The Jaded Empress Chronicles

  Chuc Mung Nam Moi!   (Happy Lunar New Year in Vietnamese), I hope this new Year of the Ox or Buffalo finds you well (and is turning out a good deal better than the aptly-named, Year of the Rat of 2020. ) Apologies,  it's been months since I last wrote, but life - and er, a global pandemic - sure gets in the way of my fabulous chronicles. Yes, I'm still here in my beloved Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC AKA Saigon), surely one of the best places on the planet to be holed-up during a  pandemic... as this chronicle will even more testify.  I've actually been very busy, much of which, celebrating Tet,  Vietnam's Lunar New Year, in the  months of January and February . What is Tet, exactly? Well, no doubt you've already read my two  chronicles on the subject,   Part 1   here  and Part 2  here ,  which explains a lot,  as Tet is quite the long-winded affair.  But if not and to recap quickly, in a (long) nutshell:  Tet Nguyen Dan, shortened to ‘Tet,’  is Vietnam's  Lunar New