Three years ago, one of the expats decided to start his own tradition - Santarchy. While Santarchy was a way for expats to get together to go on a pub crawl around Ho Chi Minh City, it has become a showstopper for the locals. There are a number of Catholics in the country; however, a majority are Buddhists so Christmas is not a national holiday. While it wasn't the original purpose, it was a pleasant unintended consequence to bring some Christmas cheer to the local night life.
As with any expat event, there is always some theme attached, which in this case includes everyone dressed up in Santa outfits. A bicycle is souped up with a lit rudolph head affixed to a car battery and ipod tunes, with a cooler carrying roadies for all. During the pub crawl, traffic stops as locals take family pictures with the Santas. Even the billiard/bar girls stopped work for a bit to watch the festivities.
Note to self: flip flops are more conducive to pub crawls with uneven sidewalks than heels.
I should've organized something like that here..hmm there's still 1 year for planning :)
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