Birthday In Vietnam - A Vietnamese Wedding

I had thought the rest of my photos of my Vietnam trip were gone after my hard disk came down with a severe virus infection. Thankfully, some of them were retrieved. What all this means is that there was quite a hiatus between this and Part 1 of the series of intended posts, however.

Anyway....

My Mum had told me originally that we would go somewhere posh to eat Pho on my birthday. That was before she remembered that she had promised to attend the wedding of a colleague's son. So that was how I was going to cross over into my 35th year (my birth cert says I was born at 9:07pm!)

Anyhow, my Mum had told me that it was being held at quite an upmarket restaurant by Vietnamese standards so the food should be good. The place was situated somewhere away from the city centre and the wedding was held in a large hall. It looked ok, but was markedly smaller than most of the grand ballrooms that one would find in the hotels in Singapore, though.







I was actually quite keen to see what the difference in spread was between a Singapore wedding and a Vietnamese one. And I wasn't disappointed. First up was a dish of cold shrimp and meat mixed with vegetables. I don't really eat my veggies so I can't really tell you much about it.



Next, they brought out a 'burner' with a covered dish cooking on top. We were to use the burner quite a lot for the rest of the night.



And the dish turned out to be.... Steamed Prawns, which, again, were ok, as they tasted to me like what large steam prawns taste the world over.




That was followed by grilled pork ribs, which went with 'Man Tou', or friend buns. They were nice, but had quite a lot of fat and were a little tough on my gappy teeth, resulting in rather heavy usage of the tooth picks.


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Then the 'burner' was called into use again. This time for a beef stew which went with sliced mini-bagguete loaves. This was a lot more tender and the broth very smooth.



Next, we had some kind of Vietnamese steamboat, which, for my uneducated pallete, tasted kind of like Singapore steamboat.



And then there was a typical platter of sliced fruits and then we were done! I couldn't believe it - that the dinner, although boisterous and very merry, could terminate so quickly. I think there is much to be said for a wedding dinner set up this way actually - it started on time, provided enough for everybody to eat, had a reasonable interval between dishes (not too draggy) and was bereft of all the long speeches, costume changes and tributes which make some weddings interminably in Singapore, when it seems that the couple and their family are trying too hard to show how important the occasion is to them (which of course it is, but still).

To put it bluntly, the Vietnamese system seems to draw a nice balance between people wanting to be present to share the joy (for a certain amount of time) but also having their own lives to lead on a weekend (which they are prevented from doing if the wedding drags on). There is no symbolic yam seng-ing where people try to hold the syllables for as long as possible. Their toasts are short and forceful, the Vietnamese equivalent of "Cheers!", I surmise.

There was some pre-wedding entertainment, this time in the form of a Spanish dance (which I unfortunately failed to snap, for the girls were quite comely) and a congratulatory speech but that was about it. We were not interrupted mid-dinner for another round of discourses or anecdotal stories, which suited me fine. Instead, guests were invited to show their appreciation by coming on stage to sing songs dedicated specially to the happy couple. I was surprised when singers were not only forthcoming but very, very good, ably backed up by a competent band who seemed to know the accompaniment for every song chosen. I asked my Mum if they were actually professional singers planted in the midst and that if everything was pre-planned but she assured me that they were all guests, for she knew some of them.



So that was it for my one and only Vietnamese wedding thus far.