As we got our feet under us in Ho Chi Minh, we slowly learned how to cross 6 lane roads packed full of motorbikes and eating on plastic stools in the street became the norm, but we wanted to start to branch out, learn more about the food, language and culture. Airbnb has "experiences" that we have looked at doing and tried one in Singapore but seemed perfect in Ho Chi Minh as it was hard to even know where to begin in this huge city.
The first trip was a 4 hour street food tour on motorbikes. Right on time, three delightful students showed up at our apartment and suddenly instead of fighting the motorbikes, we were one with them, part of the river of traffic navigating in and out of the mass of humanity. Frog, mango salads, sweet beef, blended soup, lotus flower tea; the night was a colorful blend of flavors, places, and experiences. At one point Isabelle was drinking this sweet drink full of fruit and roots, seeds, seaweed, and other non-identifiable plants and she looked at me and said, "we have come along way, I use to have to know what I was putting in my mouth, I have no idea what any of this is, but it is good." Yes, we have my dear.
The next day we did a full day tour of the Mekong Delta via bike and kayak, partially to see if we wanted to commit to a long bike trip with the girls. We chose a tour that touted "we don't go where tourist usually go" and he was right. It was a delightful day through the guide's village area, through canals on a kayak, floating markets and biking through towns on these little paths only suitable for walking, biking and motorbiking. It was such a different experience of the Ho Chi Minh and the surrounding Delta and the guide so great, we talked to him after the trip about setting up biking to Cambodia, which he agreed to do. One thing I have really enjoyed about Airbnb is you can stay in places and do things without huge masses of tourist and in this case meet an amazing guide who dropped his other tours for the week and biked with us to Cambodia.
The last tour we did was a "sidecar to the Cu Chi tunnels and farming cooking class." The sidecars were a traditional method of transportation in Vietnam before the population boom after the war and a fun way to see the countryside. More about the tunnels in the next blog, but the cars paired with the cooking class was a totally different and again great way to get to know a different side of life and what really is in all that crazy food we were eating.
Slowly we are learning our way around this new country and a new culture.
little one on the street food tour - full of new adventures
boats full of fresh produce on the Mekong Delta
The sights, the sounds, the colors.. you never knew what you would see next. More fruit making its way to market.
selling coconuts on the river
Many of the boats would hang out the food they would sell so you would know what boat you wanted to go to. Here is the fruit boat selling pineapples, bananas and durian.
so many smiling faces commuting on the river
making another trip
houses along the river, we were here in the dry season, so the river was low, really showing how the houses are made.
life on the boat- making our way up the Mekong. The size and breath of this river was impressive.
My whole heart - sometimes I look at this through the camera to take a picture like this and and have to take just a deep breath and really believe, yes we are here, this is our year.
how cute they are.
so many smiles
growing in Alaska paid off as these two made their way up the river in a kayak navigating the kayak without a problem.
our boat driver, checking in on us and making sure we are all doing well.
getting a chance to drive up the river.
making a ferry crossing with our bikes
this is what the biking was like in the Delta, it was so lovely without cars, making our way through the country side - truly a great place to bike with kids.
this women came up to lily and kept saying “lovely, lovely” and kept rubbing her, and smiling. I have no idea what else what she was saying, but I have so loved these little connections as we moved along. Everyone took a liking to Lily surprise and delighted she was on a bike.
Iz and I ridding on the sidecar with our super smiling and lovely driver.
more sidecar fun
she rocked this little helmet and the side care
having fun
all smiles - her and our driver
this was lily’s dish that she made: beautifully done, full of flavor.
deep frying stuffed pumpkin flowers with seasoned meat, onions and garlic.
more time along the river
boats docked at low tide