Hanoi Celebrates 1000 Years!

The largest parade in Vietnam's history took place today on 10/10/2010 - the 1000th birthday of the city of Hanoi - originally called Thang Long.  There were 31,000 people IN the parade, millions lined the streets to watch.  The parade started in Ba Dinh Square,  pictured at the top of the blog.

There has been 10 days of activities and celebrations all around Hanoi culminating today.  The parade started at 8 am and the closing ceremony is going on now, as I write this, in a stadium not very far from where we live.  The traffic to get there is incredible, thousands of people headed to the stadium - we are at home!

There are just too many great photos to post, so here are a couple of links to help you enjoy the celebration.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/201010/Hanoi-in-full-festival-mode-938654/ - scroll down to the end of this and enjoy the pictures of the laser light show on Hoan Kiem Lake on Friday evening - here's a sample.

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/beautiful-vietnam/in-photos-parade-to-celebrate-hanois-1000th-birthday_5220.html - great parade pictures.  Our organization's personnel director was among those marching with the international friends in the last picture - unfortunately, she's not in the picture.

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/news/vietnam/military-puts-final-touches-on-1000-year-performance_4951.html - more parade pictures with some great closeups of the marching units.

http://www.dtinews.vn/news/beautiful-vietnam/100-models-showcase-vietnams-ao-dai-in-hanoi_5049.html

this link is a show of the traditional dress of Vietnam, the ao dai, pronounced ow zi - with a long i sound.  Here's a sample :