Tet holidays - Buffalo year

The week before Tet I was really unsure what to do with the time off (which had suddenly expanded because of a decision to close ILA Vung Tau centre a day earlier). Most of the teachers seemed to be leaving Vietnam and the general advice from most who had been here for more than 12 months was to go out of the country. Well, I thought it through as an option but I didn't really want to spend half the time travelling. The dilemma was more whether I would find myself stranded or alone because most businesses close and people travel back to their hometowns - which for a larger proportion of Vietnamese people is the countryside.

Bao had suggested that I come to HCM city. I liked the idea but I still had the same concerns - amplified by being in a hotel rather than at home. In the end though I was persuaded by Bao and Thanh assuring me that they had very few commitments over the holidays. Rather that for them like all Vietnamese the ideal Tet holiday is to have fun and relax.

So I gave up the concerns and instead planned a trip to HCM city. And it has been a fantastic time for me thanks to the generosity of these friends, and Bao's family.

I arrived in HCM city around midday on Friday (3rd last day of the Rat Year) by boat and was straight away whisked away by Bao to have lunch at his family's home in Binh Thanh district. His niece and nephew were particularly excited to see me and spent this and every subsequent visit testing my knowledge of English! They would ask me what something/a colour was. If I got it right they would tell me!! That afternoon Bao and I went shopping for sandals, then met up with Thanh for dinner. Later joined by Hiep (Bao's friend) for coffee.

The next morning Bao was busy with an old friend so Thanh and I took pho for breakfast then walked through the flower market and around the city centre before lunch. In the afternoon Bao and I had our first viewing of the flower show in Nguyen Hue street. That night I was able to catch up with Sharon and Irene, as well as 2 of Sharon's colleagues from the Vietnam Idol production, for dinner. This was their 2nd last night in Vietnam before Sharon returned to Singapore.

Sunday morning brought another invitation to lunch with Bao's family. Because it was the last day of the old year we had a number of special dishes, all delicious. Rest in the afternoon in preparation for a very late night then off to Nguyen Hue street again for the flowers and fireworks. Afterwards Bao, Hiep and I went for huu tieu in Cong Quynh street (at about 1.30am) along with many many other revellers, before crashing at the hotel.

The special event for first day of the Buffalo Year was to accompany Bao and his family to 6 different pagodas around HCM city. There aim is to visit 10 pagodas during Tet. This is also one of the days in the year when they all eat vegetarian food. So the day was spent partly tootling around the city on the back of motor bikes and partly visiting and praying at the pagodas. We started at 2 pagodas close to home but progressively roamed further afield. Here is a selection of photos from the day.













The last pagoda for the day was also the poorest one we visited - one monk with a great sense of humour. One of his stories was about the impracticality of some people. He regularly visits disadvantaged communities in the countryside, and had managed to secure the interest of a celebrity and a TV station in helping a community of blind people. But their proposal was to donate a whole lot of televisions!

On Tuesday (second day) Bao, Thanh and I headed off to Dam Sen water park for some wet fun on the slides. There were some truly scary ones and I have the bumps and bruises to attest for how fast and exciting they were!

On Wednesday (third day) we made a day trip by motor bike to David's home town of My Tho. Here we hired a boat and went out on the Mekong to visit some islands, taste the honey and the fruit, see the coconut candy factory and have lunch. We also got to visit Phoenix Island, which had been the home of a monk known as the Coconut Monk, and who started a sect with a vision for world peace. When David and I did a similar tour 10 years ago Phoenix Island couldn't be visited but there is now a hotel there, as well as an exhibition of photos about the life of the Coconut Monk.

I've included a photo of a bridge that the Sydney-siders reading this blog may think is closer to home! This is the new bridge connecting My Tho and Tien Giang province with Ben Tre province. Yes, it does look like the Anzac Bridge because like a number of bridges in south Vietnam it has been built to the same design. This one has only just opened and is a tourist destination in its own right as we discovered later in the day.

On Thursday I took a minibus back to Vung Tau, the first time that I've used this form of transport between VT and HCM City. It's a lot cheaper and not much slower when you factor out the time you have to wait for a bus load of people to gather (and the time spent establishing precedence in boarding - possible only because tickets are numbered as they are sold each day. There is no such thing as a queue in Vietnam.)

Tet and flowers (the show)

Chuc mung nam moi! It's spring in the year of the buffalo (or ox if you're Chinese). Watermelons of all sizes are for sale everywhere for people to display in their homes - though none quite as these! They are part of the flower show in Nguyen Hue street in HCM City.

The show extends for 3+ city blocks with sections representing the north, centre and south of Vietnam. As a novitiate to Tet in Vietnam the show was quite stunning to my eyes. My more seasoned friends say it has been better in past years, and unfortunately the finanical difficulties of the world have bitten into the budget for the show a bit.

Bao and I joined the crowds late on Saturday afternoon and spent a leisurely time wandering through the displays before it got too dark.

The next evening - last day of the old Rat Year - we came back with Bao's friend Hiep with the intention of claiming a good place to view the midnight fireworks. We also got the chance to see the Lunar New Year lights in Le Loi street before claiming a vantage point around 10pm. The fireworks were pretty, but as an artistic display they didn't compare with Sydney's New Year fireworks.

But it was fun to be in Vietnam on this day. The people watching are very engaged - we all oohed and aahed and applauded in a way that I don't recall experiencing back in Australia. And another big difference is the patience and sense of fun with which everyone waited for 2 hours. Bao asked me whether I thought that Vietnamese people are peaceful - I had to agree. Everyone was good natured and when it was all over people dispersed in the same manner that they manage traffic jams and crushes. It all looks chaotic but somehow the 'dance' works and we all get where we want to! It was one of the events that has made Tet in Vietnam such an enjoyable time for me.

Tet and flowers (the prelude)

The end and beginning of the Lunar Years marks the end of winter and beginning of spring in Vietnam. A couple of weeks ago I went for a bike ride out of Vung Tau on the road towards Ba Ria town and HCM City and noticed some flower farms along the way.

At the time I was just interested in seeing the farm and didn't think much past the fact that obviously the flowers are grown for sale. In the lead up to Tet, though, I started to see flowers for sale in the markets and shops, and remembered then how significant yellow is as a colour for this time of year. Then all the plant nurseries started selling pots of yellow and orange flowers, blossoming fruit trees and cumquat trees for people to decorate their houses.

On the Saturday morning before Tet, Thanh and I went for a walk through the big park in District 1 of HCM City, except it was no longer a park! Now it was the flower market for the central city, selling all manner of flowering plants, potted flowers, bonsai, living curiosities (such as the buffalo in the picture at the top), and some artificial flowers and plants as well. At the time there was still a lot for sale, and we wondered if everything would sell as there was less than 36 hours left before the end of the Lunar Year.

On Sunday night/Monday morning Bao, Hiep and I were walking back to the hotel after watching the fireworks from Nguyen Hue Street. We came past the park - there was nothing left of the flower market!

Friends

so ... this is a short introduction to the great friends I've made over the last 6-8 weeks.

Linh was the first friend I met. He lives in Vung Tau, and has done so far for a very long time, but originally is from Hanoi and spent 5 years studying in Russia.

Separately I met Phil (Phuong) from HCM City and then discovered that he and Linh know each other. So small world #1.

Through Phil I met Bao, who has become my very close friend here in Vung Tau, and through Bao, Thanh. Here is a pic of the three of us on the night that Vietnam beat Singapore in soccer.

Also there is Khoa in HCM City who is a long-time friend of Long back in Australia. And April who is living in Hanoi and working for Unifem - known April for many years now thanks to Long as well.

Mui Ne holiday

Mui Ne is an area that has grown as a holiday spot over the last few years. Now it's a very long stretch of guesthouses and resorts fronting a long beach between Phan Thiet city and Mui Ne fishing village. Properly speaking most of the resorts are not in Mui Ne but in Ham Tien, and there is a huge range in what is available price and facility wise.

Mui Ne is a surfer's beach rather than diving and snorkelling, and nowadays it's the kite surfing that people come for. We ended up staying past the Ham Tien area and Mui Ne village in the original resort area along a second beach. The red sand dunes were just up the road, and an international kite surfing area was down the beach.

David and I spent 2 nights at Nam Chau (5 continents resort) after a hiccup with the travel agent in Saigon (our advice - do not have anything to do with MTV travel. This has now been the experience of my friend Phil as well). Our first night was spent in Phan Thiet city. Ok the beach was opposite the hotel - just the wrong beach!! I think that the stay was long enough. Mui Ne is really a place to come and chill out - but it's not so great for swimming. There is a strong current running across the beach in front of the resort, but the water is warm and so long as you don't go out too far you can still have fun. The weather was great for the kite surfers the first 2 days! On Sunday morning the wind dropped and the sun came out.

This trip also reminded me that travel in Vietnam is exhausting! Motorcycles are still the principal form of transport, and although size is might on Vietnam roads, there is an optimum size for efficiency. Buses and coaches really exceeed it. What is marketed as a 3 hour trip routinely turns out to be 5 hours. One final pic for the record - this is one of the coach company employees. There was no room left for him to sit!

New Year

Yay! After Christmas I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday and then started holidays to coincide with David's visit to Vietnam. Our plan was to meet up in HCM City on 30 December, spend a few days there and then go for a relaxing holiday somewhere (Mui Ne), hopefully with a few days to spare so that David could come to Vung Tau as well.

I took the boat up to HCM City on Monday afternoon and checked into a hotel in the backpackers district on Bui Vien Street (but it wasn't all that nice and so I changed the next day to the hotel I stayed in when I first arrived in Vietnam. $1 US more and 1000% better, for no other reason I can think of except that it is just outside the backpackers district).

That night I discovered that there was music and food in the park across from Pham Ngu Lao. (When David and I visited in 1999 this area was waste ground.) The picture on the left is from a kids show - the one on the right was more traditional music, and included singers floating on the pond in boats.

On 30 December I spent some time exploring HCM City while waiting for David to arrive, and also arranged to meet up with Sharon and Irene for dinner. That night there was a huge storm, flooding the streets, and the planned walk to Le Jardin restaurant became a taxi ride, moving very slowly through the traffic. Afterwards we went to the bar on the 9th floor of the Caravelle Hotel.

Next day we met up with Phil for lunch then headed off to Ngon Restaurant near Reunification Palace for a great meal - here's the fish! Then we walked back to Pham Ngu Lao, experiencing first hand the traffic and the lights. For many people in Vietnam, going out driving on the streets is recreation. It doesn't seem to matter much that everyone else has the same idea, and that as a result you don't get very far!!

Next day we had lunch with Bao, Thanh and Khoa - at Ngon Restaurant again - before getting on the bus to Mui Ne.

Christmas in Vietnam

Christmas is not really a holiday in Vietnam, but it is an event nonetheless. Shops, public spaces, hotels, etc all put up the decorations, and at ILA Vietnam we have a Christmas tree and competitions for the students - design a Christmas card, decorate a cardboard Christmas tree. And Santa came to visit the weekend classes as well. The reindeer on the left are part of the public Christmas display down near Front Beach in Vung Tau. The manger on the right is on display at the Vung Tau Tourist Hotel in Tran Hung Dao street.

On the other hand Christmas Day is not a national holiday. For ILA Vietnam we get the day off but officially it's an unpaid day, as is Christmas Eve when we close at 5pm (and hence no classes that day in 2008 because it was a Wednesday).

I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in HCM City, but then had to come back in the afternoon because I was covering for another teacher on 26 December. I stayed with a Vietnamese friend Phil (Phuong) who lives in a great apartment in District 7, a new town area of HCM City.

Then had Christmas lunch with Singaporean friends Sharon and Irene, and Sharon's mother Jane. Sharon is producing Vietnam Idol and has been here since July 2008. But what with our crazy schedules this was the first time we got to meet up.

We met up at Villa de Romaine which is a restaurant and boutique hotel on the Saigon River in the Thao Dien area of District 2. It serves Italian food but there are also a whole host of other pavilions next door serving a range of cuisines - Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese. It was a very pleasant - though very un-Christmassy - place to be, even when we got one of the unseasonal but frequent Saigon rain showers part way through our dessert! (Unfortunately this is a terrible photo of me!)