Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Happy New Year! I'm a bit late in saying so, but it's the thought that counts and I do hope you have a happy and joyous new year. Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, is always celebrated in late January or early February depending on the lunar calendar. This year, it began on February 7, but festivities began much earlier. In Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, there was a gigantic flower market to mark the occasion and many happy locals saying Happy New Year whenever the opportunity arose. It arose a lot.

I spent New Year's Eve in a place called Nha Trang, basically a place crawling with people like me. Not like Thailand by any means, but there were a lot of tourists. There was a big stage right near the beach with little girls singing and twirling their umbrellas in unison. There were probably a few dirty men ogling them in unison as well, but I didn't notice. And then there were motos. Motos everywhere. Like an enormous drive-in with motos. And everyone was in a celebratory mood. For Tet is the most important and popular holiday and and biggest party in Vietnam.

At midnight, the firework show began. And it was good. Nothing out of this world, but I certainly didn't expect that. It must have been above average because I didn't even oooh and ahhh sarcastically like I'm usually prone to do. Right after the grand finale, the mass exodus began. Like a parking lot after the Superbowl. The problem was, as usual, there was nowhere to go. Gridlock. It was entertaining yet annoying because the honking was even more incessant than normal.

Around one o'clock, I think I made it back to the vicinity of my hotel with my traveling companion of the moment. We ventured into a discotheque for about ten minutes before I decided to call it an evening. I couldn't tolerate this guy anymore. I can't tolerate a lot of things, I am perhaps the most intolerant person I know, so it was no surprise. I know I need to leave the scene when I want to scream and accidentally rip someone's head off. So we parted ways and I got some sleep and he got to dance with a lady boy and eventually got pickpocketed stumbling drunk on his merry way home.