Author: meaningfultea

I’m Huong Nguyen, a headstrong woman who is a passionate advocate for raising compassionate, brave, smart, open-minded, globally-aware children through travel. I’m married to a very smart man named Ryan Nabors who loves me very much and I have an adorable opinionated little girl named Sophia. My family of three travel both internationally and domestically. We have family and friends all around the world and we plan each trip to be a blend of educational, cultural, and culinary experiences with the goal of making real meaningful connections with other people.

Culture, Food

Just another normal Monday..

August 7, 2018August 8, 2018 meaningfultea

Sophia woke up and wanted Pho again…so we went to Pho Anh Kiet…right down the street and around a corner. We got her an adult size bowl and iced coffee. She only drank a little bit of iced coffee (Vietnam iced coffee is not as strong as America). She finished up the bowl, in true Vietnamese style with chopsticks. I realize she’s a pretty messy eater, we are going to work on that.

We then explored the town and had some fresh squeezed orange juice. Yes, Vietnamese oranges are not orange, they are green, but still just as delicious. The other drink is basil seed in a syrup with different kinds of seaweed. She loves trying to bite those little seeds. She asked if they have this in America, and so guess what I will be making for her when I get back to the states.

Since I had to do housework and laundry there are not too many fun pictures. We hung our clothes to dry and spend time doing house stuff. Its been forever since I have washed a whole load of dishes by hand. Anne helped sell at the stationary store, and we went over there to get ourselves some stationary. Sophia wanted to work too, best way to learn Vietnamese is to go out and sell at the store. Sophia was so happy we have a store.

I think we may go back for some more later…Vietnam has the best stationary. Anyone who knows me….knows I LOVE stationary. I grabbed myself some fountain pens. Unfortunately for Sophia, much of the stationary will be used to do homework…she was not happy about that. Daddy’s rules.

For a snack, Sophia tried Custard apple for the first time and loved it!! We will be eating this more in the next month to get Sophia her fill. This stuff is expensive in the states.

Culture, Food, Travel

Monsoon Downpour

August 7, 2018August 25, 2018 meaningfultea

Our journey today started out as a nice day. We packed food and drinks and was on the road to do some chores…and…I will let you guess. Don’t know?

Eat, of course! We started at a coffee shop with this:

Yes, Sophia and had some coffee too. Sophia had the avocado shake, and she loved it. Then the kids went to look at fish and ate sunny side up eggs with bread. The adults then went to eat at 7 Toi to eat Bánh xèo…which is a Vietnamese crepe and banh khot which is the round dough with shrimp. This is special because it’s made out of the young shoots of a coconut tree show below, and tastes similar to bamboo shoots but a little more tender. You take the pieces and wrap it in the huge bowl of veggies.

After the delicious lunch, we went sight seeing in Soc Trang. We start off with the temple: Tan Hue Vien. They have delicious food like Chinese sausage, and cakes in a variety of flavors. They have ice cream and Sophia got the coconut and mango flavor. It started raining very hard and the façade of a nice day disappeared and turned into monsoon downpours. I guess it’s Vietnam’s way of making us Washingtonians feel at home. Gray skies and torrential downpours. I made Sophia sing the “Rain, rain, go away song” 5 times, and it worked. 5 minute weathers.

After that we head to another temple with a Cambodian influence. The specialty of this temple is that there is an old structure that is made entirely of porcelain bowls, plates, and other miscellaneous pieces.

We went to Bac Lieu to see the prince of Bac Lieu’s house in Vietnam. We had a tour and looked at all the old stuff. Apparently his bed is over $300,000 dollars. His decedents are still living and occasionally visit the place.

Then of course my favorite part of the today its the seafood! The specific variety is called slipper lobster (Tôm mũ ni). Then there is octopus, scallops, slipper lobster, crab, and all kinds of goodies.

We walked in the rain to and from this food, but totally worth it.

Culture, Food, Travel

Off to the temple

August 5, 2018August 5, 2018 meaningfultea

The morning started off with Sophia wanting Pho and bread. My uncle of course spoils her, and gives it to her. She devours the whole bowl, and people are impressed that this half white girl knows how to use chopsticks. She thinks it delicious, even better than America and I would have to say I agree on this one. She got her bread which was really good. While she does not have any butter she still pretty much devours the bread plain.

Today was off to the temple we go…to read a chant for my father. He passed away in May. On our way to the temple, we stopped for some sugar cane drink. It is one of my favorite things to drink and obviously one of Sophia’s favorite as well considering she drank both of ours.

We arrive at this temple and my uncle gets a flat tire on the way, so my cousin has to come back and get us. He jokes that its because of my weight that the tire goes flat, and I joke back and say it’s because your bike is too low quality to handle American cargo.

My nieces and nephews meet us there and of course when they meet up its a little group of laughter and chaotic fun. I know I’m biased, but that’s a group of pretty good looking kids.

At the temple, random kids are facinated with my camera and so, they ask me to take pictures of them, here they are. The kids here like to ask random people for money, and they are very bold and talk or yell at you like adults. I’m not sure I like that, but it doesn’t phase me. It does however make a little sad as I believe kids should be kids not miniture adults.

After the prayer is done, I do not stay for the vegetarian food even though it looks delicious. I save that for my aunts, there are plenty of meat to eat in Vietnam without the vegetarian stuff. I will be gaining enough weight as is. Especially since my whole family are foodies, specifically my cousins. Dinner is with my cousin buying us these things.

Oh no, dinner is not complete without a home cooked meal. I can’t resist. It’s thit kho, with lots of fat and lots of eggs. Canh Mang which is bamboo shoot soup with pigs feet and sautéed lotus root to shrimp and pork. The ones pictured are not yet sautéed, because after they were sautéed I was just eating and forgot to actually take pictures. I love eating with my uncle. He is a fantastic chef. Some days I am glad I live in America where I don’t cook, cause if I lived here, I would keep gaining weight.

Food

Good Morning, Vietnam!

August 4, 2018August 5, 2018 meaningfultea

Good Morning Vietnam! Waking up to the beautiful sunrise of Vietnam.

Our timing and sleep patterns are a little different and we are feeling jet lagged. We woke up at the break of dawn due to this difference, and luckily because of this we got to see this beautiful sunrise. Then there’s the beeping of early risers on their moped. After a few hours, we got to start our eating.

At breakfast, we ate broken rice with grilled pork, braised egg, and steamed egg meatloaf (Cơm tấm Sài Gòn = cơm tấm sườn, bì, trứng, chả)

After breakfast I snacked on the fresh fruit of Vietnam that I love so much! Rambutans, Logans, Mangosteen, and Guava.

Today will be a slow restful day at home visiting with family and planning our trips. Our only plans today is to go up to my grandparents gravesite to pay our respects. It was really hot up there, and while Sophia was riding a motorcycle she had a helmet and dust cover exactly like a Vietnamese girl. She also has the ‘non la’ – the Vietnamese conical hat.

Dinner was my uncle’s (I call him dad) birthday so we got to eat more.

So a few of you have asked that I list out the dishes in these pictures. Blood snails, small razor clams, various varieties of other clams in a coconut juice, frog legs, Vietnamese soy sauce chicken wings and I sampled a bunch of different beers in Vietnam.

Food, Travel

Arrival in Vietnam

August 2, 2018August 4, 2018 meaningfultea

HELLO FROM VIETNAM!!

We arrived in Vietnam after about 24 hours of travel. We arrived at SeaTac at about 9:30 pm to check in for a flight at 2am to Taipei, Taiwan. With our massive amount of luggage. Yes, everything except that striped backpack is our luggage, and there were quite a few carry-on’s not pictured. We had a total of 14 check-ins, 7 carry-on’s and about 6 personal item bags.

When we got to Taipei it was about a 3 hour layover, and I made Sophia a makeshift bed with 2 comfy chairs. She would not wake up when we were trying to board. I had to yell at her to get up before we miss the flight and so she got up. We boarded as one of the first people with the older people in wheelchairs because my aunt and uncle are about 80 and can’t walk that well.

As soon as we hit the plane Sophia was out. Kids sleep so easily…if only I could sleep anywhere that easily. It doesn’t hurt that they can fully lay down on the seat with legs on my lap.

We then had about a 12 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan. It was the first time Sophia had ever seen Asia. She was so excited to actually take the pictures from the plane. She was in awe of all the lights, and asked to go to China. Its not so clear, but Sophia was proud of it, so as a good mommy, I need to show it off. We had the most delicious porridge on the plane with pork, shrimp, ginger and fish floss that she wanted to add. Its shredded fine fish and absolutely yummy. Sophia pretty much ate my fish floss, so I got about a quarter of the bag.

24 hours later we land in Vietnam and of course going outside from the Tan Son Nhat airport I am hit the all too familiar humidity with crowds like you would not believe of everyone picking up their loved ones. It was chaos due to all the luggage so we did not take pictures of the crowd. As soon as you are out of the airport, we see a familiar restaurant that Sophia recognizes. Burger King!

We then we had to make the trek home to my little hometown of Nui Sap, which translates to “falling mountain”. On our way home, of course we see the familiar sights of Vietnam. The massive amounts of mopeds and the land where street signs are more like a suggestion than the law that must be followed. It looks familiar but still different than I remember. As we drive I see things covered in tarp and old memories hit me again. Then when I start seeing the food available on the side of road, I get so excited. So excited…that I get butterflies….sorry Ryan…yes food gives me butterflies too. I’m so tired that we just go straight home to say our greetings, unpack, and sleep. – Goodnight from Vietnam!