The last year has been one of the best in our lives. It was all about change, risk, adventure, and discovery. We took, what some would consider, a crazy leap of faith, and although we can’t say what the future holds, we wouldn’t change a thing. The experiences that we’ve had in the last year are more than most could hope for in a lifetime. We are amazed and so grateful when we look back on it all. Continue reading 2014 In Review – Part 1
Tag Archives: Ho Chi Minh City
Friends Abroad
When you decide to travel long-term, many wonderful experiences lay before you, but you must also be willing to leave behind the comforts of home and loved ones. Of course, in today’s world it is easy to stay in touch with tools like Skype, Facebook, WhatsApp, and email. They all go a long way toward combating homesickness. With technology, you can often feel just as “in touch” when you are thousands of miles from home as you did when you were actually there.
We enjoy seeing what everyone is up to on Facebook and scheduling calls with friends and family, but the absolute best treat is when people come to visit. Not only do we get to see them in-person, but we get to play host and share some of our adventures with them. Continue reading Friends Abroad
Pool Time in Saigon
When kids (and adults) are hot and tired after a day of sightseeing in Ho Chi Minh City, is it a nice treat to take a cool swim. But what if you don’t have a swimming pool? Well, there are plenty of hotels with pools in town that allow day passes to visitors. We chose the May Hotel because of the location and the reasonable price.
Van Thanh Park
When we were visiting friends in Ho Chi Minh City, we asked them to take us somewhere that our 8-year-old could run around and play outside. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we figured that we’d be happy with any open greenspace that had shade. We were very pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Van Thanh Park. It was huge, with over 13 acres of land and 6 acres of water. It’s a wonderfully green, tranquil, and well-designed space with plenty to keep both kids and adults entertained.
Continue reading Van Thanh Park
Renting in Saigon
When we travel, we stay in vacation rentals whenever possible. It’s just more comfortable, it’s a better deal than a hotel, and it makes you feel like a “temporary local”.
During our recent visit to Ho Chi Minh City, we rented from a great guy named Tram for our 6 night stay. We found the rental on Airbnb (my favorite travel website and tool).
Tram currently offers two apartments, both with great central locations. We prefer walking as our primary mode of transportation and these lodgings are within easy walking distance of Saigon’s most popular attractions and some great restaurants and cafes as well. Continue reading Renting in Saigon
Vietnamese BBQ
Some of our friends in Ho Chi Minh City took us to 5KU Station for Vietnamese BBQ. It’s a popular open-air restaurant filled mostly with locals, but there were a few tourists and expatriates there as well. Our table included all of the above.
The menu included both BBQ and hotpots. It was reasonably priced and varied. Tons of options from safe to adventurous. Diners have the option to cook their own or let the kitchen do it for them. I thought it would be fun to do it ourselves, so we opted to have the small clay pot grill brought to our table. This small table-top grill was filled with very hot coals, the real thing not charcoal, and then topped with a removable metal rack.
Thien Hau Temple in Saigon
When we were visiting Ho Chi Minh City, some of our local friends took us to visit the Thien Hau Pagoda in Chinatown.
Also known as Chua Ba, this beautiful and popular Saigon pagoda was built by the Chinese in the early 19th century and dedicated to Thien Hau, goddess of the sea and protector of sailors. It is believed that Thien Hau can travel over the oceans on a mat and ride the clouds to save people in trouble on the high seas.
Continue reading Thien Hau Temple in Saigon
World Games in Saigon
We have some friends from Portland that had plans to visit relatives in Saigon (the center of Ho Chi Minh City) at the end of June. Since we’d been hoping to visit Vietnam and we were already in Southeast Asia, we decided to meet them there. Our son went to school with their son. At the tender age of 8-years-old, Ethan is an intrepid traveler, but he does miss his friends.
We arranged to meet at the Vincom Center near Ho Chi Minh Square, so the kids could go to World Games, the biggest and most modern game center in the city. The kids had a blast playing arcade games and air hockey. In short, it was a great way to entertain two young kids that need a break from sightseeing.
World Games
B2 Floor, Vincom Center
Address: 72 Le Thanh Ton street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Website: http://www.vincomshoppingmall.com/vi-VN/VincomCenterHCM/ (in Vietnamese)
Tokens: 3.500 VND
Home-Cooked Vietnamese Meal in Ho Chi Minh City
There is something about sharing a meal that is universal. In every culture and throughout history this simple activity has represented friendship, peace, and hospitality. There’s a beautiful reciprocal nature to it – giving and receiving, generosity and thankfulness, and sometimes, even teaching and learning.
This being our first trip to Vietnam, and a short one at that, we wanted to be sure to meet some new people and share a home-cooked meal with them. It’s always an interesting bit of anthropology to be inside someone’s home and kitchen and to get a glimpse of their every day life.
We found Tiffany’s listing on http://www.withlocals.com. What stood out for us was, not only her friendly photo, but also the option to accompany her to the market and help her prepare the meal.
We arranged to meet Tiffany and her husband, Anh, at their apartment at 8:00am on a Thursday and then walked with them and their cute little dog, “Kitty”, to the local Tan Dinh market. When you are visiting new countries and climates, you will inevitably find some new fruit, vegetable, baked good, or drink that isn’t available at home.
Our hosts showed us around the market, pointing out items and answering our questions, as we collected our ingredients. It’s always helpful to have a local with you to explain what everything is. Should we peel it first? Is it ripe? Is it supposed to be hard and crunchy? Do you eat the seeds too? Are you supposed to eat it or is it just for flavor?
Shopping complete, we walked back to the apartment and began to prepare the meal. Andrew and I chopped and prepped the ingredients according to Tiffany’s directions and she did the real cooking.
Tiffany and Anh have a lovely home with a great sense of charm, color and decor. The kitchen is very welcoming and there is plenty of space for everyone to get involved. Visitors will notice that they have quite a collection of items throughout the house, because they also run an online business, called Nhà Có Hai Người, selling carefully curated secondhand housewares, home accessories, and decor. They sell mostly to locals that can pick up items in-person, but they will also mail items to those a little farther afield.
We ate our delicious meal together in the living room and enjoyed getting to know our hosts, learning about the food, the culture, and telling them about us and our travels.
Our son, Ethan, particularly enjoyed the opportunity to spend the day with their cute pets, 2 cats and 1 dog. He’s been missing his dog quite a bit and jumps at every chance he gets to pet and snuggle up to animals as we travel.
Overall a truly fantastic experience and worth every penny. If you visit Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), then we highly recommend taking Tiffany up on her offer of an authentic home-cooked Vietnamese meal.
https://www.withlocals.com/experience/truly-vietnamese-lunch-or-dinner-180c7ea4/
Meandering Family: Beyond the Nest 