Tet far from offensive

The fabled tree on a bike

Bizarre Vietnamese moment #932:

Leading the conga through the crowds around Hoan Kiem Lake, half an hour into the year of the rooster.

Whenever I told other ex-pats that I was planning to stay in Hanoi for Tet, you could see them exchange glances. Between the traditional sticky rice with pork fat (truly rank) and the demands for lucky money, most figured it was a good time to be out of the country.

But I stuck around. Have to say I’m glad I did.

Because last night we made it through the crowds to take up a vantage point by the lake. Actually it was only about 20 metres from the fireworks launch site. It was fun.

For half an hour they peppered the skies with rockets and the smoke didn’t have time to clear before another half dozen sets of exploding lights colured the skies.

And it’s nice to do Vietnamese things. It’s great to have two New Years to celebrate. It makes me grin like an idiot to be in a big crowd of oohing and aahing locals.

Grinning like a fool

Then, when the final crescendo signalled the end of the display we started to make our way to the pub. The roads were chocka in every direction. But as ever, it was patient, friendly and we were moving – albeit slowly. We saw a couple of congas going the other way and thought perhaps that was a way to force our way through.

Barely had I voiced the legendary sounds of “da DA da Da da DA DAH!” then suddenly I had Vietnamese people grabbing me by the waist. I think they thought a 16 stone Brit, with newly shaved head looked menacing enough to force his way through. In the meantime they would have the advantage of following in my slipstream. So all of a sudden I looked back to see there was a snake of people following me. Even when the dancing stopped and we hit solid crowd again they clung on.

Then strangely, as we came to a fork in the road – they departed, thanking me, as you might a bus driver. In between there were many chuc mung nam mois (happy new years) and a good few oi troi ois (oh my gods). But everyone in the crush was in good spirits.

We wound our way back to GCs bar (always good for late night drinking and music) and had a few more before giving in to tiredness.

Another great night. And a whole lot of fun.

On Friday, many of the KOTO kids who have been home to families in the countryside, are returning for a trip. So we’re going to Halong Bay for the day. I’ve decided it’s well worth the macho points on offer to go swimming off the boat. I mean – it’s winter but not as we know it.

Actually the weather has taken a turn for the weird. The cold that kicked in at Christmas has now temporarily gone. After wearing all the clothes I owned and still feeling cold – I’m back to t-shirts again.

The only downside is that the humidity has risen and so has the amount of rain. Everything feels damp right now. You can’t get clothes dry and our stone floors have pools of water on them. The sofa is like a sponge and even my bed feels wet. Not pleasant.

Happy year of the rooster folks.