While officially an atheist country the idea of Christmas has been embraced by Vietnamese everywhere. Santas are all over the place, everyone wishes you a Merry Christmas, stores are decorated, and Christmas trees and music are everywhere. It’s probably not what Ho Chi Minh had in mind back in ’54.
Christmas garb for the little ones.
Stores decked out for the holidays.
And then last night in the Metropole Lounge, on Christmas Eve, we were treated to carolers singing all your favorite Christmas tunes in Vietnamese. Watch this (two apologies: video is only in SD because our internet bandwidth is limited so an HD video wouldn’t finish uploading and second, lock your orientation on your device before watching as I screwed up recording):
With a guitar accompaniment the whole effort was just so earnest and warm. Here they had gone out of their way to learn Christmas carols and present them to what is nearly a 100% American and European guest list at the Metropole. It was very, very sweet and another indicator of just how warm and friendly the Vietnamese people really are.
To all our friends and family who we’ve missed over the holidays while on our around the world trip, Merry Christmas! We hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season.
