We feel like we have done so much already!

To answer a question…no bassinette. We could not get the bulkhead seats, and the floor bassinette seemed a joke. It was a basket they forced into the space at your feet. Walker would much rather lay in our arms, so he did! And in vehicles here there are no such things as car seats, so he rides in the ergo…or on the floorboard..or in a regular seat. Whatever woks. Feels racy and dangerous! But not as dangerous as the kids we see riding with their parents on motorbikes! Whoa nelly!

So far we have had some incredible food, and upon wakening this morning i immediately thought about what we might have for breakfast! Perhaps a tasty loaf of French bread with scrambled eggs? or maybe a ham sandwich with cucumbers? We ate with the Curry’s at an Anthony Bourdain recommended restaurant where they cook rice in clay pots.


Then they smash the clay pot and Throw the rice to the waiter who delivers it to your table! There were lots and lots of loud smashes! We had crab, and a Vietnamese pancake, some pork with oddly cooked whole egss, delicious ginger chicken, and some spiced tofu that was so incredibly flavorful! It is fun eating with the Curry’s and their 3 kids..it makes for a rambunctious group!


this is a dragon fruit. it tastes a little like kiwi! you scoop it out with a spoon!

Yesterday nikki & philip’s driver took us all to the Cu Chi tunnels. It was an interesting day, as we drove in the country and saw rural life. A nice relief from the city. The tour of the tunnels was interesting…good to learn a little about the war from the Vietnamese perspective. Basically, the americans came in and killed these people’s families and they were forced to fight back in any way they could. And they were PISSED. And they won. And they are proud. Jamie got to shoot a M-60 machine gun. Silas shot an AK-47. We have footage! Our guide was quirky and I enjoyed him. His father died from wounds he received in the war, but he fought in the north as a Vietnamese Liberation Freedom fighter AKA Viet Cong. The area we were in was totally saturated with agent orange, and we saw some huge bomb craters. Silas wanted to say we were from Canada, but I told our guide we were Americans and he did not seem to care.

Walker is charming everyone he sees. When they say the Vietnamese love babies, they were not exaggerating. People laugh and smile and clap their hands and run over and ask to hold him. We say no. then they grab his hands and some kiss his face, and they absolutely love him. Needless to say, he loves this attention, too, and delights everyone by waving and smiling. People are also interested in the ergo, as they do not have such baby carriers.

After the tunnels we went to a floating restaurant on the Saigon river. There was a cool breeze from the river and some fans they had on…it felt amazing! And we watched large chunks of greenery float by, saw a boat pushing a huge pallette of dirt upriver, and had an incredible meal. zeb ordered the fried grasshoppers, and most of us ate some! They were tasty, reminded us of something we had had before. Jamie said they were a little leggy. But we had some more pork, some tasty springrolls, shrimp, and some most excellent sautéed morning glory vine. I felt this was in incredibly special meal and place…I absolutely loved it.

We walked up to a huge temple after th meal and found it to be a war memorial. There were 57,000 losses on the US side and 3 million on the Vietnamese side. This temple had plaques covering the walls listing the names of the dead. Truly amazing. They had incredible pictorial tile murals, large brass swans, and a huge gong which they hit several times while we were there. The gong guy was reallllly happy to see walker!

Today we change hotels and are planning on taking it easy. Walker needs a break, and so do we. We have been strangely tired due to jet lag, but all slept well last night so hopefully we are moving towards our regular sleeping schedule! So a day of exploring Saigon is ahead, but in a casual, lazy way.