Charmed by the Intercon Kitchen Gods

I was rather charmed by this little scene outside the back gates of the Hanoi Intercontinental Hotel this evening.

If I hadn’t been reminded of the Kitchen Gods earlier I might have passed by without giving it a thought.

But it appears the hotel’s chefs were taking a quick break to burn their offerings, sending the Kitchen Gods skywards with reports of their activities for the Jade Emperor ahead of the lunar new year.

I was writing recently of plans to gentrify the Old Quarter. I argued that for better or worse there are still large parts of Hanoi that are “real’. In trying to appease tourists you’d lose the very things that make Hanoi special.

This wasn’t a show for customers – though sadly I bet one day it will be.