Sheer Lunar-cy: Tet in Ho Chi Minh City Part 2
Chuc
Mung Nam Moi!
A happy Lunar New Year to you, dear reader! Apologies for this disgracefully belated greeting and lack of chronicles since my first Sheer Lunar-cy Tet chronicle, which of course, you've already read - if not, click here ! But this Empress has been busy, busy, busy ...... away over the Vietnamese Tet Lunar holidays.
Yes, that’s right. A current resident of Saigon, Post-Tet I should now be regaling you my anecdotes and experiences about yet another Vietnamese Lunar New Year and all the festivities that go with it. About the grand New Year’s Eve celebrations in downtown Saigon, the jam-packed streets clogged with motorbikes, the staged concerts with live performances by Vina pop stars, attended by massive local crowds and the obligatory 15-minute midnight firework displays.
About the celebrated Nguyen Hue Flower Street, which every year opens just before Tet and runs for around seven days into the new lunar year. Since 2004, city officials have spent vast sums of money transforming the central pedestrian zone of Nguyen Hue boulevard into one massive flower festival for public viewing. That is, if there is anyone left in town to view them.
But apparently there is: in fact, this Saigon tradition of a flower show with annually changing themes draws tens of thousands of visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays. Nguyen Hue’s flower street has developed as the city’s iconic cultural symbol in the spring, besides a massive tourism event for city dwellers and international visitors. But I missed it. And apparently, also during the official Tet holiday (roughly a week but in many cases, more), I didn’t experience the much quieter streets, blissfully devoid of traffic and beeping horns, due to so many local folk buzzing off. With few workers around and industries shut down, the air is far cleaner and clearer. And it’s a sure bet there wasn’t much construction work going on, wailing karaoke sounds, blaring street hawkers and home workshops undertaking soldering and banging work at all hours.
But apparently there is: in fact, this Saigon tradition of a flower show with annually changing themes draws tens of thousands of visitors during the Lunar New Year holidays. Nguyen Hue’s flower street has developed as the city’s iconic cultural symbol in the spring, besides a massive tourism event for city dwellers and international visitors. But I missed it. And apparently, also during the official Tet holiday (roughly a week but in many cases, more), I didn’t experience the much quieter streets, blissfully devoid of traffic and beeping horns, due to so many local folk buzzing off. With few workers around and industries shut down, the air is far cleaner and clearer. And it’s a sure bet there wasn’t much construction work going on, wailing karaoke sounds, blaring street hawkers and home workshops undertaking soldering and banging work at all hours.
back then, Tet in Hanoi was (and probably still is) a far more traditional, all-consuming affair compared to its more modern, cosmopolitan and freewheeling counterpart down south.
For the adventurous, first-time traveller or culturally-obsessed, Tet was (and probably still is) a fascinating time to be in Hanoi. Days, nay weeks, building up to Tet were quirky, chaotic and steeped in traditions – including locals running around like headless chickens in preparation for Tet and kumquat trees strapped to motorbikes whizzing through town.
The madness culminated in New Year’s Eve itself with the city streets crammed with locals hell-bent on celebrating and watching the outdoor concerts and midnight fireworks.
But after that crazy flurry of activity, in complete contrast, things went eerily quiet in Hanoi for the first few days of the Lunar New Year. The entire city seemed to be on lockdown, a ghost town with hardly a soul to be seen. Offices, governmental departments, services, businesses, shops and restaurants, were all shut over this period – sometimes for two weeks – as workers made the annual pilgrimage home to the countryside. Hanoians remained holed-up at home for days with family and friends feasting on never-ending meals (a bit like Christmas).
They would only surface for air when venturing out for temple worship and the countless spring and religious festivals and ceremonies during the first few weeks of Tet.
If you were lucky enough, Hanoi families invited foreigners into their homes over Tet (not to be sniffed at, as Hanoi home cooking is stuff of legends) and join-in with the family celebrations. And once again, this was a wonderful rare time where the streets were devoid of traffic. What bliss to ride my pushbike through the deserted, quiet streets and be spared beeping horns for a few days. But for the more jaded expats and this Empress, Tet in Hanoi was generally one big yawn with not much to do and another cultural difference we just didn’t get.
Tet became one great international mass exodus outbound of Hanoi. Expats bumped into each other at the departure terminal at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, the majority heading off to Bangkok (where I would always spot the odd expat on Sukhumvit Road), the rest of Thailand, Laos, Bali , Goa, etc, or back home.
Fast forward to this year in Saigon and the Lunar Year of the Pig........
The madness culminated in New Year’s Eve itself with the city streets crammed with locals hell-bent on celebrating and watching the outdoor concerts and midnight fireworks.
They would only surface for air when venturing out for temple worship and the countless spring and religious festivals and ceremonies during the first few weeks of Tet.
If you were lucky enough, Hanoi families invited foreigners into their homes over Tet (not to be sniffed at, as Hanoi home cooking is stuff of legends) and join-in with the family celebrations. And once again, this was a wonderful rare time where the streets were devoid of traffic. What bliss to ride my pushbike through the deserted, quiet streets and be spared beeping horns for a few days. But for the more jaded expats and this Empress, Tet in Hanoi was generally one big yawn with not much to do and another cultural difference we just didn’t get.
After New Year’s Eve, it all fell rather flat. Everyone I knew – work colleagues and international friends – had left the building, literally and locals were locked indoors, so there was scant company, nay life, around for days. With supermarkets, most restaurants and services closed, there were few places to eat and get supplies; I remember stock piling food to survive for days just as a precaution – almost like the end of civilisation.
You couldn’t venture out on little day trips as transport services were severely curtailed and besides, at this time of year in the north, it could invariably get bone-chillingly cold and temperatures plummeted. And let’s not forget as a single woman with no children, I was deemed highly unlucky should I be the first person to enter local households after midnight on the first day of the New Year. So, I was scared to go out and literally darken someone’s doorstep, bringing them bad luck for the entire year!
Having experienced one Tet in Hanoi, I, like many ex-pats, vowed never to go through it again. If you’re not inclined in the Tet mindset and festivities and your work place is closed, etc, Tet is the perfect time to take annual leave. Except if you didn’t book your airline tickets well in advance beforehand, you couldn’t. During these years, every expat “got the hell out of there,” on a frantic exit strategy – or “the Great Escape.” Weeks before Tet, there was an almighty scramble for the last remaining international airline tickets. One year, I swear one sales staff at an airline office proudly informed me that I had literally purchased “the last ticket out of Hanoi.”
Tet became one great international mass exodus outbound of Hanoi. Expats bumped into each other at the departure terminal at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, the majority heading off to Bangkok (where I would always spot the odd expat on Sukhumvit Road), the rest of Thailand, Laos, Bali , Goa, etc, or back home.
Tet here is nowadays not as all-encompassing, manic and traditionally-inclined, more things stay open and operational and locals tend to be out and about more. But hey, old habits die hard. Yet again, I secured “the last ticket out of town” – this time weeks in advance to be doubly sure. Not even a lack of beeping horns, construction work and traffic, combined with tropical blue skies and that lovely flower festival, could entice me to stay here over Tet!
Can't get enough of the Jade(d) Empress Lunar New Year chronicles? Well, click here for Sheer Lunar-cy ...... in Singapore !
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