Q & A

Yesterday's post is taking too long to edit and stuff so here's some answers to your questions:

"[Does] the pho and spring rolls taste any better than the U.S. [and
is] trieu and his new wife going to spend their honeymoon in vietnam?"
- Arthur

The Pho is a little less flavorful and i havnt really tried the spring rolls yet but i'm sure they taste the same... the dipping sauce might make the difference. I think their honeymoon is in Vietnam. Actually, i think i'm spending their honeymoon with them right now, haha. And dang, you travel everywhere! And i told Anh Trieu u said congrats. He said thanks.

"Hey thy are you having fun? and are you gonaa have a wedding in America"
- Daniel

Yes Daniel, I am having fun. And I probably will have a wedding in America but that's not until after I meet someone and get engaged. hahah, Anh Trieu and Chi Tim will have another wedding in America but that's not for at least a year.

"Oh man those mosquitos are killers, did you use insect repellent?
When is Trieu's wifey coming over to the US?"
- Hai Au

No, I didn't use insect repellant.. i dont have any :( and Chi Tim will hopefully be in America as soon as late November if the interview goes well. Lol, when we first arrived at Hai Au Hotel, i thought about you. Your name is Seagull.. haha.

Jacinda - What in the world is Stickham?

Ngan - Yes.. I remember when you got back from Vietnam and your legs were covered in bites... and they stayed there for months!!

Chi Han - Hey Chi Han, can you buy me a pack of spiral notebooks? Preferably 1 or 2 subjects? And thats cool that your friends are reading my blog. Are they enjoying it? Hi Chi Han's friends! Comment me!

Timmy - Hey Timmy, when Chi Han buys the notebooks, can you put it in my trunk... and a new tube of toothpaste too (i think theres some in that closet).

Day 11 - Back to Saigon

I forgot to mention that the day of my brother's 2nd wedding was also my birthday! Our whole family stayed after the party and we set up a loooooOOoong table to celebrate and to eat leftovers (cuz the bride, groom, and parents weren't able to eat since they were entertaining the whole time).

Anh Trieu and Chi Tim sat at the other end of the table.

Cutting the cake.

Anywayy onto the present. Today, i found out i had to go back to Saigon, so there was a lot of rushing going around. After the party at Ba Ngoai's (grandma's) house, we took Cô Bảy (our aunt) back to the hotel with us.

It was the first time she's really been out in the real world. You see, she has big dark patches all over her body (just like a beauty mark/mole only huger). When she was born, half of her face was black, but she had an operation in which her skin from her thigh was tranplanted to her face.

She's also a tiny bit slower but very nice. Grandma kept her in the house to help her do house and garden work all her life because she was "ugly" and was afraid of people making fun of her. I think she's about 40 something right now.

This is my mom's friend's daughter, Ry. She's my new Vietnamese friend and we went shopping together. It's not a very flattering picture of her, but it was windy.... We're riding on a motorcycle scooter thingy.

I bought some more gifts today and got measured for 2 Áo Dài's (the traditional vietamese dresses). Then, some of us went out to "drink coffee." In vietnam, people like to go out a socialize at coffee houses but u don't necessarily have to order coffee.

I got Dừa Sữa. Iuno what it was but it was good.

I didnt like this picture, but whatever.

Anyway. That night, i got back on the train to Saigon.

Day 10 - In the Countryside

When we got off the train at 9 am in the morning, we headed straight to our hotel. Hotel Hai Au in Quy Nhon was the most luxurious of all the hotels we've stayed at in Vietnam so far, its cheaper too!
After we showered and dressed, we drove to my grandmas house in the countryside. Her house is old and shabby looking. Her house had NO air conditioning and it was HOTT, i was dieing! There was a whole room dedicated to the worshipping and praying to our ancestors and some god.

Here's Chi Tim and Anh Trieu doing their thang. You bow down and stand up like 4 times.

Then I had to do it. I couldn't keep a straight face and i think i over-exaggerated on whole ritual. Like, when you bow down, youre supposta go slow and steadily, but i like fell to the ground and did everything all fast (look how sweaty i got). Everyone was laughing at me.

Then the family and my grandma's helpers cooked lunch. There was a lot of food.

O look, more food... We're all glistening. Again, it was really hot.

This is really exciting. This is a video of a plant that grows in the back of my grandma's house. It moves when you touch it!! I said it was called an embarrassed plant in the video but i meant "shy"

I wanted a guava so my uncle climbed a big tree to get me one. It was intense, he was up there for the longest cuz there were like no ripe ones. He eventully found a small one.. but i never ate it (i didnt wanna get sick).

Then a lady parked in front of the house and sold Chè Dau Hu

(hot silken tofu with coconut milk and ginger flavored liquid cane sugar)

Here we all are enjoying a hot dessert on a humid day after an unexpected thunder storm.
Do you see me?

Then we decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood. We came across a tree bearing sweet red berries. My brother used to eat them all the time when he was young.

He called them trứng cá (fish eggs) cuz when you squeeze it, the insides look like tiny whitish pink fish eggs.

Cow.

Then dinner came.
It got dark so we had to eat by candlelight. How primative.

This was taken the day after my grandma's. Remember when told you guys that mosquitoes liked my blood. Well they especially liked the blood on the back of my legs.

Right now I'm itching like CRAZYY!! ughh..

Day 9 - Heading to Quy Nhon

Today was a much needed blah day.
Dad and I woke up early in the morning, so we decided to pass time by walking around the main park in Saigon. I didnt take any pictures but you guys shouldve seen it! like HUNDREDs of fobby old asian people, walking, play badminton, doing exercises with loud music going "1, and 2, and 3 and 4..." hahah it was funny. The whole place smelled like Bengay, Salon pass, and dầu xanh.Dad met this guy on a wheel chair with no legs who was selling lottery tickets in the streets. He was a Vietnam veteran and didn't know that there were fundraisers in the US that raised money for people just like him. Apparently, veterans in need who live in Vietnam were given about $100 each every year. My dad got his army number and name to make sure he gets help in America. What a nice guy.

Then we went out to eat with my mom and dads rich friends and our family. We ate more seafood.... whats new.

Grilled shrimp shishkabob

Deep Fried squid. Sea Snails.

mom and i ate some exotic fruits, like:

Durian.
(It smells like fart, looks like diarrhea, but tastes creamy and delicious)

Măng cụt (Mangosteen) and Chôm Chôm (Rambutan)

Chôm Chôm is a lot like a lychee but it has like a spikey outer shell while Măng cụt is like.. iunno.. no other fruit I've ever seen. Reminds me of a brain tho.

We finished packing and got to the train station at 10 pm. We stayed in a small room with 4 beds and our trip was like 9 hours long but at least it was overnight so i slept the whole way through.

My mom's wearing funny glasses cuz she just got a eye lift (its cheaper to do it in Vietnam) and her eyebrows tattooed. I dont think she wanted me to post that information on the internet but too bad. muahah!

I peed in that. It wasn't pleasant. Even though there were foot platforms, a little urine still splattered on my sandals and toes. ew, i know.

My grandma lives in the countryside near Quy Nhon. We're having a little reunion there. I'm scared cuz there's lots of mosquitoes and they like my blood.

Day 8 - 2nd Wedding

First off, a little note. You guys should comment more!! I know there's a whole bunch of you guys that check out my blog daily but you people don't comment.. Come on! i wanna know who you are! And you don't have to have an account to comment, just put yourself down as anonymous and there'll be a space to put your name. PLEASEE!! it'll make me happy =D Anywayy, back to the show:

Weddings in Vietnam are way more entertaining than weddings in America. Well, at least for Anh Trieu's wedding it was. Everything was quick, from the entrance, the cake cutting, and most importantly, the food. There was no waiting around for the next course, which was great. There was also tons of entertainment.

This is the restaurant.

Mom, Anh Bi (cousin), Anh Trieu and Chi Tim.
Haha, he's doing the little lad dance.

Parent Pictures!

The cake. Only 2 layers were real... but I don't know what happened to it since the cake was never served.

The wedding was exciting. Here's a little clip of Chi Tim and Anh Trieu's entrance and other stuff.


Here's some of the entertainment. Some of the acts were by real performers while some were by drunk guests. (The "Hawaiian" Dancers were embarrassing.. but at least they tried)

Here's some of the food that were interesting enough to take pictures of. Overall, it was pretty delish.

Heo Sữa Quay (Baby Pig) and Banh Bao

Shrimp Hotpot (There's boiling water under the lid)

"NooOo!"

Shrimp Roe (Eggs).. delish.

Scary Fishy...

I was just posing with the fish but the whole table dared me to actually bite it

So I did.
I didn't think it was that funny, but the whole table was laughing their butt off.

OoHHhh and this was for dessert!! They mixed flavorless gelatin powder with the coconut juice and refrigerated it to make Coconut Jello! SOoO Good.. I want more (I think they put a thin layer of coconut milk on top also)

Tomorrow night, we're taking the train to Quy Nhon, where my grandma lives so we gotta pack. But other than that, tomorrow should be a pretty calm day.

Day 7 - River-trekking to the Wedding

Yes yes, I know I'm a little behind on entries.. but that's because soo much has been happening in the last couple of days leaving me with less free time and a lot more stuff to post. Yesterday was the first wedding held at Chi Tim's home. In the Vietnamese culture, the groom and his family and friend's go to bride's home and asks her parents permission to marry her with the bribe gifts mentioned in the last post.

We woke up early in the morning and prepared for the wedding. The only way to get to her house is an hour long trek by boat on the rivers of Vietnam.

This video is sooo interesting. It shows us from our preparation to the boat ride to her home.. just watch *added footage!* (9/20/08)

Once we arrived, the party was pretty much coming to an end. Her family actually started partying the night before all the way till our arrival! So the band played for like 18 hours nonstop.

We weren't able to see the bride until the proper ceremonial introductions and gifts were given. Left side is our part of the family while the right side was hers.

My mom got her a Necklace, Earrings, a Bracelet, and a pair of rings. All Diamond!
For a majority of her life, she lived with her aunt in Saigon and only came back to her house on the riverbank to visit her parents. That's her aunt.

This is Chi Tim's Grandma, Mom and Dad (he was crying) :'(

And finally, the unveiling of the bride.

Remember how i said her house had full on dirt floors? well i was wrong. Because of the rain, it turned into MUD floors!! Our heels sand into the ground with every step and our cloths got dirty... But it was all in good fun!

You can kinda see the texture of the floors from this picture.

On our way back home on the boat, the boys got drunk while finishing off the pig head.

My drunk uncle was karaoke-ing (?) into the pigs foot. It was quite amusing.

All in all, the trip was quite exhausting.. everyone slept on the 8 hours bus ride home to Saigon.

Tomorrow is the 2nd wedding held here in Saigon. It's gonna be in a nice clean restaurant with hard wood floors (thank goodness!)