So it’s Christmas Day here Vietnam. It might be a bit quieter than usual, but for most locals, it’s business as usual. After last nigh’s Christmas Eve dinner, we’ve not been up to much today. We ate a tasty breakfast at a popular western café called Six on Six and then zigzagged our way back home through alleys and narrow lanes. We took the above shots in one of them.

Love getting a glimpse of everyday life and greeting folks on walks like today’s. While perhaps shyer than Thais, I find Vietnamese to be just as friendly and easy-going. And I thoroughly prefer the color palette and architecture here.

We’ve seen plenty of pimped-out Christmas trees and heard more than enough of the classic tunes these last few weeks. I wonder if it’s not the emperor’s new clothes at play here. Because most folks I know flee to faraway lands like Vietnam just to avoid the Christmas frenzy, not be immersed in it.

The Vietnamese do seem to have embraced the colorfulness of the Christmas holiday. I get that. And I think they just enjoy celebrating – regardless really of why or where the tradition comes from.

But if someone conducted a survey, I’d wager a pretty penny that few Da Nangers could explain why westerners worship old men with fluffy, white beards, plastic trees with little balls hanging from its branches and yearn to listen countless times to songs like Jingle Bells and Last Christmas.