On the Eve of Christmas....

we partied like it was the coming new year...seriously! If you combine New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square and on the Vegas Strip you may have something similar to Christmas Eve in Ho Chi Minh City. I told Troy that for Christmas Eve I would like to have an early dinner and then scooter around town to see the lights, thinking this would be a low key night and a way to feel more festive. Little did I know what we were in for. Hours before leaving for our activity we were warned about the crowds and traffic, so we ditched the scooter and took a taxi. Our night was spent walking around in a sea of jubilant Vietnamese people celebrating the novelty of Santa Claus, lights, and snow in a can.

Tree made of gift boxes outside Caravelle Hotel

Angels lining the streets.

Our friends from San Francisco, Jeff and Diana Zisselman, are here doing business in Vietnam along with Troy and decided to join us on our adventurous Christmas Eve. Jeff grew up in NYC and was shocked with the crowds in HCM. His biggest surprise was that it was a friendly, peaceful crowd....very little police around, only to direct traffic. 

Snow in a can. I have never seen this before but it has a foamy wet texture. Kids were spraying snow on each other and innocent bystanders (me!).

The heart of downtown Saigon. The glowing ball in the back is  wishing a Happy New Year 2013.

Tree in front of Vincom2.

Yellow flowers strung across the street. Each street was decorated with a different flower and color.

The historical cathedral downtown.

Drey missed the entire party...he was out at 6:30 and didn't budge amongst all the noise and crowds.

I do have to say that Vietnam really knows how to decorate their city. Christmas trees and lights were everywhere. It was nice to have some kind of acknowledgement of Christmas to help from missing home.