Vietnam's Got Talent: Singing

Here is the singing portion of the Tet 2011 celebrations at Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi.  I wish I could have filmed more of the talented singers, but my memory disk was too small to capture them all.  I was able to get two singing acts.  The man in the first video is actually pretty good.  The "talent" in the second video is questionable, but the women look really cool standing in a row with colorful Vietnamese dresses. 

Vietnam's Got Talent: Dancing

This talent show was performed at Hoan Kiem Lake as part of the Tet 2011 kick-off celebrations.  These lovely dances are versions of traditional Vietnamese dances.  I took the liberty of naming the dances since I don't know the Vietnamese names.  Enjoy!

Lotus Dance

Lantern Dance

Fan Dance

Basket Dance

Halong Bay

Kris and I took a day-trip to Halong Bay. 

 The trip there was a nightmare.  The 3-hour bus ride took 6 hours on account of the bus driver stopping to flirt with random women on the way.  That, plus the blaring techno which was too loud for carrying on any conversation, made for a long and uncomfortable ride.  Once at the bay, the bus stopped in the middle of the highway and made us get off the bus.  Apparently, the driver was now in too much of a hurry to bother with an actual bus stop. We managed to hail a cab, but the driver went careening down the highway on-ramp, head first into a shiny new SUV, then proceeded to attempt running the cab entirely off the road.  We jumped out of the cab and were able to get two motorbikes to take us to the bay itself.

Once there, it was very easy to find a tour.  As it turns out, it was practically a private tour, with only Kris, me, and two Korean men on the double-decker wooden boat.  Halong Bay itself was serene and lovely and made the day worthwhile.  It was the perfect place to test out the panorama function on my little camera.  The bay featured several giant rock formations jutting from the sea like skyscrapers.  We docked at one formation to tour the huge cave inside.  Then, we cruised to a tiny floating village made up of tiny wooden shacks and decks.  We spent about three hours cruising around the rock formations before heading back to shore.        

A typical cruising boat on Halong Bay

                                                           

The dragon head of my boat

The huge rocks make the boats look small.

Heading towards the cave

Inside the cave

View from the cave mouth





Floating village on the left

Floating village

Back towards shore

Fanny

I love this ice cream place called Fanny, located directly across from Hoan Kiem Lake.  It's decorated in Breakfast-at-Tiffany's-esque fashion with neopolitan pink, brown, and cream stripes and Vietnamese girls in pink 50's-diner dresses.  The menu offers several different dishes of thoughtfully prepared desserts.  I have tried a few and plan to go back for more.  Kris thinks the place has a funny name because, of course, eating all that ice cream will give us big fannies!





Top: Banana crepe with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.
Side: Vietnamese coffee
Bottom: Five fruit sorbets atop a fresh fruit salad in a waffle cone with raspberry syrup. 





Strawberry ice cream with blueberry, strawberry, and melon sorbets with fresh strawberries, mint, and a chuck of dark chocolate with chocolate sauce at the bottom of the cup. 




Coconut ice cream served in an avocado with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and fresh strawberries.




Vanilla and chocolate ice creams with berry sorbet, a chuck of dark chocolate, a white chocolate flower, a pink Pocky stick, and mint atop a bed of fresh watermelon, berries, and dragon fruit salad swimming in chocolate liqueur. 



Power Wheels: Cardboard to Carry

Cardboard is actually expensive in Vietnam and quite coveted.  It's about the only thing I've seen that is routinely recycled here.  It's gathered and carted off by motorbikes in towering heaps like this one.

Communist Propaganda Art

In Hanoi, giant communist propanda posters can be seen on nearly every corner.  I took the time to photograph many of the posters around Hoan Kiem.  After I thought I had them all digitally collected, they rotated them all for new posters!  Here's the pics from the first crop.  There are all in Vietnamese, but the artwork gives the general idea behind the posters.   

Poster stand north of the Hoan Kiem Lake 

The man in the top corner is Ho Chi Minh--a common feature to many posters.

The hammer and sickle are the ultimate symbols of communism.

Traditional dancing is featured at many public events.

A very Asian-style dragon

Business and industry are forefront in the Vietnamese consciousness.

Power Wheels: Tree Transport

Dolphin Safe?

Do you think this toilet paper is dolphin safe?  Made by Emo's (haha) brand TP, this dolphin print just seems so wrong.  I feel guilty! 

Equally unexplainable and hilarious, Moomarelli was seen walking around with toilet paper stuck to his ass.

ABBA Nation

I'm pretty sure that ABBA is the unofficial national band of Vietnam.  Every where I go, like magic, I hear ABBA all around.  It never fails that the grocery store, clothing store, quick stop, coffee shop, national museum...will be playing ABBA.  I hear more ABBA in Vietnam than I hear Vietnamese music.  No complains here; I love ABBA! 

Random electronics store playing ABBA videos

Money to Burn

One of the hottest Tet traditions is the burning shrines.  Each family puts together a small shrine in honor of their dead ancestors.  Each shrine is outfitted with gifts for these ancestors.  Popular gifts include money, whole cooked chickens, flowers, candy, fruit, paper warrior's armor and paper horses (to represent the real things)...basically any and everything.  The shrines are set up outside of the family home or family business (often the same place).  At midnight, little Vietnamese children scatter rice in front of their entryways.  Then, the gifts are burned.  Traveling on the smoke of the fire, the gifts reach the ancestors up in the heavens.

So Cute!

Vietnamese girls in traditional clothes in the Old Quarter, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.

Tet Decorations & Gifts

Here is a bounty of pictures featuring more Tet decorations and gifts.

Orchids grow bountifully and beautifully in the Vietnamese climate.  Many stands sprang up around Hanoi selling this common Tet gift.

An Orchid Lot set up especially for Tet.

An orchid arrangement with Tet decorations

Another important Tet decoration is blossoming peach and cherry branches (or sometimes whole trees).  These are also sold in lots all over the city. 

Motorbikers shopping for blossoming branchess

In fact, any blossoming or green branch seems suitable for ringing in a lucky New Year.  I saw a variety of different plant life being sold off on the streets the night of Tet's official kickoff. 

Some sort of palm branch sold by a motorbiker.

Fresh sugar canes, too.

Special gifts are given for Tet.  Many people spend a year's worth of savings on gifts for their extended families located in villages outside of the city.  Some of the common gifts, aside from plant life, include cartons of cigarettes (smoking is very popular here) and food items.  A very common and traditional food gift is dried fruit.  It is meant to bring good luck.

Stand selling dried fruit in Tet gift wrapping.

  For the kids, fancy balloons are popular and available on every corner during Tet.

Finally, I caught this cool picture of a bicyclist selling Tet tree ornaments.