Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Happy New Year! The Vietnamese TET holiday (Lunar New Year) starts this Saturday, which means the country virtually grinds to a halt for several weeks. It also means we get a week long holiday! I am heading off to Thailand tomorrow for four days to visit my friends in Ayutthaya at Elephantstay. Very much looking forward to seeing my favourite girl Pisamy (means love in Thai) and immersing myself in elephant life for three days. Then I come back to Vietnam Tuesday afternoon and work for the second half of the TET holiday.

TET, is the most important and popular holiday and festival in Vietnam. It marks the arrival of spring based on the Chinese calendar, a lunisolar calendar. Many Vietnamese prepare for TET by cooking special holiday foods and cleaning the house. There are a lot of customs practiced during TET, such as visiting a person's house on the first day of the new year, ancestral worshipping, wishing New Year's greetings, giving lucky money to children and elderly people, and opening a shop. It is also an occasion for pilgrims and family reunions. During TET, Vietnamese visit their relatives and temples, forgetting about the troubles of the past year and hoping for a better upcoming year.

Check out the BLUE SKY!! Gotta be happy with that :)