Happy Year of the Snake!

The festive month of Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year, is nearly over and Hanoi has been blessed with sunnier skies recently. Spring is here. As I write, I'm breathing fresh, cool air entering the open windows of a gorgeous French villa that has been styled into an elegantly hip art space and cafe called Manzi. The coffee they serve is good and strong. Yet another unexpected treat in this city of hidden treasures.

In many ways, it's hard to believe we've been in Hanoi for only two and a half months. The number of restaurants and bars we've been to, the neighborhoods we've explored and the number of Instagram pictures I've posted would suggest otherwise. This city feels comfortable and conquerable, and yet remains perfectly capable of eluding complete comprehension.

I'm glad we decided to stay in Hanoi during Tet. Despite warnings that the city would clear out and nothing would be open, to see the city in this way was refreshing. In the weeks leading up to the actual New Years' Eve (Feb. 9), the city was humming with energy. Kumquat trees and peach blossom branches were popping up everywhere, seen in transport from the Tet markets on the backs of motorbikes. The restaurant outside our building were making the traditional sticky rice and pork cakes, banh ch'ung, noon and night. The vats of sticky rice bubbled away every morning as I walked to work and by evening, towers of leaf-wrapped banh ch'ung waited on tables to be boiled for 8 straight hours, all through the night. One of the many labor intensive tasks families must finish before the official holidays. A day before actual New Years Day, the city began to empty. During this time, we welcomed Pem's parents from Singapore for a weekend visit. They enjoyed exploring a city that looked very different from the Hanoi they visited almost twenty years ago.

After New Years, the city was nearly silent. Even the constant lull of motorbikes had temporarily ceased. However, that didn't stop the occasional broadcast of ABBA's "Happy New Year" on Hanoi's antique public speaker system. Talk about a surreal experience - hearing this Europop from the 1970's echoing through the narrow lanes of this Asian city in the middle of the afternoon. As I drifted back into my afternoon nap, I could feel the fog of dreams begin to slowly curl around this city of surprises in a country of contradictions.