The Coming of Spring

In Vietnam, the biggest and probably most important holiday of the year is Tết Nguyên Đán, otherwise known simply as Tết. This year I finally had the chance to experience Tết in Vietnam. It's worth mentioning that although I've celebrated Tết in the U.S., this was the first time I didn't celebrate it by just memorizing meaningless Vietnamese phrases to recite to relatives for "lucky" money. I can say without much doubt that celebrating Tết in Vietnam was the most interesting experience I've had here. Already I'm looking forward to next year's celebration!

The holiday started for me with Phan Tay Ho middle school. A week before Tết, the school held a Spring Festival for the students. Each class was asked to bring flowers for decoration, and you can see some of them gathered here in this picture. It was a beautiful sight to see so many plants around the school.

While classes were in session, a competition was held in the main quad area to decorate "hoa mai" trees. Each of the blossoms on this tree in this picture were tied on by the students of various classes. 

During the Spring Festival, students from many of the classes put together skits and dances for a show on the main stage. This is a picture of one of my 8th grade classes recreating a historic battle between one of Vietnam's kings and the Chinese. The student that played the Chinese character actually got a little hurt during the recital. I guess the kid playing the King took his role seriously.

Much of the city was also decorated for Tết, to varying degrees. Since I had time off, I had the chance to venture down to District 7 and see the decorations in the Phú Mỹ Hưng area. In the background, there are lotus flowers made of cloth floating on the river. In the foreground, there are boats laden with fruits,  as well as flower baskets on stilts. 

The head of the English department at Phan Chu Trinh primary school invited the ILA teachers and TAs to her house to visit for Tết. Although it ended up being only me and three TAs, we had a good time and I got to see how a family prepares for Tết together. This picture is of a huge pot where bánh chưng was being cooked. The whole process of preparing the sticky rice, wrapping it, and cooking it takes more than 24 hours! Besides this, we also got to drink homemade rice wine. I'm not much of a liquor person, but I'll admit it was good and I got a little drunk.

The closer Tết approached, the busier the city became. A few days before Tết , I headed out to the famous Hồ Thị Kỷ flower market with my friend, his mom, and his aunt. The place was absolutely packed! They even converted a nearby primary school into a small flower market.

This is a rather large hoa đào tree in front of the Diamond Plaza shopping mall. This picture doesn't do justice to how beautiful it was to see all the lanterns and lucky envelopes swaying gently in the breeze. 

Every year, the city decorates Nguyễn Huệ Street in District 1 and it becomes the Flower Street for a few nights. The theme is always set as the corresponding animal on the lunar calendar, thus this year's theme was horses. This picture is of the decorated clock in the center of the street which shows various time zones and Vietnam lit up in yellow lights instead of green. 

Some of the richer businesses (read: luxury hotels) displayed art along the flower street. Although they were beautiful, the businesses, of course, wasted no opportunities to advertise, and I felt that detracted from the art a bit.

An example of some of the horse-themed art. Despite the fabulous displays, I was told this year was not as good as previous years. 

As with a previous photo I shared on this blog, the focus of this picture is not in what you can see, but of what you can't. I took this picture directly in front of the Independence Palace looking straight down one of the busiest streets in Ho Chi Minh City. During Tết, the streets looks like a scene right out of 28 Days Later.

Another picture taken on the first day of Tết. I took this photo in front of the famous Bến Thành market. For this one day, District 1 was a calm, enjoyable place to drive around.

I just had to add this one. On the night of the first day of Tết, I hung out with my friend and we drank milk tea near the park. Apparently the businesses that stay open on this day charge a special "Tết tax" on its customers. It's not written properly, but the tax shows up on the second to last line on the receipt. A whopping 20%!