This is How I Spent My Tet Holiday!

I've never realized or quite understood the importance of the Tet Holiday (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) while living in the States. However, I was able to witness first-hand the impact of this special holiday on the whole country. I rarely celebrated Tet in the US while in Ohio and while in Cali, only did so on the 1st of the Lunar New Year. I was fortunate enough that my company gave us 11 paid days off for Tet, which was this past Saturday, February 17th!

I started my Tet celebration by taking a 2 hour motorbike ride to the deep countryside last Wednesday, Feb. 14th, after work. I was headed to my Aunt's (Dad's oldest sister) house in Long Khanh. She's the oldest on my Dad's side and the only female sibling. She has been a widow for 20 or 25 years (my memory is failing me) and has 7 living children (2 have passed away). Between my Aunt's 7 kids, she has 16 grandkids. Those 16 are from only 5 kids, as one of my cousins is a Priest and another is bedridden due to a stroke years ago (more of a testament to how strong my aunt has been all these years!). We were there to celebrate Tet but also there to acknowledge the anniversary of my Uncle's passing. Here's pretty much how I spent my two days there:

Wednesday night: Ate a ton of food:


Thursday: Biked almost 20 Kilometers to my cousin's house (burnt off all those needed calories) to see his fish and shrimp farm, sugar cane and banana trees. At night we ate another huge Tet meal and then gambled (a traditional thing to do during Tet)! We played "Lotto" which is very similar to Bingo. I won the first game but was shut out the rest of the night.
Friday: Woke up at 4am to attend Mass! Attending the last service for the year is just as important as the first service for the year. Shortly after eating breakfast, I hopped on a bus for my trip back to my Grandparents house for Tet, which was on Saturday.

On Friday night, my aunts, uncles, and cousins stayed up to bring in the New Year at 12 Midnight. We brought in the New Year first by praying and then everyone (starting from youngest to oldest) began to wish and greet the eldest a Happy New Year. It was quite informal yet still very formal in the way it was done. Here's an example of a Happy New Year greeting; "Mom/Dad, I wish you a happy and successful New Year...If I have done anything to displease you in the previous year, please forgive me as I will do my best to be a good son/daughter to you in the New Year." After the greetings we hit the sack.

Pic of my cousin wishing my Grandfather a Happy New Year:


Saturday: Woke up early to attend the first Mass of the year, however luckily this service was at 8am, definitely more manageable than 4am! At about 11am the older people handed out red envelopes w/ lucky money in it to the younger/single people! After that we had a New Year's Feast with over 50 family members!

Good Eats!


Great Peeps!


At night I headed to the Airport in Saigon to pick up my friends who were coming to Vietnam for the first time. Lee, Linda and Neil sure picked an excellent time to visit and to experience the Country. Over the next 5 days and 4 nights, all of us (including my two cousins, Ly and Lan) toured the following 3 cities in Vietnam: Da Nang, Hoi An, and Hue.

We didn't do too much site seeing in Da Nang, as we only stayed overnight there. Hoi An was special because it is a very old city, also known as the Lantern City. We visited places such as My Son Holy City, the Japanese Bridge Pagoda, Phuoc Kien House, the Ngu Hanh Son or better known as the Marble Mountain. Hue was especially nice because we were able to see all of the old Vietnamese Emperor's palaces and "Forbidden City". We also got to dress up in traditional Emperor's wardrobe! Another special attraction was visiting the Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary in La Vang or Duc Me La Vang, which is well over 200 years old with unlimitless flowing bins of Holy Water!

Beginning our Tour in Da Nang:


Lee, Neil, and I at Marble Mountain and some future Ohio Sigma Lions:


At the top of Hai Van Pass w/ my cousin Lan:


My subjects, in my Kingdom!


Although my friends thoroughly enjoyed themselves on the tour, I believe the icing on the cake for them was visiting my distant-distant cousin's fish farm on Friday. He's a distant cousin as follows: His Great-Grandfather and my Great-Grandfather are first cousins! At any rate, we took about a 40-minute car ride to the river where my cousin has a houseboat with a fish farm. When we got there he showed us the fish that live under his boathouse and proceeded to fetch us fresh fish by jumping into the river (under his boat) with a fish net. While his family prepared the meal he then took us on a boat ride up the Dong Nai River -- what a spectacular site! Afterwards, we delighted our taste buds w/ freshly marinated and steamed fish spring rolls! MMMM!

My cousins getting ready to dive in to catch some fish!



Boating along the Dong Nai River w/ Lee, Linda, Neil, and my cousin Khanh:


Later that Friday night, we returned to my Grandparents house for Lee, Linda, and Neil's last family dinner in Vietnam before departing back to Ohio and Hong Kong. It was another tasty dinner that capped off a fantastic week of bringing in the New Year with my family and good friends!

My Family along w/ Lee, Linda, and Neil...End of a great Tet Holiday!


Chuc Mung Nam Moi! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

11 Days Off! How you like 'dem apples?

I've written about all the Holidays that I've missed in America by being here in Vietnam. However, today I get to take 11 days off of work for the biggest holiday event in Vietnam -- Tet or the Lunar New Year. The whole country virtually shuts down. Most businesses and government offices close several days before the 1st of the year (which falls on February 17th this year). Our company will be off from February 15 thru February 25! An excellent time for me to tour and explore my Motherland.

I'll be leaving here in about 30 mins. to spend a few days at my Aunt's house in Long Khanh (about 1 1/2 hours outside of Saigon). It's "country" to say the least. I'll be surrounded by all of my favorite mosquito buddies, but at the same time, this area has the freshest tropical fruit around! We'll be having a dinner this evening for the anniversary of my Uncle's death. My cousin, who is a Priest, will be visiting there for 2 days also! It's gonna be a great few days.

After that, I will be returning home this Friday to welcome friends from the Great State of Ohio! They are visiting Hong Kong first for a business conference and then will be joined by my good friend from Mount Union (who lives in Hong Kong now). All 3 will fly into Vietnam and we will be touring Hue, Hoi An and Da Nang. I will be sure to repost w/ pics in a few weeks.

Until then, may all who read this have a very blessed, happy, healthy, and prospersous Lunar New Year!

Superbowl Monday, Vietnam & Rock Music!

Wow, as I sit here on a Monday morning (just shortly after 6AM), getting ready for work...Devin Hester just returned the opening kickoff of the Superbowl to the house. Kinda reminds me of Teddy Ginn Jr. in the BCS Championship this year. At anyrate, I haven't been all too excited about the Superbowl festivities this year and haven't gotten myself into all of the hype surrounding it. Not sure how it'll turn out but I'm more interested in seeing the commercials as my line of work now has me in Advertising. Hope to see a good Go Daddy commercial this year!

If I asked you what's the first thing you think of when I say Vietnam and Music, most would say Paris By Night or some form of a Lionel Richie remake of "I Love You". But you would never say Rock Music! Yes, this past Friday, I went to my first Rock Concert courtesy of a few complimentary tickets. The concert venue was virtually sold out and I was lucky enough to find myself pretty much front and center in the mosh pit. I wasn't expecting much but came outta there quite impressed w/ the music. The first act was a Vietnamese rock group named Anh Khoa. The lead singer reminded me of the lead singer for Creed with his deep vocals and even his hair. The female vocalist, Phuong Thanh, sounded good (looked better) at times, but more often than naught she sounded like she was screaming. The next act however, stole the show. Kryteria, by far was the best act all night. The lead female vocalist was Korean along w/ 3 other guys from Germany. Anywhoo...this girl was absolutely amazing from her drop-dead gorgeous looks to her vocals, deep and soulful. Did I mention she was smokin' hot! Damn!

You'd expect the Vietnamese to be their usual conservative selves at rock concert but what I saw was a "let's get rowdy and act like we're at a rock concert" type of crowd! It was great to see the young crowd start to throw beer cans and water bottles into the mosh pit. At one point, the band yelled out to the crowd sitting in the bleacher seats to get up and join us down close to the stage. It was a mad house as the police/security guards made everyone sit down, kinda comical actually. It didn't last too long as the crowd broke thru the police baricade and slammed to the front of the stage. Other than that, it was pretty tame when it all ended...everyone yelled and screamed until the bands left and then they all courteously turned and left the venue, no riots and no smell of refer through the stands.

Well, it was a great experience all-in-all. I'm waiting for my first hip-hop concert to take place. I know they have plenty of hip-hop heads here but haven't found the right place to listen to it yet. Police here are actually cracking down on graffiti artists and the Goverment are urging kids to not destroy landmark buildings. I think it's great to see hip-hop at its finest!

"And to let me know I'm rockin' the microphone everybody say "Ramo! (Ramo!) Raah!

I had no idea Prince (The Sign) was performing this year's Halftime Show...gotta go now and listen for Purple Rain! Peace out!