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| A Vietnamese family sits around in a circle to enjoy some delicious food, thirst-quenching beer and the customary singsong - Photo: Derek Milroy |
For foreigners, westerners in particular, Christmas and New Year holidays are the ‘most wonderful time of the year’ but to Vietnamese it is Tet.
I was looking forward to my first big Lunar New Year celebrations and my girlfriend invited me to come and join in on her family’s celebrations in Long Xuyen City in An Giang Province.
I wasn’t sure what to expect as we ventured on the bus further into the Mekong Delta but I have to admit it was a great experience, and I learned a lot about family on the trip.
The heat was harder to take without the modern luxuries of air-con and all a city like Saigon has to offer and of course sleeping under a mosquito net was also a new experience, not that that stopped the little buggers and by the end of the trip Anh ghet muoi (I hate mosquitos) was a phrase I used often to my newly-extended family.
For most Vietnamese this is the only time of the year that they actually get time off from their jobs and busy lives and I can vouch that they enjoy it to the full, just like they do in everyday life.
Flowers were everywhere, honestly it is amazing how many you see and the money spent on them must be in the millions U.S. dollars nationwide.
The flowers, though, are mere decoration with the real onus at this time of year is family. I must admit compared to their colder western counterparts the Vietnamese are a very close knit unit. They live in large families and it is very humbling to see this and be a part of it.
The part I was pleasantly surprised to experience was the drinking. I went round to my girl’s sister’s home at 11a.m. expecting no more than a bite to eat. No way, it was time for beer in large quantities and the 50 and 100% rule was in full flow as was a singsong with everyone having to go up and do their turn or else forfeit VND50,000. I was half-drunk by 1 p.m. before being whisked back home.
I also saw some ‘casinos’ which I would call a card school where groups of locals gambled.
I loved to cycle around the little village of My Hoa Hung on my Vietnamese father’s bicycle once or twice a day rather than his 10 or 15, he is 72 but fitter than me. It was the most relaxing and enjoyable new year of my life. Here’s to next year - Yo.
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