Expats look forward to ‘sensible’ normalcy after Tet

“My family and I drove to Can Gio beach and met friends inside the city to enjoy Tet. I am very happy that we could do it amidst Covid,” said Hannah Jefferys, a British businesswoman living in HCMC.

Jefferys said she was not worried about the virus because people around her were vaccinated, maintaining the habit of washing hands, wearing masks and “being sensible about avoiding infection risks.”

She had not wanted to travel very far, wanting to stay away from crowds because she was pregnant.

She felt relaxed at the beach in Can Gio, which is about 50 kilometers from HCMC downtown. She enjoyed barbecues and coffee inside the city, which was quiet than normal, while her 3-year-old daughter got to play and talk with her friends’ kids after the long social distancing period last year.

While she feared that a new outbreak might occur after Tet, she hoped the authorities will handle the situation ably.

She wants to see people act sensibly and for the government to keep things under control as Vietnam was one of the most vaccinated countries in the world, Jefferys said.

As businesswoman, she said she did not want a return of restrictions that heavily affects business.

She also wished that authorities would hurry up and open more flights and services for tourism. This would facilitate family reunions after long separations as well as Vietnam’s economic recovery, she said.

Personally, she wants to fly home and visit other places within Vietnam in the coming months.

“Those activities will give people more confidence that things will get better and they can live without so many concerns,” Jefferys said.

American Granger Whitelaw said he and his Vietnamese fiancé stayed and spent Tet in HCMC because it was a perfect time for the family to stay put, as they have a four-month baby.

They went to relatives’ houses, exchanged lucky money gifts and had many festive meals, played crab chicken game, a Vietnamese gambling dice game usually played during Tet, went swimming and shopping.

Whitelaw said he comfortable with “living with Covid” as people have been vaccinated and most people demonstrate they are being careful by wearing masks.

After seeing high travel demand during Tet, Whitelaw was concerned that there might be another wave in Vietnam. So he would limit going out for the next few weeks.

In the long term, he supported Vietnam resumning activities for economic benefit, Whitelaw said. Tourists from other countries should be welcomed because tourism is a major source of national revenue; and foreign investors and skilled workers need to be allowed to enter Vietnam for business development, he said.

Valentin Orange, a Frenchman living in Hanoi, said he and his Vietnamese wife went to Son Tay, 40 kilometers away from the capital city, to celebrate Tet. They visited her big family, and enjoyed many traditional meals.

Orange said he was not anxious about Covid because most people were vaccinated and wore masks in public spaces.

“I was delighted that we could hang out and cheer in the streets like we are back to normal.”

Orange said the Tet travel rush was predictable but he supposed there would be less severe cases like in Europe after Christmas holidays when most of Vietnam’s population got two shots of vaccine. Therefore, he looked forward to seeing people “live with Covid and move on.”

He also hoped he could welcome his family from France to Vietnam again.

More normal

Srimanta Jena, an Indian in Hanoi, chose to stay in the city and kept the restaurant he manages open during Tet.

With many customers and friends coming, he was busy and felt very good watching people exchange lucky money and wishes for the New Year. People were behaving like before the pandemic, thanks to vaccines.

Jena said he hoped things would become more normal in Vietnam next month, but also wanted authorities to implement strictly the regulations on wearing masks and limiting the gathering of people in large numbers.

British woman Yasmin Carmen McMahon, another Hanoi expat, traveled to Da Nang and Hoi An during the holiday.

Yasmin Carmen McMahon in Hoi An during Tet. Photo courtesy of Yasmin Carmen McMahon

She saw people taking selfies, drinking coffee and splashing around in the pool. While people were having a good time, they were still being careful, she noted.

She said she did worry about Covid, but the number of cases in Vietnam was lower than in other countries. As it was not going away in the foreseeable future, McMahon wanted to “start over” and enjoy life again in a safe way. She said both her income and quality of life had been affected adversely by the pandemic.

“Taking precautions is important but this special time will never come back, so spending it with loved ones is also significant.”

McMahon said the mass gathering of people will naturally lead to an increase in cases, but she believed that with more people being vaccinated there would be less hospitalizations.

She also said she wished for rapid resumption of international flights.

“It’s been really hard not being able to fly home or they coming here. I think a lot of businesses would benefit from tourism. I can’t wait to travel more.”