According to my experience, locals usually decorate the notice boards about a week before Tet. It means there are many activities preparing for the holiday happen around the boards. Tet, Lunar New Year holiday is the longest and most significant celebration to Vietnamese people. Its importance is like Christmas to westerners. The closer to Tet, the busier people are. Everyone seems to be in a hurry shopping, cooking, cleaning etc.

These scenes are heaven for street photography lovers. Taking photographs of the boards right before Tet has a unique attraction compared to doing so during the holiday. However, traffic in Hanoi these days would be a big challenge. Furthermore, even the most leisured photographers should be occupied with traveling and shopping like others. Therefore, the photos of freshly decorated boards with the vibrant life surrounding are often rare.

This year, I managed to have few pieces of this collection on the last day of lunar new year. These boards are in sub-lanes of a big lane in Kham Thien street, Dong Da district. The lane is also a wet market so the lively background then looked just good enough.


“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.”


Elliott Erwitt

It’s rare to find such a “tactical” location: 2 different boards at the head of 2 different lanes.
A vendor was processing chickens for customers. A whole boiled chicken is indispensable for New Year’s Eve offering.