Hanoi Hypothermia and Tet Madness - Part 1

Hi everyone.. despite the best intentions of Jetstar Pacific I eventually made it back to Da Nang after spending Tet in Hanoi. I was a day late after missing my flight due to some confusing Vietnamese text messages about flight times from Jetstar.

Prior to leaving for Hanoi... the Furama Resort in Da Nang held a Tet function. Miss Vietnam was there... and was ridiculously tall (I think she had on super high heels under her maxi dress), drumming, dancing, calligraphy and free wine!!! All my favourite things.

Then it was time for a little Tet madness outside my work. These cumquat trees are very traditional to have in the home and the workplace over Tet. There were markets springing up around town selling these in the weeks before Tet and the prices were ridiculous. This tree was a couple of metres tall and cost about 5 million Vietnamese dong (about $500 AUD).

So on Sunday Jan 25th (after picking up a coat I had gotten tailored on the Saturday) I flew into Hanoi which was about 10 degrees. The girl who neglected to pack socks to take to Nam was very happy indeed to have that coat... and some socks acquired since my arrival!

I dropped my stuff off at one of the AYAD's places and then headed into town for some food (I very much enjoyed eating off Avril Lavigne's face) and a walk around Hoam Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter. It was Lunar New Year's Eve and I had some time to kill before meeting up with the others for dinner and fireworks.

So after witnessing some of the set-up for the celebrations later that night I headed for dinner and some drinks at a jazz club with some of the other AYADS. Then we headed to the lake at about 11:30pm along with everyone else in Hanoi.

























After the madness we headed back to Jordi's place with balloons and giant sugar cane trees as you do. Got to sleep around 2am and then had to be up at 6am to start the Hottest 100 party (the radio broadcast started at 10am Australian time). We had the radio broadcast coming through the computer as well as a stream of the Australia v South Africa one day cricket match later in the day, as well as the Australian Open Tennis on the TV. It was a rocking Australia Day.





















After a hard day of relaxing with very little sleep, the rest of the afternoon was a bit of a write off. Jordi cooked us up a beautiful spaghetti bolognaise and salad, with red wine and New Zealand ice cream for desert. Very gourmet for Hanoi. On Tuesday I headed over to another AYAD's place.

Stay tuned for Part 2 which will include an enjoyable but crowded trip to the Perfume Pagoda, sight-seeing and some supsect wooden sculptures from the Museum of Ethnology.