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TET
The celibratation of the lunar new year in Vietnam is known as TET. The date conicides with the chinese new year and the population of the country winds down for four days during the holiday. We first realised that TET was round the corner when we were still in sunny Laos, the prospect of welcoming the new year in with the locals in the capital city was too much to resist. More fool us...
We found out on landing that it is widly regarded at the worst time to visit the capital as the country effectively shuts down for the holiday; shops, museums and most places of interest included. Despite this we found a resturant and a nice bar to whittle away the hours untill the countdown. Unfortunately drinking and conversation got the better of us all and we missed the countdown, however on hearing the first of the fireworks we rushed outside joined by the rest of the city, to watch the remaining, spectacular twenty minutes. The atmosphere was brilliant and everyone was in good spirits!
THe Vietnamese believe that when something is burt the smoke carries the item to dead relatives, during TET it is a regular site to see groups or individuals burning (fake)money, food and trinkets in the street (we saw one man pooring whiskey onto his) to be delivered to their lost loved ones. This is an amazing sight and a wonderful sentiment.
The following day, the streets were littered with glitter, sunflower seeds and burnt dollar notes but without the usual bustle. The Vietnamese spend the holiday indoors with family and drink a healthy amount of rice wine. Hanoi still limps on with the streets deserted and the street food charged at double the price however as we found out in Cat Ba - smaller towns are deserted with little to do and transport links very hard to come by (see adventures in Cat Ba)....
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