There are quite a few holidays here in Vietnam that are celebrated only by Vietnam and this is understandable. All countries have a certain day or days which are instrumental to their unique history and while I could kind of guess what the "reunification" actually was based on somewhat recent history, I wasn't entirely sure what it was celebrating.
April 30th celebrated the day that the North and South of Vietnam were made into one nation again by the North taking control of what was then called Saigon and is now Ho Chi Minh City. On a side note most people that live in what was previously South Vietnam still refer to the city as Saigon and the airport code remains SGN. I have no idea how the government feels about that but maybe it isn't up to them. No idea!
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I didn't take the above image nor would I attend one of there ceremonies anyway. I don't know how appropriate it would be for an American to attend one of these things seeing as how it was my nationality that was pretty instrumental in why a reunification was necessary in the first place. We'll save the rather strange lack of a grudge towards Americans in this country for another day though.
This multi-day public holiday that is taking place this weekend celebrated multiple holidays back to back and one of the other holidays is Labor day - which is a holiday that I don't understand in my own country let alone this one and I should probably look that one up rather than just remain ignorant.
Most public services are shut down and banks and government services for the most part do not operate on these days. Many restaurants, bars, and shops also close on these days because the staff are generally expected to return home to visit their families. The expat oriented places that I tend to go to are normally still open though.
To me, I don't really get involved in the public holidays but merely just need to plan ahead in order to not need to use an ATM during these days because they will certainly run out of cash on the very first day. This is a real problem in Vietnam: Any public holiday results in the ATM machines being empty for quite some time. Thankfully I planned ahead and I don't need to use one. I would imagine that just like during holidays in the past that I will end up becoming an ATM machine for my friends who did NOT plan ahead.
The main thing that I enjoy about this holiday is the fact that the never-ending construction noise has taken a several day break along with all the other stuff that is shut down.
This is a shot taken from my balcony just a few minutes ago. That construction site is a brand new one that is almost exactly across the street from my bedroom window. They do obey the noise laws as they kind of exist but they are allowed to start banging and cutting things at 7am and trust me, they start doing exactly that at right around 7:01. This part of it doesn't really bother me that much because I know that I need to wake up earlier than I will do if left to my own devices. What bothers me is the fact that the banging and cutting and throwing of materials and backing up of cement trucks goes on all damn day every day and the only way I can get away from it is to close all my windows and doors. I can still hear it a bit even with this but it helps.
Today, I am sitting at my desk and I can actually hear the nearby ocean waves and some birds in the trees talking to each other. It is truly glorious and it is times like these that make me wish for additional public holidays. It is truly majestic how much we take quiet for granted. In the past 3 years it has become one of my favorite things.
Of course I can still hear the excessive use of horns on the roads down below but that's what I get for intentionally moving into a city with a population of over a million people.
I look forward to today and tomorrow as they are both holidays. It is going to hurt me a little bit more when they come back on Wednesday with what is bound to be a newfound fury for noise-making though.