The Xi'an Files: Vietnam

Vietnam had never been on my radar to visit, but it looked interesting and was affordable to go so we decided to go We visited Ho Chi Minh, formerly known as Saigon. The name of the city was changed at the Vietnam War and was named after the general of North Vietnam when the Vietnam War broke out.

The city itself was beautiful, busy, colorful and friendly.

Ho Chi Minh sits along the Mekong River delta and the Saigon river. The river was beautiful and calming. The city has 9 million people and I am not joking when I say at least half ride motor scooters. There were tons of traffic jams filled with scooters.

We loved the food there. Even daughter #2 who only eats bread, bananas and rice after her obligatory 5 bites of dinner loved the food. We could eat fresh coconuts, mangos and seafood cheaply by US standards.

While in Vietnam we went to the Reunification Palace, say the post office and Cathedral of Notre Dame. We also went fishing and took a day tour on the Mekong River. The day started with a two hour bus ride through rice fields. We then got to the Mekong River and took a boat to a bee farm and had amazing honey tea, local fruits like wax and water apples and listened to local music. We then took a boat ride through some canals. We took another motor boat to another island and got on a horse (we'd call it a pony in Idaho) cart and ate lunch. After lunch we took another boat down another canal and saw a live crocodile. Oldest child now claims that we survived a crocodile attack although it didn't move when we passed by. We then went back to our hotel, exhausted and ready to sleep.

I really liked Vietnam. The people were so nice. Many came up to me and said they thought it was cool that we had three girls. The food was delicious as well.