The many holidays

We were off to Ho Chi Minh City for a couple of days. A trip that was planned way back in February and instigated by a cautionary email from SingaporeAirlines about miles which were going to expire if we didn't redeem soon. So we looked at places we could afford for six, redeemed six tickets and paid close to $700 for taxes and surcharges (aargh) and we got our tickets.

The weather was lovely and we walked around the city - gingerly avoiding the chaotic traffic that does not follow much traffic rules. We took some time to orientate ourselves with the area and found a masjid nearby and a couple of halal eating places, well frequented by Muslims from mostly Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. We felt so at home :) If anyone is looking for a good halal place in District 1, we highly recommend Halal@Saigon which is right in front of the masjid on Dung Do street (do not laugh, that is the name of the street and it's pronounced Doong Do). Very good Vietnamese food as well as local Malay food at reasonable prices. The restaurant is started by a Malaysian lady and she has several staff who speak good English and sometimes impress you with their Malay.

After a day spent roaming around the city, we booked a local tour to the Cu Chi tunnel, and we were awed by the Vietnamese for creating such a complex and organised underground tunnel and weapons that outwit and outmanouvered the heavily armed and supposedly more sophisticated US army. The pictures we saw at the War Museum were shocking. If there was anything that drove the message of "War is Bad" to the kids, those pictures were it. Torn limbs and twisted and mangled bodies...sigh.

As part of our tour we had a boat and sampan ride along the Mekong Delta. Where we noticed the resourcefulness of the ladies who were so hospitable and talented in handicraft work and kept themselves busy hawking those wares. There were also ladies running a mini honey/bee factory and other cottage-industies. And we also noticed the men rocking themselves in hammocks, smoking their cigarettes and occasionally getting up from their hammocks to drink the honey and lemon tea prepared by the said ladies.

Unfortunately, because of something he ate, the husband morphed into a merlion two days before we left HCM. I was quite frantic about him developing a fever and possibly being quarantined. But alhamdulillah, he was well enough to travel home after some self-prescribed medication. In the meantime, I brought the kids out to sight-see while he rested in the room. Alone. In a quiet room. With the Australian cable channel with the latest rugby matches on.

I fell in love with the lacquerware (read: pretty and cheap) and bought a couple of things that would be nice for the new house. I've convinced the husband we would come back for some serious shopping closer to when we get the keys to our new house, insha Allah.

Speaking of which, we heard that we'd be given our keys perhaps in August/September, a couple of months earlier than the December date we were officially told. That only means, of course, we need to go back to HCM soon!