If you're in Vietnam. It's time to don that tacky red jacket, play and eat till you burst.
Yes, it's the Lunar New Year; It is the time you stop working every day, starting a series of days of meetings, festivities and parties. The Spring Festival, as it is known, usually lasts for 15 days from the first day of the lunar calendar (February 15 in 2017), and is the time when families get together to ring in the changes.
While most will go to any lengths to get home to see the family, for some it's a chance to travel, if only to get away from nagging relatives and red packet-hungry colleagues and friends. If you are looking forward to making the experience, here are some tips for interesting destinations in Vietnam during Tet holidays.
Hanoi
Hanoi, one of the most beautiful of the colonial Indochinese cities, is often the start or end point of a trip to Vietnam, and what a great welcome or farewell it is. Oozing with charm, Hanoi has gone through wholesale changes since Vietnam swung open its doors to tourism, but it remains true to its essential personality and is an amazing city to experience.
Hanoi has a number of lovely parks and museums where you can while away the hours of a warm summer's afternoon -- Lenin Park, south of Hoan Kiem district and just north of Bay Mau Lake are among the most popular, especially on holidays, when it's packed with picnickers.
In winter months, you can find yourself a cozy cafe to snuggle up in, or find a streetside restaurant boiling up a pot of something belly-warming and delicious. While Hanoians are certainly happy to be free of the French occupation, they continue to embrace French culinary culture.
Finally, the people of Hanoi are some of the warmest and most approachable in the country. Though English is not as commonly spoken as in the South, many of the older generation have a working vocabulary of French. Regardless of language, people will attempt to have a conversation with you irrespective of whether you can understand them. Many of the city's cyclo drivers speak some English and often have intriguing pasts that they are now willing to discuss with foreigners.
Ha Long Bay
A cruise on Ha Long Bay -- or the Bay of the Descending Dragon - for many represents the pinnacle of their experience in Vietnam. Easily one of the most popular destinations in the country, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Ha Long Bay is both mystical and magnificent, an incredible feat of nature that almost never fails to impress.
Last time we counted, UNESCO had picked out 830 World Heritage sites around the world, chosen for their cultural and historical importance, and also for their geological uniqueness. Ha Long Bay offers a little of all three.
It's not the cliffs themselves that make Ha Long Bay unique, but rather their sheer number. A huge bay, dotted with nearly 2,000 mostly uninhabited limestone cliffs, the breathtaking scenery is very similar to that of the Andaman coast of Thailand, Vang Vieng in Laos and Guilin in China.
Created over millions of years, tectonic forces slowly thrust the limestone above the water-line. During this process waves lapping against the stone carved out a number of vast, striking caverns, as well as other geologically interesting formations, such as tunnel caves and uniquely shaped massifs.
Over the ages, Vietnamese fishermen with too much time on their hands began to see shapes in the stone massifs atop many of the islands, and named the islands accordingly -- Turtle Island, Human Head Island, Chicken Island and so on.
In what constitutes one of the most fascinating cultural features of the area, some of these fisherman still live on the bay today - on floating fishing villages, where houses are set atop barges year round, the inhabitants catching and cultivating fish throughout.
Hoi An
Pale yellow houses draped in bougainvillea, shop fronts lit with the glow of silk lanterns, women in conical hats lifting baskets of slippery fish from their boats -- life in old town Hoi An looks like a picture postcard of a Vietnamese country town. Of course, that didn't happen by accident. In 1999, the riverside town was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in an effort to preserve its core of historic architecture, a unique mix of Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and European styles. The listing gave Hoi An resources and impetus to better protect and maintain its wonderful architecture, and to market itself as a tourist destination. It worked, and the town now attracts visitors by the droves.
Ho Chi Minh City
As Ho Chi Minh City's cyclo drivers rest easy below vast neon billboards, the emerging Vietnamese middle class -- mobile phones in hand -- cruise past draped in haute couture on their imported motorcycles. Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City -- Vietnam's largest and most exciting city.
Towering developments now pierce what was once a very low-key skyline. Five-star hotels and international shopping chains have replaced dowdy government guesthouses and empty shelves. Saigon has some of the best cuisine in the country, from cheap street eating to salubrious haute cuisine. A renewed interest in the arts has stimulated the art scene and many galleries and museums are slowly being spruced up. For a tourist there is a lot to do in Saigon.
And once you're done with the city, use it as a base to explore the surrounds -- head out to the tunnels at Chu Chi, the Cao Dai temple at Tay Ninh or jet off to the sublime Con Dao. Then there's the entire Mekong Delta to explore.
Da Lat
There is a reason why this beautiful city is very well-known with all the lovely-dovey couples and honeymooners. Being the capital city of Lam Dong province, Da Lat is called “The city of Eternal Spring” with lovely French villas, the fresh air, green valley and beautiful pine forests.
There is no need to worry about what to do in Dalat during Tet, as there are a lot of tourist attractions you would want to see: the imposing 2167m Langbiang Mountain where the trekkers wouldn't be disappointed with such a challenge which gives you a marvellous view of the whole wide floral city, the Paradise Lake - a big tourist attraction with a breathtaking view and an unique way of camping, health caring, trekking, mountain climbing, fishing and the famous Truc Lam zen monastery as well as taste some specialties of Dalat, drink Can wine, and enjoy Horse or Elephant riding. Another suggested highlight is to visit the beautiful French villas and the replica of the Eiffel Tower which have given Dalat the name of “Le Petit Paris” (A Little Paris).
Some might prefer the summer’s heat in Vietnam and spend the day sunbathing at the beach, some might want to travel at a different time to explore Vietnam without any closed shop and easier to travel with several of open bus tour. But also, to a lot of tourists who have come to Vietnam during Tet Holiday, they know this country is not just about having beautiful beaches, landscapes or good food, there are much more on discovering their traditional culture, and we hope you will gladly find out about them with a trip to Vietnam this coming Tet.