My bags are packed, and I'm now waiting for the clock to strike 12:30 before the journey begins. I'm heading off to Vietnam guys! Yay! I've been talking about this trip for ages and can't believe it's finally happening!! Will be heading down to Saigon for a few days to trace my roots - see where my parents grew up, where my family lived, visit my 80 year old uncle (who I never met), my cousin and her family. In a way, Vietnam has always been a land of mystery to me - I don't know anything about its culture, and my only exposure to this country has always been through stories (and food) - stories that my family used to tell me. I will be traveling alone, and rightly so, as this will be a very personal and spiritual journey for me.
Before I go any further, I just want to say thank you to my wonderful family for their support - Mom, Dad, Fat Uncle, Skinny Uncle, Aunt Manh Nhi and most of all, Bruce. Thank you so much for sending me all the info about your homes and your history, and I can't wait to experience it with you. Don't worry, I'll be safe!! I have everything under control (and lots of medicine with me in case anything goes wrong!)! I'll also be updating my blog as I go so you can stay up to date!
Anyway, today is the first day of the Year of the Tiger, so I thought I'd kick it off with some pics of how we celebrated yesterday.
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According to Chinese customs, you're suppose to eat dumplings before CNY for prosperity and fortune. Mike and I unfortunately were too busy with work leading up to the holiday, so we didn't get to host our own dumpling making party :(. Oh well, not to despair, we went to our fave BaoYuan Dumpling House for some xui jiaos.
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Notice anything different? Hah, Mike visited the eyeglass market (think silk market but replace it with glasses!) two days ago and splurged 200 rmb on a pair of plastic frames...hmm...a bit metrosexual if you ask me
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After lunch, I bid Mike farwell (he was on his way to visit his folks in Omaha), and went to Ditan Park. My mom was giving me crap the other day for not spending Chinese New Year in China (hmm...go figure), so I decided to check-out one of the local fairs at the park to soak in the local culture.
The entrance to Ditan Park
Happy Year of the Tiger! ROAR!
Red lanterns everywhere
Cute tiger motifs
Peace sign gone wrong haha. I was trying to tell the lady who was taking the picture to hold steady. Oh well
Pretty Chinese dolls for sale
Here kitty kitty kitty...
More tiger motifs
Every fair in China must include scorpions, worms and vermin on skewers. Lovely.
I have no idea what this was, but the lady talked me into trying some. It was some form of gelatin drizzled in oil and garlic sauce?
Goubuli baozis...yum!
These pigs cracked me up so I had to throw up the peace signs with them
I love pigs
Fish kites
Hehe, a lot of locals bought these stuffed tiger claws and were punching each other on the streets.
View of the street fair
Painted tiger porcelain figures
Every street fair in China must include Xinjiang yangrou chuars (lamb skewers...aka meat sticks according to DSpear)...including DIY kits
Pinwheels are popular items during CNY
Every CNY must include massive amounts of fireworks. I took this shot from my balcony - it was much more close up in person!
So there you have it. Happy CNY again! I'll be down south in a few hours celebrating Tet and slurping bowls of pho. See you later!
1 comment:
gung hay fat choy/gong xi fa cai! i hope you love every minute of vietnam as much as we did! and i love that you're going back to visit your roots too. Seeing my grandfather's village in china a few years ago was a life changing experience and i'm sure this trip will be very similar for you. take in everything and be safe :-)
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