January 10th

We had a very special lunch with Thuy who was the volunteer coordinator at the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation when I worked there 4 years ago. We have kept in touch sending photos and WhatsApp messages but to spend time together today was such a treat. Thuy was able to tell me where the little stars I worked with are now: some have been adopted, some are still there, some go to lessons in the CNCF school and some have gone to the orphanage. It was great to reminisce. It was also interesting to hear how the city fared during the pandemic and of the joy at the return of the tourists! 

 We ate at Prem  which was my Friday treat restaurant for the last few weeks of my 2019 stay in HCMC. It’s moved location and gone a bit upmarket since then. I had the new revised version of a Prem bowl which used to come in a big bowl with dressing dolloped on and perfectly finished off with a soft fried egg. As you can  see from the photo below Prem now offers a much more clean cut version. It was still very delicious and very healthy of course. No time for pudding or coffee as Thuy was rushing off to get a plane home for Tet….the new year celebration period of 10 days when the city becomes relatively deserted. 

Visited the BITEXCO tower and took the lift to the sky deck on the 49th floor. There’s a 360 view of the city from there. I was stunned at the vastness and the diversity of architecture in the city. Glossy high rise buildings and tiny little dwellings coexist with many large building projects in progress. Amazing also to see the Saigon River running through the city providing all the water used. We also had our tourist photo taken … it’s a first for us and Paul is looking a bit tense and I haven’t noticed that the tower is behind me. 😂

On our walk through one of the city’s beautiful parks we came across some tree pruning…man with a hand saw up a tree on a rope carefully cutting branches off and lowering them to the ground. About 20 workers milling about using chainsaws without safety gear ( apart from a hard hat). We were able to walk by quite close … no closed footpaths, barriers or cordons, we just had to use our common sense and not walk under falling branches. The approach seemed to work! 

I’m always fascinated by the old and the new functioning together in Vietnam. These two ladders symbolise the fact quite well.