Tet!

Tet is Vietnamese new year, falling in the same day as Chinese new year (lunar calendar).  During Tet, Vietnamese flock to their hometowns for 4 days of family festivities. This means travel is a packed and expensive, and cities like ho chi Minh, where people flock for work, are empty and closed. It also means you might happen upon local celebrations!

I got to Ho Chi Minh city in time for a lovely dinner with Phong, a long-time work colleague home for Tet. He introduced me to some local delicacies including BBQ deer, quail and quail eggs, though sadly not to baby pig as they were withholding pigs for Tet. After Phong headed out of town, Alex arrived, and we went shopping! I bought some "Nike" gym shorts at one of many fake/real stalls, and Alex found the perfect linen pants. It amused him endlessly to watch me attempt to find linen pants in size 6, then 10, then XL..."wait I have bigger!" I think it's fare to say these pants made my fat ass look like exactly that! :(

On new year's eve Monica joined us, and the three of us headed out after our street pho and 12000 dong beer for the fireworks at the river. Man, every young local had this idea, and streets were packed! We found a plot of asphalt and soon were befriended by some local students wanting to practice their English. We sat with them, taking about Tet and tradition until fireworks filled the skies! Happy New year!

About ten minutes after the fireworks ended, scooters filled the pedestrian-heavy streets, and all was back to the normal mayhem. 2 scooters from opposite directions attempted to squeeze around me, Argh!  Damn beeping, entitlist scooter culture!

The next day I headed to Hoi An, where an evening stroll by the river led me to ornate lantern displays, candles on the water, locals playing carnival games and watching outdoor theater, and a dancing competition featuring American pop songs and conservative attempts at sexy dancing by local teens.  Hoi An, being a destination for locals from Danang and also a crafty, historic place designed to help vacationers empty their pockets on cards, paintings, and tailored clothes (guilty x 3), really seemed to buzz, and I was glad to be there during the fanfare of Tet.  All night photos were taken with my camera, so sadly nothing for the blog, but I give you...Tet flowers and my new shorts!

The remainder of Tet was spent by the pool of my awesome hostel and on trips to the beach.  The latter by bike and then moto as a pair of kiwis, Nick and Geoff (fine upstanding gentlemen), offered to teach some of the hostel kids how to ride. :)

I'm now on a beautiful mountain road overlooking ocean and rice fields on the way north to Hue.  These are the first mountains I've seen in a month!