Family in Viet Nam

Dear lovely reader,

Welcome to my second blog series of Saigon, Viet Nam. Today was really special because I met my family in Viet Nam for the first time. I think I was one of the two voyagers, out of the entire ship who could say, “I’m going to visit my family in Viet Nam.” The other was my friend, Angela, who has been back home to Viet Nam twice now and has been a really good friend throughout my entire Saigon port experience.  I didn’t know what to expect because I had never seen a picture of my family there before. But I had been emailing my cousin Nhung, who was the best at speaking English over there. She was asking me of what I wanted to do in Viet Nam and if I had any plans, but I honestly couldn’t give her a definite answer. I’ve learned that I love travelling with no plans, but exploring with a full heart and open eyes. I think that’s one of the differences between being a tourist and being an explorer. Being a tourist, you’re almost contained to buying tours, buying trips to the point where you can’t stray off your path. But being an explorer, you’re free to do what you want within reason, and if you’re really good, you’ll find something that will set your heart free.

Nhung had already given me the address of her home. So my job was to get a taxi from the port terminal to Binh Thanh district where she lives. I’m amazed by taxi drivers in Viet Nam because they navigate themselves so well in some of the craziest traffic sights I have ever seen. You’d see mostly mopeds and taxis dominating the streets, no real crosswalks, traffic lights, or intersections anywhere. And then you’ll see pedestrians trying to look both ways of the street, practically dodging bullets as they walk through everything. It is insane. But it’s really exhilarating going across these streets, you feel like a local already. But the taxi ride there to Nhung’s house was probably only 20 minutes away from where we docked and they’re pretty cheap. I asked the taxi driver in Vietnamese if this stop was the right stop. It looked like a very busy street of markets and shops. But he indeed stopped at the right place. Thing is, houses in Viet Nam will most likely be placed behind the commotion of all the shops where you can find them by going through a narrow pathway. Sure enough, I found the house I was looking for. I brought my Cindy and Bridget along with me to meet my family too. Cau Hai, Mo Hai, Nhung was there to greet me with a warmness I haven’t felt in a while. I haven’t been around my culture for so long. Back at home, family is the most important part of me. So seeing them, even for the first time, I felt a piece of home and everything great that comes with being at home. Cau Hai and Mo Hai (Uncle #2, Aunt #2, names are in order of the eldest) told me I look like my Mom. Ma Thu and Mo Nam tell me the same, probably because I’m getting older now. I remember when I was little, everyone told me I looked a lot like my Dad. We settled for an hour, showed pictures of Mom and James. I wish they were with me to visit Viet Nam, maybe in the near future we will. I told my family about my plans to go to Vung Tau, a town south of Saigon and a part of the Mekong Delta. Friends and I were planning to go there by taxi, the ride would  be about an hour, like the ride from Orange County to San Diego. But Nhung and everyone else were very kind enough to make some calls, and book a 15-seat private bus to Vung Tau, round-trip to Vung Tau. Already within two hours, they were already helping me make my experience in Viet Nam as comfortable as possible. You can call that family, helping each other, no strings attached, just an open heart.

Afterwards Nhung, Tieng, Lieng, Cindy, Bridget, and I spent the entire afternoon today. Nhung helped me exchange some money right down the street on her moped. First but certainly not the last experience I had behind the moped. Even though the ride lasted for about two minutes, I felt that local rush and how freakin’ awesome it was to be on the backseat. But I’m pretty sure if I was steering, I wouldn’t have lasted :). Then us gals went to go eat at Pho 24, which had the reputation of being the best pho restaurant in Saigon. I ordered what I would normally order back home, Pho Tai. And I swear, that first sip of the broth and bite of beef was just what I needed after such a long time. I’m not gonna lie, I got hit by the “small portion restaurant effect” again. I was a little embarrassed because in my head, all I kept thinking was ordering another bowl of Pho to really fill me up. But one bowl was enough to keep my tummy happy, after all I hadn’t eaten Pho in like a month. Nhung was like a ninja and paid for our entire meal… I was beginning to learn that we would have to battle on who would pay what for the entire trip. Vietnamese friends and families are probably the most stubbornly nicest people on the planet. So quick hands on paying for this and that was a must, because I really didn’t want Nhung to pay for anything, she was already doing too much by showing us around and taking us places. We stopped by a small market in a shopping mall to buy some snacks and hygiene essentials. My cousins were helping me pick out what they recommended for me. It was really cool because I’ve never really interacted with anyone in my family near my age. I’m kinda used to being the youngest in the family – on both my Mom and Dad side. And before I could grab my money, Nhung had already paid for my bag of stuff. I knew this was going to be exhausting because I knew I had taken out more than enough money to last 6 days. I was going to have to budget well to figure out what I wanted to gift them in return. The plan was to meet Angela, Cassie, and Chelsea back at Angela’s Aunt’s house after dinnertime because her house had enough room to accommodate all of us. So being girls, we decided to spend the rest of our time shopping at Ben Thanh Market. This market was this huge, huge warehouse of tiny shops at every side and corner, selling clothes, accessories, souvenirs, anything you would want to buy at first sight. But I’ve been making a habit of collecting bracelets from each port and decided to buy two bracelets that I really adored. Nhung helped me bargain, 2 for 100,000 dong, or 5 USD, which wasn’t bad at all. Comparing bargaining in Shanghai to bargaining in Saigon, Vietnamese people are much more stubborn and set with their prices than Chinese people are. I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing or maybe they just don’t deviate too far from their standard prices. But I got what I wanted while Nhung also helped Bridget and Cindy haggle and buy two lovely sunhats. Shopping in Ben Thanh Market had already taken a lot out of me because I was sweating bullets at that point. We cooled off by drinking coconut and sugar cane juice – which is so top notch and cheap in Viet Nam than you can ever find anywhere else. It’s really fun that a lot of outdoor food vendors are so accessible in Viet Nam. You can just turn the next corner and find something you’d like to eat there.

By that time it was already a good time to take a taxi back to the house and eat some dinner. I swear, dinner at Cau and Mo Hai’s house had absolutely all my favorite tastes in Vietnamese food. We had pork and egg, Banh Chung, Can Chua, Rice, Orange Grapefruit, and these really addicting sweet and sour pickles. I think I was the saddest when I was starting to get full and didn’t want to get full because dinner was just its best. I praised Mo Hai and my cousins for cooking dinner because I haven’t had a homemade meal in so long, felt right at home.

After dinner had ended and Cindy, Bridget, and I were to catch a taxi ride back to Angela's Aunt’s house, I thanked my family as hard and much as I could for such an amazingly fun first day with them. I made sure that Nhung, Lieng and Tieng had to join my friends and I to our trip to Vung Tau. I was visiting my family under the impression that I would do separate things and hang out with my family for only one day and hanging out with my friends for the rest. But after one day, I knew I didn’t want that to happen. My cousins were so easy and fun to be around. The next few days with them would be really special.

Thank you for reading my blog. This blog was entirely based on my second day in Saigon. And I loved every minute of it. I’m desperately trying to write all my stories and blogs before my next school day. So please be patient on updates and emails. But I miss you all.

All love and hope,

Kimmy

“Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius