All About Your Child

We dozed off during the ride from Pongour Waterfall to our Lunch venue. Not sure if we missed much along the journey though, but was pleased when we reached our next rest stop, Muong Xanh Restaurant, Madagui, a place where we are thinking of exploring more.

This place offers alot of different activities :~

Not only did the 2 big banners attracted us, even the CUTE/NAUGHTY toilet sign caught our attention too. *laugh*

So far, the food we had tasted in Vietnam were 90% to our liking, but I have mixed review for this restaurant though.

All tasted good except for the pork, a little too tough to bite and chew into it and the fish was a little scale-ly.

My boys enjoyed the lunch more than we did because their favourite soup was on the table. *giggle*

Too much, too full! With a filled-up tummy we left for the information counter to find out more about the cost of staying in the resort and the price of different activities available there.

So who knows, this might just be our next destination for travel. *wink*

There were no more stops after this as we head back to Silverland Hotel once again for check-in. It was another few hours of drive for Mr. Ting. *Kudos* While he had to stay awake to make sure that we are back safely, all of us took a really LOOOOONG NAP!

Allan and I woke before the kids and we found ourselves stuck in the peak-hour traffic jam. By the time we are out of the jam, it was pretty late already.

We checked-into Silverland Hotel once again and no one is happier than my two boys, I think. ‘Cos they could play their internet game again at the lobby while we were doing all the paperwork at the front desk.

We rested for a while and met up with Lan again for dinner.

Dinner at An La Ghien “Banh Xeo”
A dimly lit restaurant with very unique tables.
The tables had “mini-towns” in them, protected by a glass top. (see pictures in slideshow below)
So we could admire the artwork while we wait for our food to come.
Of ‘cos, when all the food have arrived on our table, we could see nothing except our food. *laugh*
We had:-

• Coconut shrimp salad
• Snails stuffed steamed lemongrass
• Fried chicken wing with sauce
• Mushroom “Banh Xeo” needle shrimp

The video below shows how Vietnamese would eat Banh Xeo.

But for us….we just EAT! *laugh*

The food here tasted ok, but not something that would make us want to come back again though. What made Kitkit happy was to be able to read the menu. Yes!!! This restaurant’s menu has English words on it.

He always likes to order his own food and he finally gets the chance! Not the food though, but his and his brother’s drink, as food had already been planned for by my friend, who made this trip possible.

Lan had always been our guardian angel throughout this trip. She is always careful and make sure that we come to no potential risk or harm, especially our mobile phones and bag. She often remind me NOT to flash my mobile phone when I am on the open street, especially at night, thus I did not take a picture of the restaurant from the outside.

Not only am I an obedient ‘child‘ when she is with me, I remain obedient when she is not in sight too. It was too early for us to go to bed, thus we wanted to roam around Ho Chi Minh city after dinner. This was NOT in our itinerary, but a last minute decision. Therefore we think that it would be unfair for Lan to come along. So I did not take any pictures of what we saw during our night shopping.

She, like a mother, repeatedly told us which taxis (company) to take and which NOT to take. Among the list of ‘can take‘, we could only remembered one, which was Vinasun. I think need to upgrade the RAM in our memory.
*bleh*

Mr. Ting drove us to the NIGHT MARKET near Ben Thanh Market and we were all alone now, roaming the streets of Ho Chi Minh city.

Allan bought a belt and I bought a straw bag.
We could not help but feel that this place reminded us of our frequent night shopping in Bangkok years back. So we adopted the same shopping style, that is to slash prices by half.
Yeah! It worked over here too!
Hooray!
*clap clap clap*

We walked down the road a little more to look at the other shops, but nothing caught our eyes. After an hour here, kids started to get really bored, so we started spotting Vinasun, flagged it down and went back to the hotel.

Our last night in Vietnam was as wonderful as before in Silverland Hotel.

=====
I know these updates of my 5 days 4 nights trip to Vietnam, from 18th March – 22nd March 2013, had taken longer than they should. But I promise that the last post WILL be out by this week, because once the June school holidays start, I am going to be out of my house and away from my PC more often than not already…..
*Grin*

Rise and Shine, the morning was truly fine on the day we left Da Lat. What made it even better was the breakfast spread served at the hotel!

If only the breakfast provided at the Silverland hotel was as good, I would be over the moon! Remember my comments on the taste of the food at the Silverland hotel in day 2, not that pleasant eh?

I am not sure if it was the disappointment which I had in Silverland which made the simple food in this Ngoc Lan Hotel shone, or was it the chef at this Ngoc Lan Hotel really did a great job. *shrugged*

It was a total contrast. Everything that I ate tasted here was YUMMILICIOUS!!!!! *Super Thumbs Up*

The food tasted so good to me that I had to grab a couple of buns as I walked out of the restaurant, not very glam, but who cares! Food tasted too good! *giggle* I wished we had woke up earlier, so that I could sit in the restaurant for a longer time….. Aaawww….

We checked-out of Ngoc Lan Hotel and Lan told Mr. Ting to drive us around to see the hustle and bustle in the morning market at Da Lat. We did not want to get off the vehicle when asked. Well, we are just NOT the shopping type of tourists. *shrugged*

However, we did get down at a church. Sad to say, the focus was NOT on the church, it was the eiffel tower-look-alike structure which was facing the church. Remember? Da Lat is also known as Little Paris. *wink*

After many shots from Lan, we took off again. This time, the kids waved “Goodbye” to cooling Da Lat as we head back to humid Saigon.

Though the comforting weather in Da Lat was welcoming, what made me missed Da Lat was actually the clear blue ocean/sea….

This images once again reminded me of how much Lan doted on Kitkit. She knew how disappointed my elder boy was when he did not catch any fish during the fishing activity at Cu Chi Tunnel; so having grown up in Da Lat, she knows exactly where to go, to find people fishing.

Below was another spot she purposely told the driver to stop, so that she could bring Kitkit to see the uncles fishing……

Kitkit could feel that he is loved and began to be REALLY comfortable with Lan around; so comfortable until he was willing to do something with Lan and Lan alone, on the Last Day of our Vietnam trip. What did they do together? That will be in my last post. *wink*

Remember how we came to Da Lat from Saigon? We took the sleeping bus on a 8 hours journey. Now, we are heading back to Saigon on Mr. Ting’s 7-seater car…..8 hours???!!!! Or even longer because its day-time and there are more cars on the road than when we took the sleeping bus at wee hours of the night.

We were wondering if we or the kids could handle our flattened butts after that…..*bleh*

My friend was thoughtful enough to include a few stops in-between, when we traveled back to Saigon, so that we could get down and loosen our body every now and then. Great planning!

We saw lots of coffee plantations and we also got off the car for a while just to smell the coffee beans on the coffee plant.

For readers who had been following my blog for a long time would know that I love the ‘smell‘ of animals! *laugh* Yes, very weird indeed!

Remember how much the kids and I enjoyed ourselves at the goat farm in Singapore, the zoo too and the different farms in Desaru?

During our  ride back to Saigon, Ho Chi Minh city, I straightened my back INSTANTLY  and leaned over closer to the window the moment I saw THESE………

I was as happy as my boys, who had their fingers busy pointing around, “Look! That one so fat…..That one looked angry…That small one is so cute….”

It was like an entertainment for the kids and I, so we were not bored because the herd was quite big! They were walking beside our car for quite a good distance. Yeah! Made us happy! *grin*

Time passes quickly when one is happy.
Without realising, we reached Pongour Waterfall!

It was a very long walk into the park before we could reach this beautiful waterfall!
Much Much bigger than the Datanla Waterfall we saw in Da Lat.

Mr Sun was smiling right at us…….. everyone was melting away…but our spirits remained high.

Lan was in high spirit too, she hung on to our camera phones and kept saying “Action! More Action. Again. Action. More…more…”
Once again, she was taking multiple-consecutive shots of us, but this time with different pose for every shot she took, over 10 photos! The kids were having lots of fun posing. *laugh*

But stingy me, will just put up 2 shots here…

My boys are the adventurous type. Yes, the monkeys-type of kids. Love to explore, love to climb, love to crawl! And here was where they could fulfill all of those desires….

With Lan leading the way, the kids followed without hesitation and went FAR AWAY FROM ME!!!

With my boys’ character, its no wonder they could move so fast and so well inside the small Cu Chi Tunnel.
Unlike me….*sigh*
Did not intend to share this, but I really wanted to show you the 2 videos below……but after watching the videos, you would be wondering why did I not follow them…..why did I remain as where I am while the 4 of them had a better view of the Pongour Waterfall so that this awesome photo could be captured (and I was not in it):

It was because I had muscle cramp after my visit to the Cu Chi Tunnel! Alright, where’s the blanket?! I need to hide my face! *pout*

Yes……..I was so lousy!
My legs became jelly-soft after I came out of the Cu Chi Tunnel. My legs continued to give me problem when I need to walk up and down stairs or slopes even after we had left Cu Chi Tunnel for almost 48hours! *eyes rolled*

Thus, for me to climb over those rocks will be a challenge for my ‘injured‘ thighs. I could only stand there and watched them moving further away from me. I wanted so much to go too. I am not a girly type of girl. I like climbing around too……but just could not…. today. *cover face*

Allan was the last one who came back to me. He stayed on so that he could video the kids in action:

I love to see Allan and my parenting beliefs bearing fruits. We always tell our boys to be receptive and try different experiences. I love to see how my children put their game face on and try whatever that is laid infront of them. Look at how smooth they moved above and around those rocks! Fearless! *Super Thumbs Up*

Directly opposite the waterfall, there was this mini-plateau which interest my boys alot! They just kept going……so much so that Lan had to call them back, as they showed no signs of stopping! *laugh*

Though we left the place feeling super sticky and smelly (I think), wiping our perspiration constantly, we were glad that we came to see the beautiful Pongour Waterfall with our own eyes. *smile*

Of ‘cos the air-conditioning in Mr. Ting’s car was our greatest bonus, but what made us cheered was when Mr. Ting could maneuver his car so well to escape all the poo that were left behind by the cows we saw earlier! *huge laugh*

I had the photos of the countless piles of cows’ poo scattered all over the road in my phone! But if you remembered in my VERY FIRST post on my Vietnam trip, I lost some photos because my memory card ‘played me out‘, and the photos of the cows’ poo were inside the ‘unfortunate some’. *sigh*

Big and small piles, with all shades of brown, randomly left on the road and amazingly, Mr. Ting could escape them all!!!! *Super Salute*

We kept looking front, then back, then front… then back, just to see if any of the piles went flattened by his car tires. *laugh* None! He is one super cows’-poo-escapee! *huge laugh*

Sometimes, its the unplanned, the unexpected things during a holiday trip that leave the deepest mark in our memory….
*wink*

Next post, we found a place which we are SERIOUSLY considering if we should go, for our next holiday trip.
Stay Tuned!

Trip to Vietnam