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.
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. 
Meaningful Tea 