spacecraft?

 Diana felt a little peckish, so she returned with some durian flavoured ice cream,

 with some bar-b-q pork to follow,

 delicious!

 there had been fireworks going off all night,

  but shortly before midnight the big displays started,

 I am not sure who put on what,

 but I am guessing each beach front hotel put on a display, plus some from City Hall, then the lights went out, which they were not supposed to do,

 just as the display from Bali Hai started,

 it made the displays so much nicer, 

 at first I thought it was on purpose, 

 but later it was proved not to be the case,

 but on with the fireworks, they were magnificent,

 the show seemed to be never ending,

 each new one better than the last,

 as the sky lit up, then it was over, 2013 had begun,

 there were still hot air balloons being sent sky wards,

 as we made our way under the Walking Street arch, but it was dangerous going, no street lights and the crowd was crushing, twice we manged to get off the street and get our breath back, 

the only lights were from hotels that had their own generators, but we made it to one of the streets that led up to Second Road when not 30 meters away a transformer lit up the night sky as it bust into thousands of electrical sparks with a huge explosion, the hundreds of people around us jumped with fright, after fighting our way through a bottle neck, the road had been blocked by parked motorbikes so the whole street funnelled down to a space only two people at a time could get through, we made it to the motorbike taxi stand, Diana vowing never again, the walk back was that bad, but then home feet up and watch a movie,

 and time for Diana to make her bowl of fruit to welcome in 2013,

in the afternoon we watched Jurassic Park, The Lost World, even though we had watched it before some time ago still a great film, aimed at kids we both really enjoyed it,

also aimed at kids so a sure fire hit with us was the Back to the Future trilogy, we watched the first one when we returned from the fireworks display, it was the first time I had watched it all the way through, I think the same for Diana, I always seem to catch some of it as I am just going out, but it was great fun, when it had finished it was early morning so for us we were off to bed.