Welcoming the Year of the Goat - Happy New Year!!

It's New Year's Eve and I'm preserving energy for this evening's festivities so started the day with a good breakfast including an amazing fruit plate.  Fruit just tastes better where it's grown; think tomatoes in a Canadian summer versus green house. Sufficiently sated, headed back to the room to write yesterday's blog and have a lazy morning.  Ken opted for a bike ride around town which included a hair cut with a barber that didn't speak much if any English.   Lol, he's braver than me.  I'll need my hair done but I'm going to shop around.  

By the time Ken got back, I was showered and more or less ready to hit the road.  We decided to head to the Laugh Cafe, the training restaurant that we'd enjoyed on Monday's foodie tour.  Walking to town we were distracted by pagodas and all manner of sights and we got a but turned around but eventually made it to our destination.  Sadly for us, it is closed for ten days which in hindsight makes sense as the country youth who work there would want to spend Tet with their families. 

No worries, there are as many restaurants as tailors in Hoi An so we meandered through the maze of streets that make up Old Town looking for sustenance.  On the way, I found the perfect tux for Ken.  I'm sure you agree that this jacket would make quite a stir at any gathering.  Hoi An has a serious lantern making trade and I can't seem to decide whether I "need" a set of brightly hued spheres or something more sedate like these white ones.  Maybe both?   Time will tell ...

A new jacket for Ken?

We opted for lunch at the Terrace Cafe, one of a plethora of options on the riverfront.  We had chairs up front so great spot for people watching as folks rushed to and fro making last minute preparations for Tet tomorrow.  There was one older lady providing a taxi service to get across the river.  Must have been pretty inexpensive as there was a bridge very close by.  Ken is convinced that the Vietnamese are slim because the squat all the time.  I'm not convinced but one thing is for sure; it would be nigh on impossible to hold that position if you weren't slim and flexible.  

For lunch I chose (or had chosen for me by the proprietor) red snapper BBQed in a banana leaf with lemongrass and Ken chose a thin crust pepperoni pizza.  This was one of the many restaurants advertising that they had the best pizza in town after-all!!  Both dishes were very satisfying as were the ice cool Tiger and Larue beer we drank to wash it down.  



Time to head out for more retail therapy and sightseeing.  The streets were jammed with tourists and locals on the Eve of Tet.   I can't even imagine the insanity that would be taking place in larger centres like HCMC today.  On our travels were found three Chinese Houses of Worship on the same road to explore.  We also stopped at the Post Office to mail a few postcards.  The mailbox was so jammed, I could hardly get my cards in so I expect I'll be home long before the cards get there.  Lol.  The flower markets are in full swing. Folks on their motorcycles are drive-by shoppers.  They never get off their bikes, it's just point and pay. 

Back to the hotel for a bit of a rest before the evening's festivities.  There's a big party in the town square tonight starting at ten with fireworks at midnight and we don't want to miss a thing.  The town is lit up like a Christmas tree with lanterns twinkling everywhere.  We head to the other side of the river to check out the riverfront restaurants there.  

Most are jam packed as the fireworks will be set off close-by and the ambiance is fantastic.  We finally find a spot at the Long Life Restaurant where we are warned it will be awhile.  We settle in with a couple of Tigers.  Shortly after we sat down, an adorable Vietnamese girl comes to the table selling stuff we don't need.  Not to be rebuffed, she writes a note on a napkin asking me to buy something so she can go to school.  She's pretty cagey and very cute but I really didn't want anything so I just gave her some money.  Knowing she had at least one softie, she ran off and brought back two paper lanterns with candles.  You are supposed to drop them lit into the river and a make a wish.  Seems Ken is also a softie so he overpaid for them and our new friend went away happy after trying to teach us more Vietnamese than we were capable of learning.  She even typed it into my iPhone and had me recite it several times, each time worse than the time before. 

Dinner took a long time to arrive; my choice about 45 minutes and Ken's double that.  Our starter never materialized.  But the beer was plentiful and cheap so we were more or less okay for most of our time there and the dishes, when they came, were quite tasty.  After dinner, we wandered down to the bridge closest to the square to get a good vantage point for the fireworks.  

The fireworks started shortly after midnight with a bang and continued for 30 minutes or so.  We were very (too?) close to the launch site with pieces of the rockets and soot falling like rain all around us.  It was a spectacular display that sounded a bit like gunfire followed by the feeling of standing by the world's largest popcorn popper from that close.  

The crowd was suitably impressed with the pyrotechnical start to the Year of The Goat but anxious to head home.  The exodus reminded me of leaving Parliament Hill after the Canada Day Show and Fireworks but instead of suburbanites with strollers pushing impatiently through the crowds it was folks on motorbikes.  We found our way out of the press of people and headed home. Along the way, we noticed the residents were burning paper in pots and pans outside their homes.  Apparently, burning votive paper or paper models of houses, clothes, vehicles and other material things is a tradition to show the living people’s hope that the objects will be sent to their relatives in the afterlife.

Late night, more tomorrow ...