Our Travels on New Years Day

Visiting Friends

On Sunday, the first day of the New Year, it is tradition to go visiting friends and family. Most people head back to their provinces for the week. Just about everything in town is closed to celebrate, even the grocery stores. We began our trip at 8 Am and spent some time in our friends home sharing and celebrating. At 10:30 we began our travels. There were 10 of us on 5 motor bikes. We went to several homes close to our area then after the second stop we took a 45k trip to visit another group of New friends. By the time we arrived at 3:30 PM we were exhausted, see the picture of Mark !! Now you have to remember that is was a very hot day, in the high ninties and we were wearing long sleeves to protect us as well as masks to keep the dirt out and helmets, some even wore long thick gloves up to their shoulders for protection. Fortunately the long trip ended us up by the river which had a wonderful breeze,and we were able to enjoy some coconut milk. After visiting and eating some yummy fruits we headed back to continue our stops. The traffic was not as bad as usual but still many were out celebrating. I was riding on the back of our friends fathers bike and as we came to a toll booth, bikes do not stop or have to pay, but they have to go through this narrow opening, the bike in front of us just stopped. We hit the brakes but not in time to keep us from falling. This was my first spill and I am glad to say I only ended up with a bruised knee. My foot was pinned under the bike but it did not have a scratch on it. My angel was watching over me. Around 6 PM, I think our friends were feeling sorry for us, we stopped for a pizza dinner. It was two for one night at the local wood stove pizza place. The Vietnamese like all their foods hot and spicy, I have never seen people add tabasco sauce and ketchup to their pizza's. We made one more stop after dinner and by the time we reached home,at 8 Pm,I felt like I had been riding a horse all day. Those bikes are not the best mode of travel, especially on poorly paved roads. We were thankful that we were invited to join our friends for this day and to be able to meet many new friends as well. I think we better begin getting our bodies ready for the trip next year !!

Chuc Mong Nam Moi - Happy New Year

New Year's Eve in HCMC

On Friday night Mark treated me to dinner for an early Valentine's celebration at one of our favorite restaurant's, Amigos. I had a great steak dinner,he had beef burritos. We then joined the throngs of people walking down one of the major streets in HCMC which was decorated for the Lunar or Chinese New Year. They had beautiful flowers and water fountains and even a flower ferris wheel. The New Year began on Sunday Feb 14th and this is the year of the tiger. They had an assortment of different tiger statues up and down the street, even a huge white one. The Chinese people wore their traditional outfits and even the small children were dressed up. As the sun was setting the many lights which decorated the street were turned on and the festivities livened up. It reminded me of the Rose Parade in Pasadena with the many different assortment of flowers. I love celebrations !!

New Year's Plant

 

Lunar New Year

The lunar New Year starts on Sunday Feb 14th. The people here really get into this celebration. It lasts about a week or longer and during this time the stores close and thousands of people go back to the their home provinces. In the main part of town streets have been blocked off for a over a week while they put up all sorts of beautiful lights, fountains and flowers and other decorations. We went to a new mall last Sunday evening and ran into a big traffic jam as a large dragon was being walked down the street with drums being beaten and as we found out later a competition was being held. Gift giving and visiting people is very big during the New Year celebration. I have already received some special rice cakes and our friend Sam brought me a beautiful plant with gorgeous yellow flowers. Next week we will be joing our friends to make some visits and bring some gifts to people. Even now as I sit here and write this I can hear the drums beating and I am sure if I could out into the street it would be another group passing by with their costumes on and their dragon in tow !!