Tết Holiday 2015 in Hanoi

Probably the 1st USA kid in this alley ever!

Tet = Family Time

Tết in Vietnam is a big deal.  Imagine all of the Western holidays combined into one and lasting a week.  Preparations leading up to it take months.  I spoke of it's traditions and meanings in a post last year during this time, but during actual Tết last year we left the country.  Aside from what we saw leading up to it and what we saw immediately after it, we never really experienced it.  This year was different.  We were honored as a family to be invited to spend Tết with our friend Chuy Ly Tran and her family in Hanoi where she is from.  Tết is a time to be spent with Family and follow traditions to usher in Good Luck for the new year and honor your ancestors.  We were chosen to experience it first hand and be welcomed by Ly's family as one of their own.  Truly an honor.  Having Graeme and ourselves be granted this opportunity meant a lot to us and we truly cherished it.  Plus, it was our first trip to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital and governmental headquarters.  A much different environment then Ho Chi Minh City.

Getting up to Hanoi a few days prior to the New Year we had the pleasure of Ly showing us around her hometown.

The first big difference you notice in Hanoi compared to Saigon is the weather.  They have 4 traditional seasons there and it was winter when we arrived.  This sent us scrambling a bit for some warmer clothes.  Realizing that Graeme only owns 1 pair of long pants, we got him squared away with some new denim right away.  Gladly, The Gap produces most of their gear here so in the markets we were able to score some jeans for $7usd that you pay $49.95 all day long for in the USA.

Next thing you notice is the architecture.  Unlike Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi is hell bent of keeping it's French Colonial look and feel.  Everywhere you looked you were surrounded by beautiful doors, windows and eye-catching lines and feels.  Mixed in with that was enough Communist architecture (big, square, concrete, monumental, drab, bland, etc) to make you appreciate the Colonial style that much more.  HCMC is knocking over the Colonial buildings as fast as they can to replace them with modern skyscrapers....

Then you get hungry.  While showing us around Ly would lead us into an alleyway or door that only a local would know of and within seconds we'd be sitting in tiny plastic chairs eating a bowl of something we weren't really sure of what it was other then that it tasted fantastic.  Sometimes these meals were cooked on the table by us, other times we'd see the pots simmering all morning on the sidewalk then magically around lunchtime some tables and chairs showed up and a restaurant "appeared".  A bit more "meat" oriented versus "fish" oriented then in the south, less "nước mắm" aroma in the air, as well a different flavor palet - the Pho is much different - a bit sweeter and much less accoutrements.  We ate well.

The people.  The smiles are harder to come by in Hanoi.  The "beeps" are a bit more "get out of my way" versus "here I am".  The sense of earnest is a bit more, well...earnest.  Fewer pajamas and more of a "smart" look going on.  The people in HCMC say the people in Hanoi are mean.  I would not go that far, but there is definetly a difference.

The language.  They speak a different dialect (similar to North/South in the USA).  In Hanoi we felt as if the few words we do know in Vietnamese were more detectable in conversations we heard.  We felt as if when we learned a new word and repeated it that we were understood.  Graeme knows more then we do and when he was using his words that are regularly understood in HCMC, people here did not understand him.  Overall, we also felt as if the dialect was a bit "warmer" and not as sharp as what we hear in HCMC.  That said, we still can't speak it ;)

You have no idea how good a "sidewalk cooked" meal tastes until you try it!

Big people on little chairs....

St. Joseph's Cathedral

Lookin' tough...

I got my eye on you...

Bo Bun Nam Bo

Helping Bella along..

Queuing for the zip line...

Whoa!!

Tết arrived and we were along for a ride of a lifetime.  Ly's family spans 4 generations at the moment.  That is very impressive in any culture.  With Vietnam having such a young population, I would guess that not many kids have met their Great Grandparents, but Ly and Graham's beautiful little daughter, Isabella gets to spend Tết with hers!  I've always boasted how great it is that Graeme has been not only able to meet his Great Grandparents, but to be able to spend time with them and know them.  Watching the look in Bella's Great's eyes I know the feeling is mutual.  Bella's Great Grandfather is 87 years young.  Can you imagine the history he and his family have lived through?  If you live to be 187 years old you will not experience a fraction of what he has.  Meeting him was a time when I really wish I knew the language and we could sit over Bia Hoi for several afternoons and just listen to him tell stories.  I gladly accepted a handshake and big smile instead.

New Year's Eve and New Years Day are spent visiting family, eating and drinking.  You start the day at one house with your entire family and enough food to feed the whole neighborhood.  After awhile, you leave and all go to the next family members house, where there is enough food to feed the entire neighborhood.  Then after awhile you go to the next house...well, you get the idea!  We were welcomed as if we were family with hugs, kisses, and handshakes that lingered.  Great patience was taken as we asked questions about what was going on that must have seemed very academic to them (there were only 2 or 3 English speakers in the bunch and with so much going on we had a lot of questions).  The food was amazing!  I must admit, I have a limited palette to say the least.  I was a bit worried leading up to this event in regards to the food and if I would be disrespectful for not eating it.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  We ate so many great dishes and added some new delicacies to our growing menu, including Jelly Fish (which is surprisingly quite crunchy and has a kick).  As usual, Graeme impressed everyone with the variety and amount of food he can put down - especially fruit.  The shear amount of food at each house was overwhelming and we were always enthusiastically encouraged to eat eat!  Graeme rocked his Ao Dai and was looking dapper, getting a lot of cheek pinches and lucky money.

At midnight an offering is made outside your home, usually boiled chicken and flowers and fruits.  Prayers are said and the first person who steps into your home for the New Year is chosen, as that person determines your luck for the year.  Then, as in most SE Asian celebrations, the fireworks begin!  Graeme and I slept right through those.  Him because he is a Hawken.  Me because of reasons I will not disclose (see disclaimer below).

Dress your best!  You either wear something new or the best that you've got.  For several days, everyone bouncing around town on their scooters were dressed to the 9's.  Even those who had to work - taxi drivers, hotel staff, security, parking atttendants, etc - were rocking suits.  If you've been in the military feel free to wear your dress uniform (with medals of course!).  We did our best to fit in, Graeme looking dapper in his red Ao Dai.

*disclaimer* - Also tradition is for the men to break off to a separate room (with it's own abundance of food) and hang out separate from the women and children.  What happens in this room will stay in this room - but if you want to see the gist of it CLICK HERE.  It involves a lot of warm beer, homemade whiskey, and the Happy New Year song on repeat and at volume level 11.  Because of this some of my recollections may be a bit hazy.

YO!

Ly's Dad - 77yrs young.

Don't believe the label - Homemade whiskey & warm beer.

Just a snack...

Ok, some food was weird - chicken heads and feet.

Ly's Grandfather - 87yrs young.

Offering to pray for good luck in the New Year

Yo!

We lasted 2 days.  After that we were a bit cooked.  Ly and her family kept going for the next couple of days!  If you ever get the chance to celebrate Tet with a Vietnamese family I would highly recommend wearing elastic pants :)






































 











We took off for Tam Coc - a few hours south of Hanoi.  We spent the better part of 3 days exploring Karst formations, biking through rice fields, eating more great Vietnamese specialties - goat was a big one in this region, and exploring Buddhist Temples built into caves.

Graeme really took to the climbing part of getting to these Temples.  One of them was 439 steps straight uphill and he was adamant about going up there!  Trust me, I tried to talk him out of it ;)  Being a holiday, there were many Vietnamese visiting the area.  The main Temples got a bit crowded with families placing offerings for good luck and honoring ancestors.  These times Graeme got a bit more attention then he (or us) could handle, becoming the attraction versus the Temple.  Luckily, we were able to hop on bikes and just through cruising around get away from the throngs and find other Temples with no one around but goats.  It was great to be able to spend a few days outdoors away from a city...Everytime you turn a corner in this country you are literally blown away at its beauty and diversity.  These pics are only about 60 miles from the city of Hanoi.

Will we fit??

Yup....

view from our room

Lone flower...

Spelunking to the Temple...

Dinner

On the road...

Pondering at lunch...

Rice field silliness

This Family means business!!

Tough to put into words how grateful, honored and humbled we were to be invited to share Tết with Ly, Graham, Bella and their Family.  Now we can truly say we have experienced Tết and to be able to spend it with such warm, loving and great people was really special.  It's a culture that is so deep, rich and complex.  Getting just a glimpse of it firsthand was an amazing experience we will surely never forget.  We cannot thank them enough for such a wonderful time.

An entire month ahead of us without any breaks - how will we manage??? - March will be a long 4 weeks.  We do, however, have some great things to look forward to.  Aunt Donna, Uncle Keith and Cousin's Sammy and Noah are heading here in early April for 2 weeks!  In anticipation, Graeme has a Ring Calendar set up - taking a ring off each day until they get here (and asking each time if it is halfway yet!).  We have some fun stuff lined up for them and we are sure they are looking forward to defrosting (instantly) with the winter that the NE USA is experiencing.

If you want to see all the Tet pics CLICK HERE.
To see all the Tam Coc pics CLICK HERE.

Until then, Chúc Mừng Năm Mới to everyone!

The Hawken's in HCMC
#thetaoofgraeme