xTraveling abroad on New Year’s Eve is quite possibly one of the more exciting ways to ring in a new year — with new friends, new food, and new experiences. And how better to celebrate the end of 2014 and beginning of 2015 than by taking to Vietnam for a massive party? We explore New Year’s Eve: Ho Chi Minh City style.
Where to Be
For easy access to all of the top sites and sounds, stay in District 1, preferably on Le Loi Boulevard. This puts you in easy walking distance to the best celebrations for the night — including plenty of clubs, bars, and dancing venues.
The heaviest trafficked streets in the city are all blocked off and a large dome gets set up, which acts as a stage for the endless live performances that go on through the night. Be sure to stay until midnight — as the crowd does a huge countdown to ring in the New Year. And definitely leave you bicycle behind, because the huge amounts of people make walking the only way to get around.
What You’ll Hear
Although Westerners have mostly forgotten ABBA (well, except for Mamma Mia and Dancing Queen), Vietnam has picked up the torch. Expect to hear ABBA’s Happy New Year across the city for all of New Year’s Eve. Get started here:
What to Eat
If you’re staying in any of the larger hotels in the city, their New Year Eve celebrations are typically a compulsory part of the package. Many hotels have wonderful views of the fun in the streets below, and a meal in for the night can be lovely.
If you aren’t forced to eat at your hotel or hostel, go to the Ben Thanh night market, where you have to eat Pho (a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup) supplemented with endless sumptuous side dishes.
When to Come Back
Although Western New Year’s Eve is filled with celebrations, Tet, Vietnamese New Year, is the most important festival of the year. It typically falls between January and February (this year it is February 19th), and it is a massive party.
Most Vietnamese honor the holiday by cooking special foods and cleaning out their homes. Traditional celebrations include making as much noise as possible in the streets to ward off evil spirits, parades with masked dancers (including Lion Dancing), and getting together with family (which is when elders offer red envelopes with money to children for good luck).
My favorite traditional greeting from Tet is: “Tiền vô như nước”, or “May money flow in like water.”
Have you celebrated the New Year in Vietnam? What were your favorite traditions?
Just keep spinning. — Arielle