Tet continued

Happy lunar new year from the Pepsi garden in Ho Chi Minh City!

Peach blossoms- In the North the streets are emblazoned with images of pale pink peach blossoms whereas in the South a vibrant yellow is favoured. I love these since they brighten up the streets immensely during the dull season in Hanoi (this is coming from someone who is convinced they suffer from SAD , seasonally affected disorder, since I'm always so much happier when it's summer). Peach blossoms are associated with two Gods who lived in a Peach tree and protected against evil spirits.

 Peaches bring Good fortune and prosperity.

Square rice cakes  are supposed to bring good harvest which is especially important for a country dependent on the growth of rice (the number one export). The leaves which is wrapped in have to be cleaned and smoked and the whole preparation process is very important.

The marketplace is a social hub for all those buying flowers and food for the Tet week when people relax and shops close. The house has to be cleaned and tidied for the relatives coming to visit so the roads are jam-packed  with weary babies hanging precariously onto motorbike drivers. People explode giant tubes filled with glitter, and red a royal colour is everywhere.

This exhausted man was sleeping amongst the dragon and costumes on the pavement outside our hotel after the previous night spent dragon dancing.

Tet

Tet is the biggest event in the whole of Vietnam, lunar new year, and if you thought the streets were bustling with life before now they are so crowded you can hardly move. Today I flew down to Ho Chi Minh City not really escaping the madness but adding some heat to my holidays. On the plane people were bringing HUGE boxes of food and flowers and even giant branches for Tet celebrations. Here is a list of things which define Tet for me:

1. The song Tết tết tết tết đến rồi... it basically means the new year has arrived but it could be used to torture prisoners that is how annoying it is (that is until you learn the words and can sing along).

Here's the song for you, the good part is 1 minute in :)

2. Tet trees which are either cumquat trees - basically mini inedible oranges. Apparently they spray them to be all the same size and you aren't supposed to eat them because of toxic chemicals but my dad always plucks them off the trees and stuffs them in his mouth and he's still fine. Here's the trees trips home:

3. People take lucky money in Red envelopes for their hairdressers, friends and colleagues.

Continued later!

Art

If you walk down art street all the pictures are much of a muchness, there are bubble trees in bright colours, portraits and copies of famous works - like starry night (probably not good enough for an art heist but good enough to be able to recognize them). Although these pictures aren't very original here people back home have never seen anything like them before.

You can take a photograph of any picture or yourself to an artist and they will paint you that image for a reasonable price. Here's some pictures I took down art street:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is feeling rested enough now to return back to the workload which is right around the corner - tomorrow morning in my case BOOHOO (can you hear my crying).

I loved spending time with my family and friends over Christmas and I ate soooo much English food. One of the main things I noticed was the lack of rice: in 3 weeks I didn't eat any, just bread and potato.  Here's a picture of me and my cousin with my dad trying to leap in but just missing out.

Skiing in France for the first time was also really fun, and by the end of the week I was managing scary blues and skiing all the way off the mountain - with a few tumbles it must be said.

For Christmas I received a reindeer jumper which I loved so much I thought I may as well bring it back to Hanoi and I'm jolly glad I did since it is FREEZING here!

I also bought myself the Nike running app for I-pod which tracks how far you've run and what songs will make you go faster, so hopefully I will keep up with my resolution to actually go running (even though the thought of running in this weather makes me feel positively scared).