A big hello from Vietnam

[Cornish Cream]

Have a wonderful time with your Mum Frozzie.Happy 60th Birthday Frozzie's Mum

[dede]

How wonderful Frozzie, Enjoy every minute (Which I am sure you will) And Happy Birthday to your Mum.

[nazar]

 enjoy your Holiday with your family and mum and dad
you sound like you were about to burst with excitement 
and will be good to see the photos later and have a great time being spoiled

[Bedlam]

Funny Frozzie I was only thinking about you last night and how quiet you had been.  Now I know why. Enjoy yourself and the time with your family (I know you will) and a very Happy Birthday to your Mum.

[CreamPuff63]

those tunnels sound absolutely amazing, and i would love to see them myself. my DD stayed in Vietnam with a friend in what she thought was a cheap hotel. They realised later they were staying in a brothel when the bell kept ringing all night.

[Frozzie]

thankyou all for the well wishes and birthday thoughts for my mum...we are enjoying every minute together 

haha CP well im sure that would have been a shock...we are staying in a 5 star hotel so no probs there...but the funny thing is you can have luxury hotels or departments stores etc and right next door an actual very run down shack lol...there is something like 6 million scooters in Ho Chi Minh and they are everywhere but have to love when you cross the road they just split and go around you...today still shopping around the city and went over to district 2 to our family friends condo..lovely place but again a mix of wealth and poverty door to door...the funny moment of hte day was it was pouring rain and the roads in some areas were flooded and our driver just drove through it like everybody else even the scooters...it was a sight!..oh and at a late lunch at some beer garden there is alot of open uncovered areas in restaurants i imagine because of the heat and humidity but very funny in the rain when you order a drink and they need to get an umbrella to cross part of the restaurant to get to the bar haha!!

loving our time here...havent got out of the city yet...so much around to see but will organise a few day trips for next week...

tarasis...it is lovely weather and even though today it poured rain it was refreshing....the weather has been lovely and a much needed dose of warmth before heading back to freezing winter at home...ill send you and the UK girls some warm waves   

as for the food I havent yet found anything i would write about...i had a version of a creme caramel th other day but it had an asia twistwhich i find htey do alot here not as nice as the orgiinal...so far i have foudn there are alot of westernise places to eat at except for te first night which is not what we are looking for...still we are still trying to find our way around the city and what places are good and which are not....taking heaps of photos...

take care alll and happy thxing xo

[Yvette]

Glad you are enjoying your holiday Frozzie, what a lovely surprise for your mum

[gertbysea]

Well how wonderful for you and your family Frozzie. A few weeks ago I was in Vietnam as well. You will enjoy Vung Tau and the beaches there. Lots of wonderful food and things to see. Lots of sadness too especially for your dad. Great for the kids and a wonderful thing to do for your mum.

Gretchen

[Frozzie]

Having a great time and have spent alot of time around hte main part of the city, eaten in a few of the bigger hotels..great views b ut food not so fab to be honest..they seem to be geared more for the westerner ..we had been going to these places as our expat friend was takig us there I imagie mainly for the view but I wanted to experiene more of local vietnam not as an expat style ...anyway today we went to the more local and very backpacker part of town near the Thai Binh Market or Pham Ngu Lao area and that was much more what I thought Vietnam would be...DH and I went out and left my parnents with the kids back at our hotel and we had a great vegetarian meal plus drinks (and we were stuffed) for $6...very basic restaurant but delicious food and all vegetarian in the place we ended up going...we have found nobody speaks alot of english unless you stay in District 1 and the more tourist part of town..even cabbies have alot of trouble..you really need to have the address of where you want to go written down and preferably in their language for them to fully understand...we usually get hte hotel staff to explain where we are going..makes it easier and alot of cabbies take you on a round about route haha to get to your destination but it still only costs about $1.50 to and from the city center so cheap as... we also had a massage today...heaps around and a range of prices...great massage..not so impressed with the Ben ThanH market...you can get cheaper prices in shopping centers like the Tax Center...we found them quite cheap for alot of things...stay away from all things brand name that are imported as the prices are the same if not more than you would get at home unless its a copy of course then its a chepa knock off and you get what you pay for...the people are lovely...tomorrow night we are going on a bonsai dinner cruise so will see what thats like, wednesday catching up with an aussie guy who is marrie dto a vietnamese woman and runs a number of hotels and bars etc in vung tau and also organises  tours etc ..heard of him online and got in touch with him and he is organising a tour for dad and us around vietnam vets, the war etc...sounds great

we havent spent much time back at the hotel but are out day and night...great time..will definatley come back although shoppig is not what it used to be according to everyone we speak to inlcuding mum who has been here a few times..apparently prices have gone up several thousand yes thousand percent in the last twelve months or so... still we are having a great time but mum thinks malaysia is much better and cheaper for shopping..hope your all well...will post a few photos when i get a chance..

take care  all
 

[Vivaroo]

Great to hear your travel reviews Frozzie.  How wonderful you can all be together, very special.

[Carine]

Frozzie enjoy this special time with your mum and Vietnam!

[Bedlam]

Fantastic Frozzie, lovely to hear all about your trip.

[Frozzie]

today i think we will go back to the pham ngu lao area to have a look in the daylight and tonight is hte dinner cruise but this morning DS needs to do a little school work otherwise he will get too far behind and DH a little work but not for long...im limiting it to 1hour and might pop down for a swim in the gorgeous pool..DS wants to spend everyday in the pool lol!

mum showed us the hotel where they stayed last time and said there were dirt streets and its amaeing how much that part of the city has changed since they were here last time...I havent seen one dirt street even out in district 2...from what we have been told alot of the poverty has been pushed to the outskirts of the city..

here are a few photos..

[Frozzie]

and a few more...

[judydawn]

Thanks for the photos frozzie - had a bit of rain whilst you have been there The shop looks just like the one I go to for Asian ingredients, so much stuff in there.  Love the cake, that will give maddy some decorating ideas and the lantern picture is just lovely too.  What a lovely holiday you are having, thanks for sharing it with us.