Felt slightly strange being back in Ho Chi Minh without Debs and Jamie being there…especially as we’d manage to get an airbnb in their old apartment block. I’d had such fun times here before so it felt very special to share it with the rest of the clan…
Ho Chi Minh formally Saigon (or depending on who you are chatting to still Saigon) is a vibrant, energetic city full to bursting with motorbikes and covered in a deep haze for most of the day. We’ve noticed the pollution in the cities we’ve been to has been crazy….
We took a speedboat down the Mekong River to the Cu Chi Tunnels, it’s the third time I’ve done this trip and you learn something new every time. Last time I came I was heavily pregnant with G and had no chance of squeezing myself and bump into the tiny tunnel and remember finding it very amusing when Jamie got stuck with his incredibly broad shoulders…no such trouble this time….we all squeezed in to the tiny tunnel! The kids were fascinated with the history and after E approached the long tunnels with a little trepidation she followed her brother to the furthest point they could go. The shooting range in the middle of the jungle was a bit bizarre and we were slightly taken back by the enthusiasm of those in our group who couldn’t wait to fire a submachine gun and AK47….no need to guess their nationality! There was some excitement on the way back when the speedboat came to a rather abrupt stop in the middle of the rather busy Mekong River and we started to drift quite purposefully towards the columns of a large bridge. After some subtle panic, knives were brandished and some rather energetic hacking of some rope which had attached itself to the outboard motor ensued. Thankfully the current took us wide of the bridge column and we then just had to keep an eye on avoiding the huge barges! As E pointed out at least there’s no hippos or crocodiles in the water so we can swim if we needed to….
After a quick revision on Jamie’s Vietnamese negotiation skills audio guides we hit the Ben Thanh market…..can safely say that J would be horrified by my attempts. After some pretty aggressive haggling on my part I believed I’d got myself a real bargain and excitedly told Pads about my expert negotiation skills…..as he responded with a “you paid what?” An awful realisation hit that I’d got my zero’s confused and had in fact paid £15 for something that should have been £1.50….I did wonder why the lady was staring at me with an enormous smile on her face…am now banned from any future market engagements…..
We got the amazing gift of a cooking lesson at Saigon Cooking School from D&J for Christmas….Pads couldn’t have been more excited and I think had secretly been rewatching Masterchef Australia to get himself ready. I was a little concerned when the instructor chef appeared to be the twin sister of Monica Galetti – equally as scary and not sure I believed her when she said that this should be fun. Oh my goodness – I found it so stressful I nearly cried…I literally felt like I was taking part in one of those Masterchef challenges where you had to follow the chef but with the added stress of making sure two little people didn’t cut their fingers off or burn the place down. E was determined to use the massive cleaver knife in a rather flamboyant fashion and nearly took the arm off of the person next to her whilst G was copying his dad intently…so much so that he didn’t realise he’d set his cooking apron on fire and only realised when one of the assistants started dousing him in water. Unsurprisingly Pads was in his element, overflowing with confidence until he realised he’d put waaaay to much chilli in his dipping sauce but was far too proud to admit it…..he styled it out well. We cooked three not only edible (that would have been enough for me) but delicious dishes and more importantly after I’d got over my initial shock spent most of the lesson laughing at the back of the class..
A poignant trip to the War Remnants museum formally know as The Museum of America War Crimes seemed a fitting way to reflect on the journey this beautiful country has taken, the resilience of it’s people and a lesson in forgiveness. No words can really describe the brutality of the Vietnam War and the impact it had on families across the country but the few hours we spent here meant that we all learned an awful lot. The country seems to be changing at such a rapid pace that it was a real blessing to be able to still experience some of the traditional aspects it offers whilst also revelling in the excitement of the new…
Vietnam – I’m sure we’ll be back……
Worldwide Wanderers 