Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

     One thing about pre-booking hotels online is that if you have not been to that city yet, you don't have a feel for the neighborhood you are booking in apart from mapping the distance to the attractions you want to be close to.  We were having a hard time finding a reasonably priced place in Saigon that could fit our family of 4.  Since the girls cannot share one twin bed (not because of their size, but because they are miserable at sharing space, specifically with each other), we have to pass on some "family rooms" that only have a queen and large twin. Sometimes we have to get 2 rooms as it is a bit unusual to get 2 queens or larger in one room.  Dad and Jeff had been doing most of the bookings, but I gave this one a shot and found the Riverview Apartment Hotel.  

     Saigon addresses, like in other Vietnamese cities can be confusing as they are labeled as a main, recognizable street, but can actually be off that street in an alley, or hém.  Our apartment was deep into one such alley.  We arrived at night and walked through the garishly lit frontage of massage parlors and sushi bars.  This happened to be Little Tokyo.  To the girls, the underlying seediness was not blatantly inappropriate, and overall we were happy with the location.  The $45 apartment itself was grand with 2 bedrooms and a roomy dining area with furnished kitchenette.  Although no-pool, it did have a smart TV so the girls could YouTube their mermaid shows on the big screen.  Besides the Boyans I don't think anyone else was staying here.  The elderly hosts were always cheerful to us, while not knowing English, and if we had some question they could not assist with, they went down the block to get the daughter (in her sailor suit, or other costume-of-the-day at "Captain's Bar") to translate for us.

While the Boyans went off in search of a Western Breakfast before mass at Notre Dame, the Carrolls tucked into some street pho.  The sweet iced coffee was so addicting, Jeff and Genna wend back several times and befriended the proprietress and her granddaughter. Another benefit of having a "baby" with you is increasing positive interactions with locals.

Maya, Babçia and I took a cooking class with Cyclo Resto.  Keeping with their namesake, guests are picked up on these bicycle rickshaws, "cyclos" which happen to be operated by the oldest men in Saigon. It is a wonder they could maneuver through the hectic traffic with these heavy carts.

We began with a guided excursion of Ben Than market for supplies for our meal. A unique observation was a vendor prepping a large fish for her customer.  (bottom center photo above) She took the selected LIVE fish out of the tank and whacked it on the ground several times until it was dead enough to bag.  All parts of animals are on display from "nose to tail" as the hip agro-foodies say.  We did not buy anything exotic for our class, just shrimp, pork, veggies/herbs, tofu, and fresh noodles.

The class menu was fried spring rolls, chicken pho soup, Vietnamese pancakes, garlic morning glory, and veggie garnishes.  The treat for dessert was egg coffee.
Come over and Maya will prepare one of these recipes for you!

The War Remnants Museum is very educational. The girls thought it was a little too creepy, but 'tis the reality of these tragedies.

The young guide at the Cu Chi Tunnels (red shirt) definitely skewed his interpretation towards pro-North Vietnamese as he pointed out all the cunning ways the Northerners evaded, trapped, or maimed the G.I.s.  It was impossible to imagine living through that event on either side.   

Can Tho, Mekong Delta

We picked Can Tho, Vietnam as a base to explore the Mekong Delta.  Instead of (my imagined) pastoral labyrinth of canals and rice paddies, the city itself was large and quite bustling. We encountered the first skyscrapers again since Bangkok and the traffic was intense.  Motorbikes are king of Vietnamese roads and traffic signals are not always present.

Babçia and Papa sending their prayers up in smoke on the giant cone incense of Ong Temple.

Maya's request.  What was more out of character for us: that we picked non-local food, or that we picked a sushi restaurant in a mall?

A morning boat tour of the floating market.  
Even though we began at 5:30am, the markets seemed a little quiet by the time we got there.  When we stopped to see a small rice noodle making operation, Maya got to play catcher for the fresh cut noodle strips.  The boatwoman split her time between steering and weaving intricate palm leaf creatures and gifts for the girls.  Jeff learned all about the annoyances of government intrusion in business and personal affairs from our guide.

Although this was a daytime, 4-hour ride, we got a double-decker sleeper-bus to Ho Chi Minh City.  This configuration differed from the Cambodian Night Bus, as the seats were adjustable, but didn't really fit any adults.

Kampot

The Kampot province was a delightful stopover after the first 2 busy weeks of the trip.  It is a quiet town with a laid back vibe. Not overtly touristy.

Two Moons Guesthouse in Kampot.
Up to now we had a pool at each place we stayed.  It really helps with the kids' morale! 

We tried some good new foods and some bad. These large, street-cart snails had a smokey barnyard flavor.
On the other hand, we did have one of the best BBQ pork banh mi sandwiches of the trip at Kampot's night market.

Genna had saved her money to try rock climbing.  We had a great half-day outing with Climbodia trying their via ferrata, abseiling, climbing a few routes, and exploring a cave. Genna was a literal ROCK star.  She had far more energy to tackle more walls than any of the adults.
Maya and Babçia went kayaking while we were out.  After getting a little lost, they were rescued by some good British samaritans with a GPS.

One night we were solicited by a Tuk Tuk driver, Ren, to take a day trip with him through Kampot and Kep.  Along with another driver we took 2 tuk tuks to a sea salt production field (not in season), a rural village cafe and family farm, La Plantation pepper farm, another "Elephant Cave" temple, and through the town of Kep.  He was an enthusiastic guide and told us a lot about Kep's French Colonialism which was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge and how the city is coming back.  Our biggest disappointment was going to his preferred Kep Crab Restaurant (where he got a free meal) instead of letting us eat at the fish market.

Jeff can't pass up a straight razor shave, even if it is in a random rural village where we just stoped for drinks.

Learning how the famous Kampot black pepper is grown at La Plantation. 

This rural family showed us their piglets and then the cooler full of dog meat in the outdoor kitchen.  We saw very few horses on the entire trip (maybe 3 over the thousands of miles of countryside we passed).  Since oxen are the main beasts of burden and recreational pets are frivolous, the primary reason for caring for extra livestock is to put on the menu.

This monk insisted on a selfie with Grandpa, then Papa... but none with the ladies.
As we left, he was working through his pack of smokes..... OH, so that's what the alms are for!  Poor Genna did not fully consider this everytime she put money in a box to make an incense offering.  Not all monks are burning up the coffers with bad habits, but how do Buddhists reconcile the blinging of the temples with the Middle Path? (Obviously they are not the only religion that suffers from this hypocrisy)

Many cities had a bank of exercise equipment in their parks. The girls enjoyed this one along the Kampong River.