rtw with lucy

Vietnam is a beautiful country, and it is very long and thin, so going east to west is no big deal, but north to south is rather time consuming. We had to take an all night train to get half way down the country. Riding a sleeper train has been a new experience for us, and we have done it twice now. It’s really pretty easy to sleep, because the train just rocks you to sleep. For breakfast in the morning they came around and passed out instant noodle packs, and we went ahead and opened them up so as to be ready when they came around with the hot water. And we waited. And waited. No hot water ever made an appearance, so we went looking for a special tap or something, but there was none. An hour later, they came back around and took our noodles away from us, and looked irritated that we had opened them up. Half an hour after that we were getting off the train and looked over to see the employees eating our noodles! We never did get that one figured out.

Other than the noodle madness though, we have had the best food ever. Spring rolls, fresh or fried, are the national dish, as is any kind of seafood. Rice or noodles come with every meal, including their breakfast, and wonderful broth soups. All kinds of fried wontons in many different shapes and flavors and filled with any kind of meat, vegetables and seafood, and with a big pile of lovely fresh minty greens alongside. Garlic is used in abundance, along with ginger, hot peppers, lemon grass, and other things too subtle to identify. Every dish here is slightly sweet, which adds an interesting new flavor to the food.

Then besides all the great Asian food, there is a strong french influence here as well, because France held Vietnam as a colonial power until 1954, so you can get great french breads and pastries. Also, Vietnamese coffee, which is a cup of very strong coffee with a dollop of condensed milk in the bottom, which you stir in to your taste when you get it. No nescafe here.

We may just go ahead and stay here. Or we may just come home and take up Vietnamese cooking, because it is so good. Thai food was wonderful, but Vietnamese food is sublime. Stephanie

I’ve always prided myself on being a good mother–I have always loved and protected my girls to the best of my ability, and have even been known to turn into a mother bear on occasion.

Which is why I don’t quite understand my recent actions of this past week. Yesterday we went to a tiger temple for heaven’s sake. This is a tiger sanctuary where a group of Buddhist monks take in orphaned tigers and fix their wounds, then keep them and raise them in captivity for the rest of their lives. The tigers are supposed to be quite tame, and they certainly look tame at 2:00 in the afternoon on a day hot enough to qualify as a Missouri summer. But one can’t get around the fact that their paws are as big around as a mans upper thigh, and their head is bigger than a man’s torso. All they’d have to do is take a playful little swipe to put you into the hospital.

And then there are the warnings: Don’t wear red, pink, or orange. Don’t let in more than 4 people at a time to visit them. Don’t squat down or do anything to make yourself look smaller. Stay well back when they are walking back to their cage and be very quiet.

So I did what any mother would do. I let my children go in there and pet them. Am I crazy?!!!!