New Year's Eve comes at 10:30pm in Can Tho!

We started off with New Year's Even with a bang, or at the very least, some enthusiasm:

Stacy and I stopped at a party store in SF before getting on the plane to pick up
these important pieces of  medical equipment

Our fearless leaders

crawfish delish

TyTy, Abi, and Hoa

We enjoyed traditional Vietnamese music:

And Flecher busted out his trumpet in a valiant attempt to match the different-toned scale....

We had some toasts and good food, but got a little antsy (or really, mosquito-y) by around 10pm. Our great idea-- head back to our Sweet Sweet Home and walk around the typically bustling riverfront area. To our surprise, this is what we came upon:

This night market is usually 2 or 3 scooters deep to get into the stalls.

This is "the main drag" in our part of the city.

This was the street around the corner from the hotel. At 11pm. 

Cultural note: Western New Year's Eve is really not a big deal in Vietnam. Tet is coming up next month and that carries a lot more weight!

New Year's Day was a day off for us on the team. I lazed around a little bit, ate some cuttlefish,

read (Pete Townshend's autobiography-- interesting gossip, but flatly and angrily told, I think), wandered around (this is my 4th time here and I am -finally- developing a sense of where different streets go!), and met up for dinner with folks from the team. 

Can't get enough of photos of seemingly-impossible-to-carry things being carried on scooters?
I recommend the book, Bikes of Burden. 

Life, particularly in the Mekong Delta area, is lived outside. Eating,haircuts, sleeping....

Along the Mekong right outside my door!

Container ship bringing bikes down the river. 

Getting your bike across the river

This is a tiny roundabout

Teenage life on the sidewalk

getting a little busier

The highlight of my (almost every) night in Can Tho-- this is the vendor for my favorite dessert--
a thin crepe-y waffle that rolls up a mixture of sticky yellow and black rice, shredded creamy baby coconut,
sugarcane paste, and  chopped peanuts.
30 cents.
But really, priceless.
And I could finally pull together enough Vietnamese to understand that the woman was asking for 6000 VND, not 3000! A small but significant victory for me.

A delicious way to start the New Year. Back to surgery screenings at the hospital tomorrow!