Vietnam Photos! Pt 1

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!!!

Ok, so Chris was on-call for all days in Vietnam except for the first 3 so we booked it to the bus station to head south to the Mekong Delta. We had learned a ton about the Delta in Global Studies and it was relatively close. So off to the bus station...

Yes. This is the bus we took. Every person gets an individual, reclined compartment with a tv. Kids were disappointed that the tvs only showed government authorized music videos which was cool for the first 30 minutes and not cool for the next 2.5 hours

We headed down south the the town of Can Tho which sounds completely different from anything you could ever sound out by looking at the words. The whole delta is a myriad of waterways, from huge rivers to side streams and flood plains. The water comes from the Himalayas on its way to the ocean. Lots of stuff grows down here and with transportation occurring a lot by waterway, markets are held out on the water. So our first morning we went on a tour of two water markets with some stops along the way. We got up just after 4am to make the busy time at the markets.

My barista for the morning putting Vietnamese coffee (which is amazing) in a plastic cup. It was delicious.

I ordered a coffee, but Wally ordered a coconut. 

This is basically a "side street" behind some houses. 

We stopped off to see how rice paper and rice noodles were made. All the kids got to help move the rice paper to the drying rack. PS- Vietnamese people love little kids. Especially cute blonde ones. 

There are ferries all over to get the motorbikes from one side to the other. More on that later.

A flower picture for Auntie Mary.

That night we walked around town to the night market. 

Of course the street food we tried was sweet potatoes dipped in some kind of cinnamon sugar goodness. 

The food all over Vietnam was quite amazing. The kids were again wonderful about trying different things. 

Gross under-packing for Guthrie. Good thing the market had some options for him

So Day 2 in the Mekong started with us not having any clue what we were going to do, we just knew we needed to get back to the ship for bedtime. Sitting at breakfast, we got asked if we wanted to do a bike ride in the country. 

Parents: Do you have bikes for the kids?

Trung (local hotel and tour operator): Of course we do!

Parents: What will Guthrie ride on?

Trung: A soft cushion on the back of the bicycle. Very safe.

Parents: Out in the coutry?

Trung: Yes. Beautiful scenery. 

Parents: Bike helmets?

Trung: Uhhhh... maybe we can find some.

Parents: Sign us up!

What followed was a wonderful adventure that may have been our best day as a family ever and the worst day we have had on the voyage. How's that for a beginning? 

Upon arrival at the bike place we found that a "kid's bike" was really an adult bike they took a hammer to to get the seat as low as possible. Wally and Rigley were supposed to go "practice" riding an adult bike for the first time in an extremely full and busy parking lot with buses, cars and motorcycles all trying to get through. Not our best start. Rigley built up a little confidence, but Wally was FREAKED which does not allow for steady riding. Good thing it was in the country, right?

Sure we were going to ride in the country EVENTUALLY, but the country is 40 minutes away by bike so first let's ride on the main road with a thousand motorbikes, cars, trucks, and buses whizzing by! It was at this point that Jen firmly believed she had made one of the worst decisions of her life and was preparing for the deaths of 1-3 of her children. 

Eventually, the country...

PS - I am wearing this hat not as cultural appropriation, but because it lowered my body temperature by a good 20 degrees and when its 98F with 90% humidity, that's worth looking like a jackass.

Gotta cross the river somehow. The ferry is waaaaaay more rickety than it looks, but there are life jackets which quadruples the safety over any Gambian ferry we ever saw.

Snack break

There were several stops along the way. Best one... a Buddhist monastery. I would happily ditch my family and home to move to this wonderful place.

Plants are donated from all over to make traditional medicines.

This is a monk that took us under her wing. She spoke no English, but took us around and absolutely loved our children. Her presence was like a sedative. Except for Guthrie, he was impervious to her Zen powers. 

Trung and his son taught us to pray. 

If the video works, you get a sense how how lovely our bike ride really was. It was hours of peaceful biking through a more rural area with lots of little stops along the way. It was hotter than blazes, even the Vietnamese said so, but everyone was happy. Really and truly one of our favorite moments as a family for the Johnson-Leck's.

But then...

At the outset of our bike ride we received what we now know as a warning. Guthrie's Croc got chewed up by the spokes of the bike and flew off. He had pegs to put his feet on, but he wasn't paying attention and his Croc got a little to close to the bike. So after our last stop on our bike ride when we're heading back to drop off the bikes, it happens again. This time it's not just his Croc, but his whole heel and back of his leg. The spokes peel/burn off several layers of skin. It looked terrible and he screamed and loud and as hard as he could (no nap, 100 degrees, hungry, all the makings for a great melt down) for about 2 hours. It was rough for the rest of his family, but Guthrie really was in a lot of pain. As stated above, Vietnamese people love children and so no fewer than 30 Vietnamese people pull over or come running out of their houses. They all start yelling at us to take him to the local hospital while I'm trying to call the doctor on call for SAS. An angel swoops in with a plastic baggie that has a sealed bottle of saline solution and bandages. He washed Guthrie's foot, put gauze on it, and wraps it up. Guthrie is still screaming and our guide who was in front of us did not see us or hear us. Only because Rigley looked back, didn't see her parents, and turned around did we all stay together. We were headed back to the ship anyway so we put Jen and Guthrie in a taxi to get back to our luggage while Rigley, Wally and I bike through traffic (I am now biking two bicycles down the main road)to return the bikes. We caught up with our guide and hopped on a bus to get back to the ship. All worked out in the end, but it was really stressful for a while. I will spare you the picture of his foot, but I can show you sometime if you want to see it.

So ended our time in the Mekong Delta. Back to Ho Chi Minh City for some urban exploration. Stay tuned for Part 2.