Day 98: Family Time in Ho Chi Minh

June 6, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

This morning my wife had some work appointments, so the little guy and I did a few tourist things (independence palace, war reparations museum), and met up with her for the afternoon.

First we went to what is apparently the first real Pho restaurant. To me this seems like a bit of a stretch, but we’ll go with it because then we will feel special. The place is called Pho Hao Pasteur (on Pasteur street) and it was a really cool experience – super popular, and it looks like even with the popularity, it is still a family place.

Then we went to the famous market called Ben Thanh Market. I have been to markets all over the world, and this one is not anywhere near my favorite. It was packed with tourist stuff, and there was little feeling that locals would have a reason to go here (unless they feel they need a t shirt that says “I heart Vietnam”. Part of the thing that makes markets cool is feeling like you are getting a glimpse of local customs, and that was largely missing. It was hot and stuffy, so as we had the little guy with us, we were not keen to stay for long. Nonetheless, there were some noteworthy items:

Cinnamon sticks in raw form. Cinnamon is a tree bark, and I found some pieces for a very good price.
Snake/scorpion wine: apparently this makes you more verile (as does everything unappealing)
Coffee and tea – coffee especially, since they are famous for their coffee here.

snake and scorpion wine: this stuff will put hair on your chest

cinnamon sticks that are huge – I bought one and it stuck out the top of my backpack

After that we went to another market called Saigon Square, which is more focused on clothing items, with a few electronics places as well. Apparently the factories in Vietnam use the excess fabric they have left after they make the quantities that are ordered by the brands, and this is where they sell those items. They claim the items are not knockoffs, but the reality is, the vast majority are, with a few exceptions. We were unimpressed by the prices – higher than we thought they should be – but then again maybe we have been spoiled by Hong Kong.

Finally it was time to go home and feed and put the little guy to bed. While my wife finished with the bedtime rituals for him, I ventured out to buy dinner. Can’t be too hard, right? Ha! I did not find many restaurants that I could order food to takeaway – most were similar to the Chinese restaurants in Hong Kong and China – lots of people at a large table eating a large meal. There were also street food places, but my wife wouldn’t be happy if I did that – she miracously rarely gets sick when traveling, and one of the reasons is steering clear of the super local food (while I on the other hand usually try it and occasionally get sick).

“its just across the street” – left and right views from the crosswalk

I had an ok-looking restaurant picked out, and all I had to do was cross the street to get there. I arrived there 20 minutes later, after feeling like I just played a real life human game of “frogger”and with my heart pumping fast, only to find out the place is a steakhouse (and I don’t eat cow meat). So, I ended up finding a place right next to the hotel after all.

It was a fun day with all 3 of us in Ho Chi Minh. I’m glad we have had the opportunity to come here and spend this time together. People do not talk much about Ho Chi Minh, but I think it’s definitely worth the trip here if you are in Asia already, or if you are looking for a few days to stopover as part of a larger trip.

Day 97: A Sick Baby in Ho Chi Minh

June 5, 2015June 5, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

Last night the little guy had a horrible night, sleeping restlessly and generally being miserable. He had a fever and lots of thick mucus in his nose, preventing him from breathing well – this led to poor sleep and not eating.

In the morning, the decision was made to stay in the hotel most of the day, instead of venturing out into the city. He had a fever most of the day, so it was what was best for him. Fortunately we stayed at a nice hotel (Hotel Nikko Saigon), and the room is nice and big, with a king sized bed and wonderful views of the city. If you are going to be stuck in a hotel room with a sick baby, this is the place to do it.

I was really excited to go to a few sites in Ho Chi Minh today, but when you are a parent, there are times when you need to drop the plans and so what is best for your little ones – so I changed my approach to how we would experience the city. For example, when the little guy was sleeping, I got out our good camera and used the opportunity with the perfect light to take some “sleeping baby photos”. When his fever broke and it seemed like he was feeling better, we walked around the mall attached to the hotel. This gave him the chance to be social with all the shop employees, who seemed to like him as much as the people in Hong Kong.

Then I was struck with a reality: we needed to buy dish soap to wash his bottles with. I had no choice – you cannot reuse baby bottles without cleaning them, especially if the baby was sick. So, we ventured out into the city for a 10 minute walk to the supermarket.

It was funny how this city is literally buzzing with mopeds as they zip around the streets. More than one enterprising single driver stopped to ask if me and the little guy wanted a ride (surely for a fee). The people at the food stands smiled and waved at the little guy, and he smiled back. When we made it to the supermarket, the many people employed by the different brands in the aisles were eager to say hello (often loudly and right in his face), and he took it like a champ, again smiling and taking it all in.

Tomorrow we have plans to go to those same attractions that were canceled today – I look forward to it. But I look forward to having a 100% healthy baby back even more.

one of many street vendors where mopeds stop by for a quick snack

Day 96: Lots of Mopeds and a Fancy Toilet

June 4, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

My wife has some work to do in Vietnam this week, so she packed up the little guy and me (not literally), and we came with to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon).

One thing I noticed right away was all the mopeds in this city. To say there are a lot is an understatement – this city is completely overrun with them. Unlike Bangkok, which has a lot of cheap old mopeds, the ones they have here are mainly higher quality – they still pollute like crazy but they aren’t as loud. There were full families of 5 people on some, and it is not uncommon to see a mother/father and their baby or small child.

I was trying to get a photo of the family in the back and this guy reverse photo-bombed me

We got to the hotel, which is a really nice hotel called Hotel Nikko Saigon, and we noticed a few great things when we checked in:

Great service and super friendly desk staff
Awesome views (see below)
Awesome toilet (that’s right, awesome toilet)

The room and the views are great, and then I used the toilet. I saw it had some buttons on the side, but it looked like one of those handicap toilet seats so I didn’t pay much attention. Then I sat down and noticed the seat was warm. Hmmm, what’s going on here? Then I looked closer at all the buttons – and I instantly felt like Crocodile Dundee when he was staying in the hotel in NY. Suffice to say I didn’t try any of the options, but my trip to Vietnam will be a lot more enjoyable just knowing I have this toilet seat at my disposal.

Day 95: Durian: The Smell and the Taste

June 3, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

In Hong Kong there are loads of “western” supermarkets. These supermarkets carry a plethora of things from the USA and Europe, and since there are so many people buying them, things are fairly reasonable in price (with the exception of yogurt). These supermarkets are called things like Fusion, Wellcome (spelled wrong like that), Taste, and so on, and while they are considered “western”, they carry a lot of local and regional wonders, too.

Today when I was walking from one place to another in Wan Chai, I walked into a Wellcome Supermarket. It was downstairs from the street level, and upon every step, there was a funky, sour smell that started to hit me more and more. I knew the smell. It is one of those smells that you only need to smell a few times and it is burnt into your memory. And upon reaching the bottom and turning the corner, with my eyes watering from the stench, I came across the culprit: Durian.

Durian: The spikes are symbolic of what the taste does to your palate

Durian is popular fruit in parts of Asia – and it’s smell is famously always being talked about. For example in Kuala Lumpur, I remember seeing lots of signs banning it – including on the metro. It has a prickly outside as you can see in the photo above, and you cut through it to get to the fruit. So let’s get this straight. The smell is sour/sweet – like a rotting mango that had been sprayed with lemon-scented household cleaning product containing ammonia. And, the outside is super prickly and moderately dangerous. So, it must taste awesome then, right?

Nope. I tried some super fresh Durian on a trip to Malaysia 5 years ago, and I still remember exactly what it tastes like. It has a resemblance to the taste of sauteed onions, if you left them in the back of your refrigerator next to some rotting vegetables for a few weeks and it absorbed the flavor while getting moldy. That’s pretty close to what Durian tastes like. I am almost gagging as I write this, but I feel I am doing a public service so I must continue. To make things confusing and maybe give the flavor more negative impact, the flavor is not in any way connected to the smell. You would expect a bit more “fruity” taste with that scent, but instead it is as I described. And finally, there’s the aftertaste, which sticks with you for a few hours after just taking 1 bite.

Surely eating Durian is an acquired taste, like anything wonderful, like fine cheese – and I love a good smelly cheese. But unlike cheese, there is absolutely nothing potentially pleasant in my mind about the flavors that came through in Durian. As it is right now, there are 2 things on earth I will not even entertain the idea of eating: Uni (sea urchin sushi, which tastes like the smell of funky oceanside), and Durian. Maybe once I forget the flavor again in another 5 or 10 years I will try again, but until then, I’ll keep eating all the other wonderful fruits in the world. 🙂

helpful signs warning of the danger of the spikes, and teaching you how to open the durian

Day 94: Laundry, Laundry, Everywhere

June 2, 2015 Pappa on Leave2 Comments

As the little guy gets more into eating solids and moving around more on the floor at home and the various play dates, it is clear that we will have to do laundry even more often. It’s not so bad if you have a washer and dryer, but we only have a washer and a hanging rack, so it takes 2-3 days to dry things.

So, as it is, we basically have a constantly full laundry basket that eventually leads to a load of darks, colors, or whites. This method of living requires that you have enough pairs of underwear, socks, and baby clothes to get you thru until the next time things are washed, which at the moment is not a problem. One day in the not-so-distant future, I think we will be purchasing another drying rack so we don’t have to have such a deep “inventory” of clothes for each member of the family.

As it is now, laundry is always on the “to do list” – and I have a feeling that as the little guy grows older, doing laundry will stay in a prominent place on the list – I better get used to it!

Day 93: Parenting = Eternal Jetlag?

June 1, 2015 Pappa on Leave2 Comments

One thing I’ve noticed that accompanies the joys of parenting is a special feeling that comes early in the morning when the little guy decides the day has started, but my body clock is saying it is time to keep on sleeping (as most people’s body clocks do at 5:00 in the morning). This special feeling has only been paralleled in 1 other scenario: dealing with jetlag. Those long flights crossing many timezones with the weird air quality, elevated stress levels, and air pressure that leave you feeling like your days are long and that night should be day, for a few days or even a few weeks after the trip.

You hear a lot about not having much sleep as a new parent and always being tired. But for me, it’s not really about always being tired as a result of sleep, because we can all learn to live with less sleep. It’s more about always having your body clock messed with, as if you are always dealing with jetlag. You are tired when you wake up, and sometimes more alert when you would normally be tired. It’s a weird experience, and I think this is a contributing factor to the old saying “those early years go so quickly” – of course they do, you are doing your best to be alert and present, but you are dealing with eternal jetlag during those years which might contribute to the time whizzing by.

Of course some of the old rules to get past jetlag might still apply as a parent. For example, don’t drink a lot of alcohol and drink plenty of water, try to sleep when you can, make sure to stretch out occasionally – all of this is good life advice to follow as well. But no matter what people say, I am not going to wear compression socks all the time ;P

Day 92: Do Stay at Home Parents Have Time for Sport or Working Out?

May 31, 2015May 31, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

A few weeks ago I was at lunch with a group of people and someone told me, “one way to meet people here is to find people who do the same sports you do.” I do not do any sports or workout currently, but I like to do all sorts of sports – golf, cycling, hiking, go to the gym, and so on. Of course this was all before the little guy was born, and it will come back again when the time is right. The lack of sport in my life is one of the reasons I am on the go a lot – if I cannot work out, then I want to be as active as possible (it would be so much easier, but less healthy, to sit at home all day).

So, is there time for the gym? Yes, I think there probably is time for stay at home parents to go to the gym if they live and the partner works in a traditional environment – for example when the partner works a 8:00-17:00 job, then it could work to go to the gym a few evenings a week. But in Hong Kong, where my wife gets back from work at 18:30-19:00, and then there’s cooking dinner, cleaning up, and so on, it is often 21:00 before you get a chance to sit. So, then it’s up to you: workout or not. To me it then depends on if I was active during the day – if I was, then I do not feel like I need to do anything. If I had just sat at home all day (which I have not yet done), then I might feel the need to go work out.

If I were in organized sports, that might actually push me and my wife to create some schedules that would allow for those sports to happen, but as it is, that is not an issue.

The whole concept of “I don’t have time” reminds me of when I was working to put myself thru college to earn my undergraduate degree (I talked a little about it on this post). I worked no less than 40 hours a week, and was enrolled in full-time classes. I would literally get up and drive 1 hour to the university, study and go to class, then drive back and work a full day, then read and do homework in the evening. I would always have my school work done, earned top marks, and still had time to have a social life. And then I would sit there and listen to my classmates who had no job and only took the minimum amount of classes whine about not having time to do XYZ. To me it is never about not having the time, it is about not prioritizing your time. If something is important, you will make it work.

So I guess I do not think there is a lack of time for sports, as much as there is a lack of need in my current situation, since I usually push a 15 kg (32 lb) stroller up and down the hills in the heat for hours at a time, or carry the little guy around the city. If this were not the lifestyle I had, I would make the time to get the release from the stresses that come with the “job” of stay at home parent, and stay fit. Make a plan, prioritize it, and get the activity that is needed to stay healthy. Gotta take care of yourself, in mind and body, if you expect to be a good parent, right?

Day 91: looking for a “hip carrier”

May 30, 2015May 30, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

As you probably know by now, we are often on the go using our Baby Bjorn. We like it, but as the little guy gets older and heavier, we worry about all that weight as he “hangs” there. Surely there are better options, right?

Yes there are! There are some wonderful products developed first by a South Korean company called “I Angel”, where the baby is sitting on a little bump that is sitting on your hips. So instead of all the weight being on your shoulders, the weight is on your hips. And for the baby, the weight is also more naturally distributed as they are sitting. The shoulder part is also removable and then hip part can be used as you carry the little one around house or anywhere else as you normally would.

So, we are in the market now for a hip carrier to use in Hong Kong. We will still use the Baby Bjorn because we like that it also works for having the little one on the back. But this hip seat will allow the little guy to sit instead of hang, and to not be right up against me in the hot heat. I can see why so many people here use them, and I am eager to get my hands on one!

Day 90: It’s Getting Hot Outside. Now what do we do?

May 29, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

It is getting warmer and warmer in Hong Kong. Temperatures are ranging between 30-32 degrees C (the upper 80’s in F). The temperature is one thing, but the humidity is where it gets you. To put it into perspective, I have very straight hair, but here in Hong Kong, it looks like I have curly hair. Your glasses fog up when you walk outside from an air conditioned building. You sweat just thinking of being outside. With conditions like this, when you are pushing a baby stroller, you walk outside of the apartment and say, “oh boy, it’s warm out here”, and then you walk about 20 more steps and you say, “sh*t, it’s hot.” See, that’s what heat + humidity + baby stroller does to you 😉

This is not the hottest weather I have ever lived it, and if it were just me, I would not be too concerned about it. But the thing is, I can take a drink of cold water any time I want, or go into a cold building along the way to cool down, or decide what to do. But the little guy can’t. He’s stuck with me wherever we go, and if he gets hot (which he sometimes does), there is little he can do but whine. And when he does, I don’t blame him, because the reality is, he is whining for a good reason: it sucks to be a baby in this heat.

As you may have noticed, most of our time is spent on the go to various things – play dates, baby swim, trips to the city for different errands, and so on. This all involves a lot of time outside, which is good for me and good for him. There is of course a tipping point where it is no longer good for either of us, and that’s when the heat and humidity make us sweat a lot and make us dehydrated. Fortunately I do have the little guy well covered and give him plenty of opportunities to take some water, and he is not illustrating any symptoms of dehydration – but it is still something to watch out for.

So, what do we do now if we should limit our outside time? The answer is all about parenting philosophy, I guess. Do I want to be a parent who sits at home with the child, or do I want to be one who is active with the child? I know that both me and the little guy would go crazy sitting at home most of the day, but also those socializing things like play dates are really good and important for him (and they are also good for me, too). So, I think we must find those optimal times of day to go places, such as morning and afternoon. Then, when we are there, stay there maybe a little longer than we would during cooler weather. For example if we want to go to baby swim at 13:00, then we should go to the place earlier, so that we are not walking outside when it is the hottest part of the day. Then we could be there from 13:00 until 15:00, and after that we should be OK to walk home. Or, fit in some breaks along the way to places like the Supermarket, which internationally are always colder in temperature. In Hong Kong, there are also many malls, so you could strategically set your route to include walking thru these (in Central in particular, you can walk a long way up in the various overhead paths between buildings and the different malls).

So I guess the answer is not really “less outside time”, but “smarter outside time” when it is hotter. It also never hurts to buy a fan to put on the stroller, which can’t drop the heat, but at least it gives some air flow for the little guy.

new fan for the stroller - see those awesome foam blades that stop if the little guy puts his hands in there? — new fan for the stroller – flexible neck, and see those awesome foam blades that stop if the little guy puts his hands in there?

Day 89: The Aviary in Hong Kong Park

May 28, 2015 Pappa on LeaveLeave a comment

Today the me and the little guy met up with some other parents with children of the same age and went for a walk thru the aviary in Hong Kong Park. It was great! I was surprised at how fresh the air was (the aviary is connected to the park, which is in the middle of the city), and how you can be taken away from it all into a magical world of birds.

To get there, you simply go to Admiralty metro stop, then go to Pacific Place and take the escalators up, up, up to Hong Kong Park. Then, once you are there, enjoy the park for a bit (it is seriously awesome), and then find the path towards the aviary. Then, enjoy!

the famous "cinnamon bird of Panama" (just kidding, it's some kind of parrot) — the famous “cinnamon bird of Panama” (not really, it’s some kind of parrot)

There are over 600 birds in this enclosure, and they are allowed to fly freely around while you walk thru the enclosure on platforms. You can see a lot of different tropical birds flying around, and if you have children with you (of almost any age) they will likely be fascinated by it all. The enclosure is basically a big netted-in-globe, with huge trees and a lot of natural habitat, so it does not feel like you are enclosed at all. Definitely worth the trip if you are in Hong Kong.

inside the enclosure - you can walk around the treetops with the birds flying around — inside the enclosure – you can walk around the treetops with the birds flying around

A Father on Pappa Leave

Author: Pappa on Leave