well. that month disappeared.

suddenly it is two thousand and twelve. a month has passed with me thinking about posting some hanoi christmas photos. then christmas. and well here we are almost at vietnamese new year (tet) and almost ready to get on a plane back to australia (we are definitely ready mentally it is just the packing, work and organisation that is not quite there...) thinks have been a new level of chaos here, the much needed break is a bit like a mirage but we are unbelievably excited.
christmas was a low key affair in hanoi, with friends, plenty of wine, and a lot of fun. we roasted our very first turkey (homemade stuffing and all), managed to avoid electrocution from the oven that was not grounded (only vietnam), and got an entire meal on the table using one pan, no microwave, and pretty much every dish at our friends house. oh to have cleaners. 
we also have suffered through the coldest week in years and working between christmas and new years. no fun at all. thankfully we are now enjoying hanoi as it becomes busier than imaginable preparing for tet. there is a sort of excitement and chaos in the city that reflects our lives quite appropriately. apparently during the actual holiday the city is dead but we will be somewhere sunny by then.
part of the novelty of the new year, is everybody purchasing mandarin trees, strapping them on the back of their bike and negotiating hanoi traffic. the tree farm is just near our office so we encounter an amazing amount of them daily. just occasionally you see a collection of mandarins on the side of the road and think that perhaps someone didn't fair so well in the traffic. they are quite impressive, still managing to text with one hand on the bike, we captured some below.
we will be back in aus for a month so no posting for a while, will certainly be plenty of pictures after the honeymoon...