It’s beginning to look a lot like Tet
Yesterday I met a mate for coffee and he relayed his weekend.
The day before he’d been out in Hanoi with his family, when one of a bunch of kids messing around on motorbikes couldn’t stop and hit a tree – injuring their face.
While I guess there was some gallantry in hitting the tree and not my friend’s family, his normally calm wife was still understandably furious and went ballistic.
He then told me of a friend, who was out for a Sunday morning bike ride, when a motorbike came out of nowhere and hit him side on.
His wife told my mate that she had never seen him lose his temper and, to the best of her previous knowledge, physical violence was something he wasn’t capable of. Nonetheless, he stood up, dusted himself off, and decked the guy.
Other reports include fist fights on the streets and while I try to be a Zen-like as I can, I will admit to raising my voice a couple of times recently. Face well and truly lost.
Elsewhere everyone is chasing extra cash. Bizarrely I just saw my apartment advertised on the internet at $200 a month more than I pay. I’ve decided that ignoring it is far easier than trying to seek an explanation from the landlord.
More worryingly, while normally there are few places safer to live than Vietnam, a friend recently woke up to see a burglar holding his camera. He fled. Remarkably, however, the Police found the villain and returned the camera.
Or at least, if I understand his Facebook updates correctly, they returned it once they had used the camera to record a number of other crime scenes as it was better than the one they had.
The reason for all this?
Tet is almost upon us and while, nearer the big day, Hanoi becomes a ghost town, now is a time of utter and increasing madness.
Once the festive season starts we’ve booked a ten-day escape to Thailand. Hanoi is home but sometimes a Thai island can be the perfect antidote.
However, there’s still ten days to go.
I’m going to stay in doors.
Oy!
We are bound and determined to spend at least one Tet-time in Viet Nam…Just once
Good luck the next 10 days and enjoy your escape! Sounds lovely.
I’m heading to Hanoi tomorrow or the next day and am a little nervous about Tet (never experienced it before). Do you think staying in Hanoi is okay, or should I flee? Am unsure what to expect. I just want to eat as much as possible, basically.
Lina,
The good news is that Hanoi is actually quite nice over Tet. I mean the weather is traditionally horrible (wet and cold – however maybe the current heat wave will hold – it’s been gorgeous but worryingly so because it should be cold) but once everyone heads to countryside homes or stays in doors you can stroll around the streets and enjoy them in relative peace or quiet.
It’s rather peaceful and people say it transforms the streets to how they were decades earlier.
Yes you should book a hotel in advance and book any transp0rt asap too.
However…eating street food might be tough. I just had a chat with my girlfriend (she runs a cafe http://www.thecartfood.com) and she’s a Hanoian and her take on it is that there won’t be much open. She’s closing from Feb 12th ot Feb 22nd and that will be standard.
You may find the occasional Pho place open but it’ll be much more expensive and it might not be the best place to eat at.
That said – there will undoubtedly be more tourist orientated places open so you won’t starve but, streetfoodwise it may be slim pickings.
By all accounts hotel rooms and transport are booking up fast. So if you do decide to get out of Hanoi then make your mind up quickly. If you were the average tourist I’d suggest Hoi An as a place that is more in tune with tourists at Tet.
But, as ever, that would just mean that more tourist places were open. Personally I’d stay here – enjoy the novelty of being here over Tet and go to the lake and enjoy the fireworks and and madness at midnight on the 13th/14th and have a blast.
You may have to hunt out some streetfood but the hunting might be fun.
One tourist place that I know, for sure, is opening is Le Pub. You’ll get a drink there and it faces onto the street so you can watch the world go by. Their food is decent but streetfood it ain’t.
By the way I came across your blog a few days back…excellent work.
Ah, I just saw this! I thought I had subscribed, but I guess I hadn’t. Thanks so much for all of the info.
I actually couldn’t get a train to Hanoi because they were all full so ended up in Hoi An. I am not sure if I will hunker down here or try and get out of town. Flights are still up and running so I might just do that.
I’m now thinking of maybe leaving the country and coming back to see northern Vietnam after it’s over. I’m feeling very indecisive at the moment and can’t decide if I should hit Hanoi at all. Is there enough food to keep me going?
Nice caption! Oh, and congrats on your engagement!