The night before the opening of the flowering boulevard

Nguyen Hue boulevard - the flowering street right in the heart of Saigon - the most "invested" event for Lunar New Year  festivities, the most eagerly awaited event for people living in Saigon, for visitors. It could be also the oldest flowering street, back to 1970s or even before I was born, at that time it was just a simple flower market held for few days before Tết. The authorities continued the tradition and turned it into an annual activity to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Every year with different theme, but always loyal with the image of Vietnam in the countryside, the rice field, the monkey bridge across the pond with lotus, the evergreen bamboos…
   

           2014 - the year of the Horse. These 5 horses carrying a giant clock, will the Time fly faster?  

What we do before Tết ?

Saigon, 26th Jan 2014, only one week left to the Lunar New Year, the biggest festive for most Asian countries. Over a month the weather in Saigon is unusually cold, the temperature is always around 16-17oC in the morning. And that's good because living in a tropical city we like the cold weather, so we don't need the air con, even the electric fan, for last month my electricity bill was less than 30%! Savings for Tết!

                  Tết is around the corner, Saigon begins to heat up…

Legendary fish stew from village Vũ Đại - North Vietnam

For every single Vietnamese, either good or bad high school student, none of us will forget this character - Chí Phèo from the same-name story written by an eminent master of short stories - Nam Cao, back to 1940s. Chí Phèo would be a fictional character who lived a real village named Vũ Đại in North of Vietnam and by somehow the unique fish stew in clay pot was mentioned in that story as a signature speciality from that northern village, and now became a special flavour from North during Tết to people living in Saigon or at least to me, who is curious to taste all fish foods.

           Without knowing how good is the fish stew, but I order due to my memory for our Chí Phèo…

Truyền Ký - a small Hakka eatery in a tiny alley

I heard about this place long time ago but never had a chance to visit this famous small Chinese eatery in a typical tiny alley in Saigon. Truyền Ký, it's the name of this Chinese House. It seems we have several Truyền Ký in Saigon, but which one is the original, tough to say.
Judging by the number of guests having lunch today, the variety of dishes in the menu, I would say it could be one of the best. After the first visit, three weeks later I was back here with my other friends for dinner. Talking to the staff, I learnt that the business started back to 1950s, now managed by the third generation. The dish they serve is from the Hakka cuisine.

             We may never expect to find such a good eatery located in a tiny quiet residential alley...

Some stories by the year end...

From today to the Lunar New Year - 15 days left. Hmm, again?
When I was kid, every time while sitting in the classroom, I heard the drum beat, the sound of cymbals from the street, sign of a coming Tết, it made my heart beating to their rhythm too, the excitement, the impatient eager for Tết. But now...that feeling has gone, or partially (!), maybe a little bit of it - still left somewhere, and not only me but for many people, many companies -Tết is a big burden of many things: bonus to the staff, gifts to the business partners, some inexplicable duties to the authorities (!?) and obliged duties to the big families : from left to right (i means relatives in any sides), from head to toes ( I mean the lucky money that we should give to the old - to wish their longevity, and to the kids - to wish them to grow fast!). Tết is still good?
Anyway I got some small stories to share before the arrival of the Horse.

              The final retouch on the body of the symbol of 2014 - The horse. 

The temple of the Lady of the Sea (Chùa Bà Thiên Hậu)

I'm not a buddhist, although we have a Buddha statue at home…and I rarely go to the pagoda, temple or shrine to pray, unless I have to accompany my friends. Why I'm writing about this temple ?
There  are some reasons: my very first time was...quite long in the past when I just started my corporate career and during our New Year some of my old colleagues asked me to join them to visit this Temple. My first impression at that time : so crowded, so smoky, it was very hard to breath, tears in my eyes...I did pray anyway but can't recall what I prayed. The second time to this Temple when I accompanied two friends visiting Saigon, one from Taiwan, another from Malaysia. They told me…even in Taiwan they hardly find the temple like this - all new, so this place is unique. But another reason could be most important to me is I'm really fascinated by the porcelain diorama on the roof of this temple. I wish to have a better look at them.

            Look at the figurine's clothes, finely detailed ornament and their gesture…just amazing!

The New Year Eve & my first night out for the fireworks

The last day of 2013. Over the past ten days, the weather in Saigon was unusually cold , the temperature was down to 19oC and it was very very rare for the tropical city like Saigon. And we liked it - the cold. It suddenly reminds me of the whole night out in the winter in Osaka few years ago when I was there for the New Year Eve at the Universal Studio, it was so cold, we were almost freezing while queuing for the games.
Today it's getting a lot warmer, probably because of the festivities atmosphere!
Tonight for the very first time I celebrate the NYE with friends by hunting the best shots of fireworks - the symphony of light, to mark the end and the beginning.

            The countdown is starting with the laser show, brightening up the city...