We are back in The Meadow after a couple of lovely weeks visiting our daughter and son in law in Vietnam. They live in Ho Chi Minh City, he teaches in an international school and she works for Loreto Vietnam (one of the oldest charities in Vietnam and coincidentally also the school she went to!) as communications and fundraising Director.  She works VERY hard and is embracing the fact that she is actually living in the country pertaining to the charity and can see with her own eyes the effects of the good stuff they do. Their main focus is on education, building schools, libraries and toilet blocks and providing the kids with books as well as bicycles to enable them to actually GET to school especially in the rural provinces where they are expected to help their parents as well, sometimes meaning they wouldn’t be able to get to school until lunchtime (if at all) if they were walking. Loreto is an ardent supporter of education for girls, empowering them to have a go at everything and to believe anything is possible. Hopefully these educated kids will grow up and enact change in their own villages, a much better result than just throwing  money at them.  http://www.loretovietnam.org

It was fantastic to stay with them as they have been here for a year now and know their way around. We had the perfect mix of busy and relaxing times and as they were working throughout the week we had a few aside trips to Hoi An and Phu Quoc until they were available to play again at the weekends. It was super hot, very humid and perfectly suited to stopping every hour or two for a Vietnamese iced coffee, a fresh cool coconut or an icy beer while we cooled down under a ceiling fan or in the aircon. I completely understand why people just pop up a hammock and chill out when they’re not working, or even take refuge on their bikes, a little home away from home in between customers – and in the shade.

Our first three days we stayed just down the road from them in Thao Dien at a cute little boutique hotel, La Casita. Despite being in the middle of the action its position built  behind a restaurant meant we could hear none of the local traffic and the beautiful pool was literally a hop skip and a jump from our bed! This is a little gem in the middle of District 2 and I can thoroughly recommend it.

In the space of a day we enjoyed local coffee with the kids, a street haircut for the MOTH, pho for breakfast, coconuts and beer for elevensies and after an afternoon of exploring we finished the day with cocktails on The Mekong before a wonderful local Vietnamese meal. Perfect!!

If all you’ve ever seen of HCMC is the crazy busy centre of District 1 and the Ben Thanh Market (which is what we did on Trip 1) it is a whole different ball game in D2. The centre for many International Schools and therefore expat families, this district has more of a frenchified feeling with a great mix of local and also some slightly more western places to eat, drink and shop. Shop as in food, bringing some much missed foods to homesick expats, but at a price!! There is everything you could fancy, Mexican, Italian, beautiful French patisseries to rival Paris, juice bars, amazing Vietnamese and even smashed avo on toast for breakfast with my new favourite twist of coriander, chopped red chilli and lime. You could get your toes painted or neck massaged in a handful of places and all for the price of a magazine in Australia! Whatever you were in the mood for, be it bars dripping with indoor plants boasting pool tables, chess sets, great music and a laidback atmosphere or more sophisticated versions located  alongside the river with great cocktail lists and tapas to enjoy as you watch the amazing Saigon sunsets, Thao Dien has it all, no wonder they love living here!Taxis here are also super cheap compared to Australia. The Viet equivalent of Uber is Grab and they are half the price of the taxis. Then the Grab motorbike is half the price again and of course out of all the options available THAT is how my darling daughter chooses to get to work!! 30 minutes through some of the most tumultuous traffic in the world on the back of a bike and catching up with her emails on her phone en route!!! It didn’t take her Dad long to download the GRAB app and start using it too! Here he is waiting for our driver whilst I loitered in the shade. Totally recommended as you know exactly how much the fare is in advance therefore negating any chance of the big rip off. Truthfully though, the Vietnamese people are so friendly and genuine that it rarely happens and as there is no tipping either, it makes it all so simple.We first visited Hoi An five years ago and fell in love with it. We decided it was definitely worth another trip and we weren’t disappointed. Still enchanting, despite being busier than 5 years ago, we had three days of pure pleasure strolling and cycling around this UNESCO world heritage site that is famous for its vibrant colours and handmade silk lanterns. The former port city’s melting-pot history is reflected in its architecture, a mix of eras and styles from wooden Chinese shophouses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese Covered Bridge with its pagoda.

We stayed at yet another great spot about 2 kms outside the old town at Earth Villa, a family run boutique hotel which our friends had stayed in on our last trip. With free breakfast and bicycles and a huge King Size bedroom, all for the princely sum of $38 a night, we were laughing! The staff were brilliant, seeing to our every need and the pool was a welcome respite from the heat after a day cycling around town. http://www.theearthvilla.com

Hoi An is also famous for its tailors and leather making. I had a pair of favourite sandals copied in soft leather for under $15 but we mostly just enjoyed trying all the different food and soaking up the atmosphere, especially in the evenings when the silk lanterns cast a rosy glow over everything and people buy floating candles and set them onto the river from gondolas, a magical and ethereal scene in the balmy evening and hard to beat.

A few kilometres down the road is An Bang Beach with a myriad of fresh seafood restaurants. After a bicycle crash the night before (where I came off second best to a tourist bus and a parked van) I was too sore and banged up to get back on my bike so my boy kindly hired a motor bike and drove me to the beach for lunch. As the warm breeze caressed my face as we whizzed down the road, free as a bird to look around me and enjoy the local scenery, I had a feeling of freedom and that aaaah moment you get on holidays when you are doing something completely different and loving it! A great meal, icy cold lemon soda and a stroll along the sand and I was a new woman!

Lauren had told us about Madam Khanh, the Queen of banh mi in Hoi An; now an old lady she still works behind the counter along with her extended family including her husband who wandered around in his rather elegant pyjamas, a touch of the bygone era, and completely at ease with his rather unconventional attire.  The staff were rather nonplussed when we whipped out our reusable bamboo straws for our watermelon juice and they all came over and had a look as we tried to explain the negatives of having plastic in the environment. It was probably lost in translation but at least they realised that foreigners were starting to do something a bit different and maybe it was worth at least thinking about change. The banh mi here were EXCELLENT. The real deal and totally worth the cycle there.

Back to Saigon for the weekend and Loz took us to an amazing Seafood Street in an adjoining district. We couldn’t believe the smells, the noise and the sheer amount of people all eating and enjoying themselves in this long winding street. The tantalising smell of octopus on the char grill and the crabs and crayfish ready for consumption made us salivate. Together with many many icy cold beers (it’s thirsty work!!) we had an amazing meal and a great night with loads of laughs.

It was so good to see our girl so happy and enjoying all the wonderfulness on offer here in Vietnam. They have a gorgeous brand new apartment, good jobs, a great gang of mates and an insatiable appetite for adventure and exploration. I love how I can now imagine her pottering about at home or in her local village and it was worth every penny for us to make some lovely memories together. In part 2  I will share our little trip to Phu Quoc, an island about a 40 minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City and a real little oasis which was much needed as an antidote to this…..