Sleeping in the Saigon Airport

I wrote a review on another website about staying at the Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Airport overnight - Rather than duplicate my efforts, check it out here.

Taking the kids into Nha Trang

After 4 days here, we decided to take the kids into Nha Trang, a city 15 kms from the farm. Now, this doesn't seem like a lot, but that's 15km, on a motorbike, on the country's major highway (they only really have one). This makes it about a 45 minute trip. The city itself is quite nice - its a major resort city and has a beautiful beach. It also has a reputation of being a major party town...

Getting into town was alright. We took 2 bikes into town, one driven by my wife, the other by my sister in law. Sister also brought a friend. So 6 people (2 pint sized) on 2 bikes. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. Kid1 sat on the front of the bike and kid2 was in a front harness. She was alright until the end of the ride. Now, its been 5 a half years since I've been to Nha Trang, my knowledge of the city has degraded, and it has changed a lot. We found some nice beach chairs in the shade to rent (for 5 bucks). But they didn't have any washroom facilities (showers would have been handy). If we had turned left instead of right though (from where we parked our bikes), we could  have rented chairs at Louisiane, a micro-brewery/restaurant/beach club. They had washrooms and shower facilities there. The beach itself was nice, its fairly clean, the water was good. It was too choppy and deep to do any swimming though. Kid1 really enjoyed playing in the sand. I was happy to show him how to build sandcastles. After supper we went to a local amusement park and kid1 really enjoyed that, although the park is very low quality. I would say that most rides do not keep up with any sort of safety code.

The biggest take away from this trip was the wife and I needed to communicate better. To be honest, our lack of communication constituted an epic fail when it came to trying to find supper. I wanted kid1 to have some western food and instead of taking him to a proper burger place (there are some in Nha Trang), we ended up at a bar and the burger patty was inedible. It also cost us 10 bucks for the burger and 3 pops. The bar, was a bar. Not exactly the best place to take a family, although it was early so the drunks were not out yet. My wife and I recognize that we had a communication break down and we both really have to work on telling the other what we are expecting. We both have to listen to each other as well.

We got home and both kids were exhausted. Since there were no shower facilities, both kids needed a shower when they got home. Kid1 finally got to eat something at 7:30pm. I definitely want to head back to the beach (and bring some buckets and shovels with us, the sand is wonderful to play with) but I'm not that sure about taking the kids on the bike again. Kid2 was squirmy on the ride home until she fell asleep. Kid1 also wanted to sleep on the bike and that was harder to manage when he is riding on the front of the bike. We will be rethinking this one...

The story thus far

We decided on traveling to Vietnam last September. Things in our life moved in a particular direction that provided us with the time, money and ability to make the trip. We picked the beginning of March very intentionally - just after New Year so prices were lower, the weather isn't too hot here yet and we're escaping some of Alberta's winter. I have to admit, when I booked the ticket, I was thinking I also needed to book a trip to the shrink as well - 2 kids, aged 5 and 1. Kid1 has always been a good traveler (most days), but kid2 is quite young and will sometimes have a good scream in her car seat. So I really didn't know what to expect.

Well, the flight has come and gone and we've been 3 days on my wife's parent's farm in south central Vietnam, near the beach city of Nha Trang. We spent 37 hours going from the doorstep of my home in Red Deer to the farm. The Journey went... as good as it could have. We had a great route - flew from Calgary to Tokyo direct, spent 2 and a half hours in Tokyo, then direct to Saigon. Nha Trang is 450km's from Saigon (yes, its now known as Ho Chi Minh City, but Saigon is easier to type). You can take a 45 minute flight, 9 hour train ride or a 12 hour bus ride. Any guesses which option we took? We got into Saigon at 10pm, cleared customs by 11pm. Our flight to Nha Trang left at 6am. Dad met us in Saigon. And we waited at the airport for our domestic flight. So to sum up the result of the flight - we were all exhausted at end of it, except for kid1. He slept 7 hours from Tokyo to Saigon. Kid2 slept maybe 6 hours in two days. She's one, she'll usually sleep 12 to 14... So she's still catching up and still cranky sometimes. The stay in Saigon airport was better than I expected - there is quite a bit of space in the international terminal for one to find a large spot and run the kids if they don't want to sleep (kid1 played with his toys) or easy enough to find a spot to catch some sleep (kid2 managed to catch 2 hours). Kid2 did what I expected - on flight 1 (11 hours long) she was happy and friendly. She made some friends (there was a family sitting across from us also going to Vietnam). She slept maybe 3 hours On flight 2 she was a bit cranky and slept 2 hours on a 7 hour flight. By flight 3 she was done with flying and cried for 20 minutes of the 45 minute flight. But once we got to the airport and met with her relatives, she was happy again. Kid1 lived up to his reputation as a great traveler. He kept himself occupied, we played a few games together on the tablet and he watched a bit of tv (but he's not a big tv watcher). This isn't to say that kid2 is not a great traveler, she is just 1 years old and never flown before. She also really likes routine and that got thrown out the window of course. I'm sure as she gets older she'll be pretty good - if you keep her engaged and if she gets enough sleep she is a wonderful child, her normal demenour is happy and friendly and its unusual not to see a smile on her.

So now that we are on the farm, things are going good. The grandparents are LOVING the time spent with the kids. The kids have taken right away to their grandparents. Kid2 will play strange so we thought it might take a few days before she would go to the grandparents. She was good with them in the first 2 hours. On day 2 my wife and I went for breakfast and I don't think kid2 even knew we had left. But she is still quite tired, and is resisting naps. She sleeps for 9 hours at night though. This is only day 3 though - she has to still get used to things. This could still take a week or so to happen. Kid1 has  been quite low key and has put himself to bed at twice in a row - first night was at 6pm and second night (in which we had family over) was at 7:30pm. And yes, kid1 put himself to bed in the middle of a small party, and the family is not quiet. He played with his cousins for a good 2 hours though.

Its been 5 and a half years since I was last in Vietnam. First reaction - there is garbage everywhere. Its kinda disgusting. But things are getting more prosperous here. In the old farm neighbourhood my wife grew up in (and in which I lived a year in) has fewer wooden shacks, things just seem more prosperous. Its still the developing world, so things are quite poor here compared to the middle class existence we have in Canada. But I personally think that people are doing better here. So that is a good thing.

It is so good to see my wife's family again. I don't speak Vietnamese but (and I think because of) we get along quite well. Everyone is of course 5 and a half years older. Those that were kids (like my sister in law) are now grown ups and those who were babies are now kids (like my son). So far the kids around here are a bit shy and I think language is a bit of a barrier. But again, this is still early days.

Well this catches things up and sets the stage for future blogs. My wife and I are planning to head into Nha Trang tonight. Can't wait to see all the changes that have happened there.