the year of the rat in vietnam…
when my travel guide was telling that the new year time in Vietnam was not the best because everyone is on the move. I should have been more careful. but of course I told myself ahh It should not be a problem.
Unfortunately it seem that there was a bit more to it then just the people moving around!
First of all lets look at the tet festival from closer shall we:
For Vietnamese people the tet festival is before everything, a precious time off from their work that last at least for a week and let me tell you that nothing in the world will stop them from taking this time off:O) (which I understand). but for tourist like me it means that a lot of things like offices and even hotels are closing down as well. next thing is that indeed, everyone is on the move and most of the open places are not only full but also way overpriced. when I say overpriced, I am not joking. All prices in hotel, tours and buses will see a fare rise of at least 30 to 50 percent easy during this tet festival. and just about everyone else will use that reason to ask you for money from one way or another ( its a bit like a reason for begging ) sir sir sir money happy new year…
so when I arrived in Saigon I was a bit annoyed by all that but I was still looking forward for festivities or fireworks. I have been waiting and waiting but the only thing I saw was a bunch of young people doing a dragon dance going from to shop to ask for money. then I went out of the backpackers place toward town and the only nice thing to see was the flower market with tons of orchids bonsai trees and tons of other thing and a few other decorated gardens in the city center. of course I was not there the precise day of the new year so maybe that explains why but it is true that I was expecting a bit more buzz for such a festival in Vietnam.
If any of you read this and consider going to Vietnam avoid the new year time at all cost. because it really makes for an annoying trip and the joke last at least 15 days. so if you are short on time you will regret it for sure.
After a few days being bored of watching cable television at my hotel i decided it was time for me to move on to see what the coast of vietnam looked like. I went to buy an overpriced bus ticket to mui ne and left the pollution and crazyness of saigon behind
