Chinese New Year 2012 ~ Las Vegas Celebrates

Las Vegas enjoys celebrating Chinese New Year every year, as one of the five different annual celebrations in the Conservatory Botanical Gardens at the Bellagio Hotel, and this year is especially creative and colorful. While at the Conservatory at the Bellagio Hotel, we couldn't help but notice that tourists this year especially seem to love the Chinese New Year display.

Little kids on Dad's shoulder's were especially thrilled by the HUGE dragons with "smoke" (more like steam, similar to that from a humidifier) coming out of the dragon's nostrils, and the larger than life coins, along with some very large "children" made almost completely from flowers! It's an exciting and thrilling display, and anyone who is in Las Vegas in the month of January will get a real treat if they go to see the Chinese New Year's display at the Bellagio Conservatory Botanical Gardens.

One of the neatest displays is a "river" that runs through the middle of the scene, it's the first thing one sees when entering the conservatory, and if you look closely, you will see a beautifully colored array of Koi fish! Whenever a visitor throws a coin into the "river," the Koi fish swim to try to "catch" it. I, for one, hope they don't swallow the coins! It was fascinating to watch these beautiful fish.

Probably the display that fascinated me the most was the beautiful Koi fish swimming around, oblivious to all the chaos around them, such pretty colored fish! Koi fish have been around for centuries, and the ones we see today are ancestors from several centuries of breeding between Asian Carp and German Carp. These fish are toothless, and have soft mouths. The things they eat are pretty neat though, did you know that Koi fish will eat cheerios? Me neither! But they WILL!

Their diet usually is carp pellets, or trout chow or catfish chow. They have been known, however, to eat "human" food such as spinach, peas, and yes, cheerios! They also like fresh shrimp and earthworms. And as a special treat? They like to eat WATERMELON! What I want to know is... do they have watermelon seed spittin' competitions? Koi fish have very mellow dispositions, and being toothless, they are harmless to other fish that exist in the same environment. They come in gorgeous colors, from oranges, yellows and red to a shade of lavender, greens, blues and even black. Koi fish thrive especially well in temperate climates, like the climate of California.

This Chinese New Year display will be at the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Gardens until March 4th. Then they will begin to feature a Spring display. The display is changed five times a year, There is one for Christmas, Chinese New Year, Spring, Summer and Fall.

In addition to the beautiful colors on display at the Bellagio Conservatory this time of year, there are also wonderful smells abounding. As you enter the area, there is incense burning, giving off some nice scents, as well as adding a feeling of warmth to the display. The display is created with the help of experts in "Feng Shui."

Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art over 3,000 years old. Feng meaning "wind" and Shui meaning "water," these are thought to be two of the elements that when used properly, will bring good health and good fortune to all that enter the space. Experts in Feng Shui were called in to help with the decorations, using such materials as lucky bamboo and oranges. We saw some beautiful orange trees there, with tiny little oranges on them, they were so pretty we weren't sure at first if they were even real, but they were!

The dragons featured are all different colors, each color representing an element. The five elements they represent are fire, earth, wood, metal and water. For the first time at the Bellagio Conservatory, they will have a special live music feature. We were lucky enough to see it on a Sunday night, the music is played between 5 and 6 pm. There was quite a crowd there, everyone from little one's on Dad's shoulder's to elderly, everyone was enjoying the traditional Chinese music. The musician we saw played a guitar like instrument and some drums.

A few days earlier, we had visited the Palazzo hotel, right next to the Venetian on the strip, and they have a Chinese New Year display as well. They feature a long, red and gold dragon that breathes real fire. This dragon is on display in the atrium of The Shoppes At Palazzo. It weighs 8,000 pounds, is 128 feet long, and is surrounded by important Feng Shui elements similar to those at the Bellagio.

You'll see water elements of Feng Shui in a red and gold bridge over a stream with live Koi fish, along with metal coins, bamboo trees and pretty ficus trees. And if you look just to the west of the dragon in the Palazzo's display, you will see the dragon's "secret friend" a rooster! It is said that the dragon and rooster are friends and that the two zodiac signs are compatible, and bring viewers wealth and good fortune.

The fire breathing was something we didn't see the dragon do, they just began to feature that on January 23rd, and that will be done through February 5th at 1 pm and 5 pm daily. Other hotels on the strip in Las Vegas are getting into the spirit of Chinese New Year as well, featuring both dragon dancing, and traditional Chinese "lion dancing" at various times and dates throughout the Chinese New Year week, January 23rd through the 28th.

Las Vegas and the colorful, musical and artistic Chinese New Year celebration just seem to go hand in hand. It is estimated that thousands of additional visitors are drawn to the Las Vegas strip this time of year, much of that due to the draw of the Chinese New Year celebration.

So, if you are lucky enough to be in Las Vegas during the Chinese New Year, take a stroll up and down the strip here, you'll be amazed at the color and energy of these popular display's for the Chinese New Year. Las Vegas knows how to do it up right! And when you see other visitor's that week, be sure to wish them a Happy Chinese New Year, by telling them "Gung Hay Fat Choy."