Happy New Year!! My second in 2 months. Bye bye monkey and hello mr Rooster!
How we celebrated...
Arrived in Hanoi on NYE (8th Feb) to be greeted with the mad rush of vietnamese people buying their kumquat trees - mostly seeing these christmas tree size trees on backs of motorbikes, pink flower branches (yellow in the south) and food, sweets and toys to give away. It was exciting...everyone preparing for Tet, the biggest (and for lots of people here the only) holiday of the year. Walking around Hoan Kiem lake admiring the lights in the trees and people setting up giant roosters (along with santa claus and a couple of reindeer and orange trees decorated with fairy lights and tinsel) so people could have their pictures taken with them. Also noticed lots of old vietnamese guys in berets sat by the lake, reflecting on the year gone by, perhaps. And on either side of the lake - military police occupied a section surrounded by some fierce looking barbed wire to protect the canons for the fireworks (or protect the people from silly people trying to get to the canons for the fireworks) - I've never seen such well protected fireworks!
Celebrations really began around the lake in the old quarter where two big stages where set up and huge crowds of vietnamese (and the odd tourist) gathered around to watch acrobatics, comedy martial arts and very cheesy pop stars strut their stuff. We met a lovely vietnamese guy named Pearl who explained to us what was happening and drank beer (fast - someone told us we weren't actually allowed to drink it on the streets) to while shouting 'chuc mung nam moi' to people around us. And loads of teenagers on holiday from school on morotbikes with bleached spikey hair and England sports jackets on! It was so funny to watch, this new generation of vietnamese aren't interested in the beret, it's like some mad retro world, kinda mod amd kinda rebel without a cause.
By the end of the show, thousands of people must have been on the streets and around the lake. All trying to find the best position to see the most sky, eating pop corn, dried squid and watermelon amongst other things. And at midnight...the most spectacular fireworks lit up the sky! Everyone oohing and aahing at every bang. God, my neck ached...but it was worth it. They were beautiful!
On the walk back it was so sweet to see lots of people holding flowers and plants, lots holding hands and everyone happy. Kids still revving their motorbikes - they couldn't get very far, there were so many on the street! Also lots of people outside their homes burning offerings forthe new year...mostly coloured paper and money (photocopied dong and dollars)
Tet lasts for three days and the funniest (and lovliest) thing to see are all these vietnamese on their motorbikes and scooters - dressed in their best clothes, men in suits and berets and hats, women in ao dais, little boys in corduroy, denim or tweed suits and little girls either in an ao dai or - and we've seen lots of them in these - pvc ra-ra skirts and cowboy boots. How much do they rock?!! All of them out and about celebrating the holiday by seeing friends and family, eating ice cream and justhaving a good time!
Cam on!! Has been fab to share this new (lunar - I love it!) year with you ;o)
1 comment:
Wow! You are definitly having the times of your lives as per your piccies...Also to arrive in time for their New Year must have been a fantastic experience. So how long will you be in Vietnam and what are the other places of interests!
Annette xx
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