Christmas Eve 2006

At last, the year is coming to a close soon. This year's Christmas seemed to be better celebrated than the last. In HCM also, this Christmas was quite unusual. Maybe it's because this year's seemed to be better organised while also, more people were prepared to stay out later on the Eve of Christmas. The entire street was lighted up and closed to traffic. We just had to leave our bikes at the hotel near Benh Thanh Market and then walk all the way to Du Bach Church. Actually, it was quite easy. All we had to do was to follow the throng and walked down the main street. Reminds me of the exodus from Egypt. Along the way, people would stop momentarily to poke fun at one another, take a couple of snapshots or throw "sprinkles" (not sure what you would call them but they were little tiny pieces of coloured papers. Selling like hotcakes along the streets). Hanh was so brave that she actually "ambushed" a senior police officer on duty! He had just taken off his helmet and Hanh just walked up from behind him and his bike, dropped a handful over his head and disappeared in the crowd. I am not sure how the general reaction was like but boy, was he mad! He turned around to see who did it. His younger colleagues laughed and he calmed down. According to Yen, he was telling the rest that he was afraid of the itch during the rest of his shift.

Along the way, people (even perfect strangers) would "sabo" one another. There was this poor couple on this bike. The bf tried to ride through the crowd and he pressed his horn. BIG mistake. It was like shaking the hornets' nest. Suddenly, everyone just downloaded the whole load of sprinkles from their hands onto them! Worse yet, as we walked abit further down the path, we found out where they got these sprinkles from. Yea, they recycled! So we realised it wasn't just papers that they were throwing at one another!

Foreigners were not spared. Only those who sat inside the resturants and cafes were lucky. Saw an American lady turned around, grabbed some from the floor and threw back at somebody else. Everyone was laughing. Anyway, life went on. The merriment went on till pretty late into the night. We saw the old and the young along the streets; beggars and peddlars, and friends and strangers. People greeted one another, "Merry Christmas". For us, it's been a while since we last met. Tai finally found his beloved Princess who lives in Dalat. Tai has a double-degree (in Business Management and Accountancy). His girl will be embarking on medicine soon too. Tai's brother is also a doctor but for some reason, he did not make it into medicine. I feel very happy for them because I think the future in VN belongs to them. People with aspirations and healthy zest for life and they found each other.

Caught a few shots of Tai trying to carry Ngoc, who is like a younger sister to him, down the street. Unfortunately, because I wasn't prepared for the impromptu takes, most of the pictures were blurred. (Bad elements for photography actually:- close range, dimly-lit street, and SPORTS mode. Or the D50 wasn't well-designed for quick settings like the Canon?) Tried rear-synch but my panning was bad. Anyway ... will memorise the buttons later.