The celebration of Tet. The Tet celebration has much of the hustle and bustle like that of Christmas in the states. Overnight, photographic backdrops line the busy streets near temples and Pagodas alike. Two stages for free concerts are set up in the city. The one stage has the Vietnamese equivalent of Brittany Spears and Boy bands while the other stage has circus performers and martial arts demonstrations. The martial arts demonstrations usually involve what look like muggings or bullies picking on the little guy. To us the second stage was more entertaining. We never got into teen pop in the US and it did not really appeal to us now. We thought the traditional drummers would be interesting but they were only performing the choreography and not the music itself. After almost being hit by lit sparklers that teens were throwing into the crowd we decided to return to the other stage. The second stage had no seating set up. It was the equivalent of a drive-in theatre. People on motor bikes mixed with people on foot. All watched the show as they patiently waited for the fireworks to start at midnight. Apparently, Vietnamese tradition is to make as much noise as possible at the New Year to allow the gods to return to heaven. Another tradition is to give money in red envelopes to strangers to bring good luck. I got handed a red envelope at one point.
The younger generation of Vietnamese are intrigued by foreigners and actively say hello and try to help you. The older generation look with contempt sometimes. To children the sight of a white man or women is rare. However, during the days of Tet you wouldn't think it. There were so many foreigners from around the world on the streets.
After the fireworks, we were invited back to the hotel to have a drink with the owner of the hotel. Apparently, having foreigners over is a good luck blessing for the New Year. When we went back to the hotel, we met four people from Holland, two from Sweden, two from Norway, and two other Americans. We talked with everyone until 3:30 in the morning at which point I called it quits since I had been up since 6:00 am to try and see a sunrise on Halong Bay that morning.
The next day Hanoi's population seemed to have decreased by 2/3rd's almost. The streets were fairly bare. The exception was around temples and shrines. On our guide's advise, we spent the day wondering the city going to different temples and pagodas. Each one was packed. People were filing in and out burning money and incense. They were saying prayers at the alters and touching the headstones of scholars in the hopes for a prosperous New Year. In many of the temples, the care takers could not remove the new incense fast enough to make room for the next batch.
It was interesting to see the alters to scholars. We walked past the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum but did not go in since the mausoleum was closed. The Mausoleum looked like something out of the former Soviet Union. This was not the only bow we saw to communism as we walked the streets of Hanoi but it is to be expected in a communist country.
The Temple of Literature was interesting. The style of temples is different from that of Korea. The temples seemed more high gloss and more ornate in the stone work than Korean temples which are more ornate in the painted details. Vietnamese temples also seem to use a lot more red lacquer paint in their temples.
The English on many of the signs in the places we visited was limited but sometimes we lucked out and got to listen in on a private guided tour someone was taking. The overwhelming thing that we noticed was the smoke from all the burning. I felt like I had just smoked three packs of cigarettes a day in an hour after leaving some of the shrines. Between the people and the smoke I lost Chris a couple of times but managed to find him just outside the smoke.
Tet really has the feel of Christmas with people going home and to temples to pray much the way Americans go home to family and church to pray. It was an interesting experience to be in Asia for this holiday since we knew so little about it as Americans. It was an interesting experience to be in Asia for Lunar New Year. I would equate it to likely being in Time Square in New York for New Year's Eve in the states.