This week had quite a bit going on, much of which was forced upon us since we had to leave our Airbnb for a few days. That turned out to be a welcome nudge though to get us out there seeing more in Vietnam. We visited a beach town called Vung Tau which you can read about in days 202-205 below. On day 201 you can read about the American guilt trip we took to the War Remnants museum. The week leads off on day 199 with me wondering if a beautiful young Vietnamese woman at the gym wants to murder me, rob me, or marry me. It’s like the Vietnamese real life edition of Kiss, Marry, Kill.

Travel Log: Day 199 (1/12), Vietnam

Another normal school day today. During times where I wasn’t needed I called my mom and went to the gym. There is a young Vietnamese chick making hard eye contact with me there, and I can’t read it. She must be in her 20s, and her expression is completely neutral, not smiling, and not disgusted. I have seen her about three times in the gym and every time we cross paths there is eye contact and I’m the one who loses the game of chicken. It’s noticeable and bizarre given I can’t detect even a hint of what she’s thinking.

In the afternoon JC and I booked our flight to Sri Lanka and our Airbnb. I’m excited for the Airbnb because it is walkable to a beach called Turtle Beach where these giant turtles come to the shallow water and are friendly to humans. We can get away with walking everywhere by the sound of it. We may take a trip over to Galle though.

I finished a blog post about the expat cost of living in Manila.

AC and I watched Stranger Things. We ate 7-Eleven for dinner. JC busted BC sneaking youtube time on the phone in the bathroom before he takes a shower. I knew he was taking forever to get in the shower, and that’s why. He has lost the phone until we think he’s been punished enough for that.

Travel Log: Day 200 (1/13), Vietnam

The school day started with the plan to just do math and then go to the War Remnants Museum. Math was a struggle again with BC. He was stuck on a problem that requires some understanding that multiplying by a fraction can be the same as dividing by another number. I pushed him to think through it, but eventually could tell he wasn’t making progress. In talking it through with him I realized he had forgotten multiplying fractions and even multiplying/dividing by powers of 10. I made him do extra math today, going back to those lessons. I’m a little concerned about his ability to retain these lessons after he learns them. Sometimes I question whether the brain of an average 11 year old boy is even formed enough to be good at math.

When we went outside to catch a Grab to the museum, it was raining. We decided we didn’t want to deal with that and went back in to finish the school day.

During some self-directed subjects JC and I went to the gym to lift. In the early afternoon I worked on some tech stuff, learning about modern API approaches. After that we went over to the Landmark 81 area to just walk around and be outside. It was really nice, and the kids spent a lot of time playing on a playground over there.

We ate 7-Eleven for dinner and AC especially was sick of our food options, but it wasn’t just her, we all were. The food we got was a total bust. She got a burger that she threw away and I confirmed was gross. I got a burrito that I threw away. We just filled in the gaps in our dinner with peanuts, protein, and other stuff.

During dinner the guys for the tile issue came over. They marked all the bad tiles, and told us they would be coming this weekend and it would only take one day. We will still probably go to the beach area for a few days.

AC BC and I watched Stranger Things. We wrapped up season 3 which is getting close to the furthest point I have ever watched.

Travel Log: Day 201 (1/14), Vietnam

We tried again today with the war remnants museum, and still ran into some issues. I ordered a Grab and we stood out there for 30 minutes waiting and the car never really got closer. I cancelled that ride and we waited until after 10am for rush hour to die off. We had better luck at that point getting a ride.

The museum isn’t exactly what I expected. It was basically dedicated to just a few themes. One was all about how America started the war and the progression of events through the end of the war. The next section was about photo-journalist achievements and deaths. It was slanted heavily toward those journalists capturing atrocities and war crimes of America. That feeds nicely into the next major section, American war crimes. It was truly only about war crimes committed by America. It left me wondering if none of the Vietnamese on either side committed any war crimes. The last major section was on the horrific impacts of agent orange.

The whole museum was essentially a fuck you to America. I would probably feel the same way if I were them. If anyone came into our country pushing their values and political systems, and then poisoned the country for generations with chemicals, I’d build a museum exposing what dicks they were as well. That logic however didn’t make it feel any better walking through there as an American.

The only area neutral or complimentary to America was the outside area where they had military equipment. The machines were impressive.

We were pretty wiped after the lengthy stay at the museum so we went straight back to our condo. For late lunch we ate at Artisan, and took some walks after that. We ate Bread Talk for dinner which was much like Artisan.

JC and I both had card transactions fail in the late afternoon. My chase card failed at Bread Talk, and her capital one card failed at Circle K. We’re hoping it’s just a local card processing issue, or we might have bigger issues. My card worked for coffee at 2pm, and her’s worked around that same time for Artisan.

Tavel Log: Day 202 (1/15), Vietnam

Today we took a ferry ride to Vung Tau to enjoy some time at the beach while our main Airbnb in Ho Chi Minh City is being repaired. The tile is heaving so they need a day to fix it and a day to clean it. We are staying in Vung Tau until Sunday to give them time for that. This was really sprung on us quickly with the Airbnb host telling us Wednesday night that the work would begin Friday morning. Late last night we booked the ferry and the Airbnb, and then this morning we skipped school to get packed.

The ferry ride was a really good alternative mode of transportation. I think the drive would have taken 2.5 hours, and no doubt would have been stop and go. There also would have been about a one in four chance of getting a driver who thinks the gas peddle is a foot pump that requires constant pumping to make the car go. We had one of those on our way to the ferry today. We avoided those headaches and had a smooth continuous water trip for two hours.

After getting off the ferry we of course had taxi/grab drivers all over us. One of them quoted us a price, and I checked it against Grab and he was in the same ballpark so we rode with him and paid him cash.

At the Airbnb we had to have a caretaker show us in and take pictures of our passports. I was feeling pretty down about the place at first. It just seemed small, couldn’t get the firestick working, and the door to the laundry outside won’t close very well. After we settled in though it’s fine. We all have our own rooms, and everything is reasonably nice.

JC and I went to a GS25 convenience store to get some water and snacks. After that we went on a walk down by the beach with the kids. It has a nice boardwalk that goes on forever. We walked down that for a bit and then turned back to get something to eat. There is a restaurant right at the base of our condo which we tried. Our food was decent and it only cost about $10.

After dinner we went to a mall with a large grocery store inside of it called Lotte. We bought some breakfast stuff, coffee, and snacks.

We rounded out the night watching Stranger Things.

Travel Log: Day 203 (1/16), Vietnam

Today was our first full day in Vung Tau. We decided not to do school because we had other things we wanted to get done. I worked on Thai phrases and did some research on what to do with our blogs since the cost of Bluehost is going to skyrocket when our renewal comes up. We also went to the beach for a couple hours.

I consumed a ridiculous amount of sugar today. I got a 93 sleep score last night so we got ice cream. For afternoon coffee I got a redbull from a machine, and only after I drank it did I realize it had 39 grams of sugar. Then I had mm’s for my movie snack. Between that and drinking alcohol for the first time this year, it was a bad day for my health. JC and I both didn’t enjoy drinking, so we’re going to avoid it today.

It was my movie pick, and I had limited options with only Netflix available. I picked The Terminal and it was really good. I had seen it before when it first came out 20+ years ago, but couldn’t remember many details.

Travel Log: Day 204 (1/17), Vietnam

This is our last full day in Vung Tau. It has been a really short trip but probably the right amount of time. I’m ready to get back to our much nicer Airbnb in Ho Chi Minh.

In the morning JC and I went for a long walk, almost all the way to the Jesus statue on the southern end of the city. We ended up with about 8K steps just from that one walk.

We went to the beach again for a couple hours. I really enjoyed our time out there today, which is pretty unusual for me. Normally I get restless and bored at a beach, but I was pretty content there. It was nice and cool but sunny all day. In the evening we went back to the beach for the sunset and it was almost chilly.

For lunch and dinner we got things from Lotte and it was all really good.

In between all of that I did some more research about what to do with our blogs given the pending expensive Bluehost renewal. I’m pretty settled on migrating everything to a single Hostinger account.

In the evening JC and I watched the movie The Rip while the kids watched their own thing.

Travel Log: Day 205 (1/18), Vietnam

This morning we prepared to leave Vung Tau. We cleaned the condo, packed our stuff, and did a variety of other small tasks.

We took a Grab to catch our ferry, and realized as we drove that if we had more time it would be good to explore Vung Tau. It has a busy downtown area with restaurants and shops that look interesting.

The ferry ride back to HCMC was very much the same as the ferry to Vung Tau. It took about two hours and was nice and easy. There was quite a bit of rocking at times, and I’ve realized I just don’t get sea sick.

After disembarking the ferry, we caught a Grab back to our Sun Ave condo. We were surprised to find our things packed up into a bag and that they were still damp from being washed. Also the fridge was empty, and my protein and creatine were sitting on the shelf by the front door. Just as we were assessing that, the doorbell rang and it was the host’s helper.

She tried to explain what happened but we couldn’t decipher it through google translate. We also had a hard time saying anything back to her which was weird. JC thinks she spilled the milk on the stuff and then washed it. The milk wouldn’t open via the cap and JC had to open it elementary school style.

We had Artisan for dinner which we were all happy to be coming back to. In the evening AC BC and I watched Stranger Things.