It was my plan to spend the Tet New Year celebrations with a bunch of friends I'd spent some time with in Hue, but the last time I saw them was at the hotel we were dropped off at in Hanoi, and of course I'd completely failed to find that again.

But through a bit of good fortune and the power of the internet I tracked down Emily, Jackie and Warren and we headed out into the crowds to join the celebrations. The new year starts officially at midnight and so we copied the locals and gathered around the lake to watch the firework display that marks the start of the holiday:

The locals were in pretty high spirits (excitement I think rather than alcohol) and for once we were largely ignored – the Vietnamese were too busy enjoyinhg themselves and anticipating the holiday to be bothered with a few westerners.

Before the start of the official fireworks there were plenty flashes and bangs in the streets from some less official ones. The most popular 'personal' firework seemed to be a long tube, maybe two feet long, that spat little balls of fire every few seconds once lit. The main fun seemed to be found in aiming the tube at things: people, passing traffic, open windows. Tourists were popular target although it was all pretty harmless you couldn't help tensing whenever you heard the distinctive plosive 'poh' sound somewhere nearby, wondering if that was the mini-fireball with your name on.

The fireworks themselves were, well, fireworks really. The last time I got really excited about fireworks was when someone told me that the fireworks we were watching (in Battersea Park I think) were remote-controlled. For a few moments I had visions of someone with a complex electronic device, controlling each firework – left a bit, right a bit, explode NOW! – until I sheepishly realised that they meant the launch of the fireworks was done by remote control...
But the Hanoi fireworks were perfectly nice and most people responded with the appropriate Vietnamese equivalents of "ooohs" and "aahhhs":


while the more upwardly mobile of the young Vietnamese were keen to catch the action on their mobile phones:

When I got back to my hotel, with the express intention of going straight to bed, I got dragged into a party in the guest house next door, where they very kindly plied me with free alcohol and bits of leftover food.

Here's the happy (well, apart from the guy in the foreground) gang I encountered there: