Dear Dayre,
Reporting live from Vietnam!
🌚
Looks like it's gonna start raining soon but anyway I've just been following around my dad as he goes around to do some stuff with an acquaintance we travelled together to Vietnam with.
First thoughts on Vietnam: Feels like Indonesia plus Thailand together with abit of Malaysia, I'm completely intrigued by the sights and sounds!
But my focus this trip is capturing more photos of my parents… god knows how rare it is that I get to hang out with them so much or take photos of them.
Tigerair to Ho Chi Minh City was mostly uneventful and I napped for a bit while watching shows on my ASUS Transformer 3 with YZ and mummy 😝
My pretty mumsy 😊
Dad totally in his own zone – He napped through the entire two hours before plane even took off lol.
Street vendors selling snacks not commonly seen in Singapore!
While waiting at our hotel lobby. 2.5 stars hotel – Definitely a very no frills kinda place with shoddy furniture and all that hahaha but the beds are fine so it's okay 👌🏻
This is how old-school our hotel looks.
Well but props for the Christmas deco! Hahaha and there's wifi in the lobby too so it is decent.
Papa with his friends and mama photobombing in the background hahaha
Gangsta mode on
Mama with YZ!
❤️ Family portrait!
Vietnamese drip coffee break – It was diabetically sweet but also so good!
There was a downpour in the afternoon, so we basically sat around and chilled over coffee… Super relaxed kind of holiday hahaa.
I was brought around the entire day to places I didn't know because some of dad's acquaintances were on business – buying "lions" for their troupe 🦁
Though I was very happy to do nothing and just observe the kids and families around he residential areas – Life is really so simple for these kids, they were enthusiastically playing a game of badminton along the alley outside their houses. Reminded me of my own childhood too when we used to play badminton and other physical sports, it's a lot rarer nowadays I find?
It was sweet to see Dad join in too after the kids accidentally batted the shuttlecock on one of the tarpaulin roofs – Dad helped them get the shuttlecock down and then tried his hand for abit heh. He used to play badminton many years ago but I bet he's super unfit now 😂
While mum engaged an elderly grandmother in some conversation – apparently a lot of the Vietnamese Chinese can speak Cantonese!
Mummy and I ❤️
Glass bottled soft drinks!
Street vendor food: Taohuay but in a different style! There was chendol and grated ginger in it so it tasted different from our local version!
YZ approves of the dessert! 🙊
Made my dad pose for a picture 😬
While my mumsy is ever camera ready!
Dad playing around with one of the lions – One lion costs around $250 in SGD! They are all handmade from scratch.
A half-made dragon 🐲
It starts with a wooden frame before being wrapped with a light mesh, and then covered in paper mâché!
In the process of being painted in effervescent tones.
Cool, huh?
Strange sights like this but completely normal in HCM. The second storeys of the buildings have "open" areas that are used as washing and laundry spots.. literally on the roof top 😳 One middle-aged lady was even chilling on the roof top while eating out of a mug and calmly looking down at us strangers lol 😂
Also spotted many many many chickens strutting around and crowing non-stop – Dad says they are fighter cocks for fighting contests!
Gotta say they were some good-looking chickens tho 🐓
Random very fit Vietnamese man who was loading stacks and stacks of cargo bags from a shop along the streets. 😳 There are really very few overweight or fat locals here.
The dogs have a pretty easy-going life too it seems. We spotted both pets and humans alike taking their afternoon naps on their floors in the heat of early afternoon.
My dad the perpetual chimney 🙄🙄🙄
❤️ this shot!
So tired and I'm not done with work but I'm super sleepy now. Time to catch some shut eye and try to wake up early tmr to do my stuff!
Also a shout out to Amanda, the girl I met at HCM airport this morning 🙆🏻 Thank you for saying hi, it was a pleasure to run into a reader!
💕
Good night all!