We traveled to Vietnam shortly after Tet, but it turned out that celebrations were still lingering, as we discovered on a visit to the Temple of Literature.

As we walked down the street toward the entrance, we stumbled on this bit of unexpected and unlikely art: A calligrapher was creating a giant scroll of poetry for the festival going on inside the temple. A thick crowd gathered as he made his way down the yards-long scroll, making deft and elegant brushstrokes.

Being in Vietnam for Tet would be a unique experience, but we were happy to discover, quite by chance, that traveling shortly the height of the holidays allowed us to enjoy some of the residual celebrations, too.