Sound Advice

So just another week or so before the long anticipated Tet holiday. I'm really looking forward to visiting my family in the south, eating lots of banh chung and banh tet, and watching the weekend festivities and fireworks. It is a bit hard to accurately describe how big a deal lunar new year is over here. There are beautiful and bright decorations all over the city, massive peach blossom importation, concert stages are being set up, and the crazy traffic is even crazier as people scramble to shop for everything they need. In addition, work places are all having end of the year meetings and celebrations now. What I love about Vietnam is that meetings like this entail performing co-workers (see below!).

I've learned about some Tet customs that I have not been exposed to in America and I am particularly excited to be invited to my hospital director's house (only in Vietnam would I be important enough to get this kind of invitation) to experience the customary prep for the "Ascension of the Kitchen God."

"A week before Tet, the Tao Quan, (a trinity of spirits collectively known as the kitchen god, or the god of the hearth) ascends to heaven to report to the Jade Emperor on the past year’s events. To ensure a good report, the house must be thoroughly cleaned and the Tao Quan piled with food and gifts. As the Tao Quan makes its journey on the back of a fish, it is traditional to release live carp into lakes and rivers." (read more)

I AM SO EXCITED to see the release of the carp into the river!!!!!! Anyway, in regards to the title of the post, I asked my co-worker's advice on what was an appropriate gift to bring to the director's house...and I was advised to bring a live chicken. Hmmmm....HMMMMM, wouldn't that be a fun thing to look into getting? 

Ok - and now for your regular dose of pictures!

This is a yummy sesame and ginger ball dessert based off of Hong Kong flavors that can be found all over the place when it gets cold in Ha Noi. YUMS!

Yea, I'm either way too acclimated or it is that cold. In my defense, my expat friends who are used to living in snow are cold here. The high humidity just makes everything so CHILLY!!! Oh and notice the new snow northface that only cost $25!!!

I thought my most dependable partner in Ha Noi deserved to be in my blog. :)

@Highway 4 for the Berkeley and Onevietnam visitors. Good times of course!

Yea that's right, I eat trung vit lon aka balut aka fertilized duck eggs! (lucky you I didn't photo the inside of the white part)

It's my boss' birthday!

I get really curious about the Korean fast food chains that have managed to sneak into Vietnam when McDonald's has yet to break into the market here. It was ok, I'd rather go to KFC though for this kind of stuff. But the k-pop playing in the restaurant was really entertaining...

Continuing with the visitor train! Enjoying Vietnamese tapas and fruit liquor with UCSF co-worker and camping buddy from Australia.

HA! My research is so baller that we could afford to buy a "Fortuner" in Vietnam with 200% luxury tax. Now I can do my monthly site visits all over Hanoi in GRAND STYLE! :D

Tonight, three of my co-workers and I went to get a 90 minute group Thai/Hot stone massage. It was quite a new experience being nude-ish in front of people I gotta work with. My masseuse gave me my second piece of sound advice for the day, "you need to stop laughing while I bend/crack you!!!!!"