Streets scenes of Hanoi

The days leading up to Tet ended up being a great time to visit Hanoi. My first thought was the realization that nearly everything would be closed for the holiday, but outside of a few museums I had hoped to hit, we found plenty to do and eat. The best part of our timing was the frantic preparations by everyone in the city to prepare for New Year’s Eve with the families and friends feasting and getting together in all the neighborhoods of old Hanoi. The markets were jammed with people buying up everything under the sun to get ready including flowers, fruit, vegetables, live and recently live animals, and even potted peach trees in full blossom. We saw more than one of these tied to the back of scooters, which seem to defy the laws of gravity.