Jocelyn and Jon arrived early in Ho Chi Minh on a Saturday afternoon in most unfortunate circumstances: I was sick. Very. That morning the doctor took one look at my massively swollen tonsils, declared me to have acute tonsillitis, and left me with 5 different types of medicine. After picking them up from the airport, we all agreed it was time for a long nap. Several hours later I shook them awake to give them their first immune system shock: street food. Jocelyn and Jon were full of misgivings as we crept through cramped alley and into a dirty-looking restaurant, but the arrival of the food soon charmed them: ban canh! True, Jon couldn't fit his knees under the table, but that seems less important when you're shoveling the most delicious combination of soft, crunchy, sweet, and spicy flavors known to man.
My mother arrived very late Saturday night; true to form, we stayed up at least an hour more in spite of our collective exhaustion to catch up and share travel horror stories. At some point we must have slouched off to bed, but all I can really remember is waking up very late Sunday morning. I rushed everyone around to the second immune system shock - street food pho - and we spent the rest of the day slowly wandering around Ho Chi Minh, stopping in coffee shops when the family got too hot (consequently we spent most of the day in coffee shops!), and getting massages. It was a much-needed rest.
Above: culinary & massage adventures in HCM
Tuesday morning my family left bright and early for Con Dao, leaving me plodding along with my work at home. I took the latest flight to this rocky outcropping, and arrived to find Mom - to my great surprise - driving around on a scooter; we drove around the small town with me on the back and her promising me that she would teach me how to drive tomorrow. I woke up the next morning to declarations that her whole extra 3 hours of driving made her infinitely more qualified than I, and she refused to let me get in the driver's seat. I then refused to get in the passenger's seat and got my own vehicle...which promptly broken down 3 minutes after driving out of the hotel. My (much snazzier) replacement soon arrived, and we whizzed off to Ong Long Beach, which involved a long uphill scooter ride, then a long downhill walk which was still somehow tiring. We ended at a lovely little beach complete with a romantic swing which Jocelyn and Jon soon populated with cuteness. (I would also like to mention that in spite of her protestations, Mommy was the one who crashed her bike while trying to park it [she was a little scraped but otherwise OK]. After checking to make sure she was safe, I will admit to a small amount of glee at this comeuppance.)
Above: Con Dao first impressions, mom drives a scooter, a restaurant owner asks to take pictures with Jon (??)
The bay had been touted as a snorkeling paradise, but we very soon came to find underwater visibility of approximately 2 inches: the incoming tide had kicked up sand, and snorkeling of any kind was deemed impossible. That didn't stop us from enjoying the water (my mom didn't call us water rats for nothing when we were growing up!),...until Mom called me to a search-and-rescue mission. In the midst of a conversation with Mommy, she had lost sight of Jocelyn and Jon and decided that I, as the ex-lifeguard, need to be put to the test. I spent the next 40 minutes swimming around a very large bay screaming their names, attempting and failing to climb onto the surrounding cliffs to spot them better, and frantically swimming until exhaustion propelled me to shore for a rest. I came ashore, ashen-faced, crafting my speech for their funeral - how was I going to tell Mom? - only to discover that all parties were alive, well, and snacking on-shore. I suppose I'm glad for their safety, as my funeral speech was nowhere near complete.
Adjacent to the beach lay a restaurant, empty save for a group of very drunk Vietnamese men at the ripe old hour of 1pm, along with a half-dozen dogs yapping at their heels. They mostly ignored us except when Jon elected to take a shot with them, which made them very enthusiastic indeed. They also lured a couple of monkeys over with watermelon and bread, and we soon found ourselves in the company of a very docile female and a very angry male. Try as we might, our gifts intended for the nice one inevitably ended up with the mean one, who stole all food from his mate. She surprised us by retaliating not against him, but against the restaurant - we watched her creep up the sidewalk, right behind the unsuspecting drunk men and steal an entire 6-pack of juice boxes. If you didn't know this before, now you do: juice boxes are a delicacy in the monkey world. We watched her chomp through the boxes and slurp every last one down, clearly familiar with this product intended for human children.
Good monkey - bad monkey - juice box monkey
The next day - our last on this fabulous island - we wandered through a mountainside temple, drove down yet another coastline and stopped at some of the countless beaches along the road, conspired to freak out Mom and tell her we found a snake in the jungle (sadly, she did not believe us), explored abandoned hotels, and generally had great fun tooling around in our scooters.
Above: abandoned hotel and beach explorations
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and we all-too-quickly boarded our open air taxi (!) back to the airport. The next morning my job called again, but thankfully I arrived back home in time to bring my mom to the airport and bid my sister and brother-in-law farewell as they boarded their plane to northern Vietnam...or so I thought.
While Mom's flight went according to plan, Jocelyn and Jon arrived at the airport to find that their flight had been canceled, and nobody told them! They had been automatically rescheduled for another flight...4 hours prior. After a long time on the phone, Jocelyn managed to badger her way into a full refund and a rescheduled flight for 2 days later. While this sadly left them less time to explore northern Vietnam, it did mean they got to spend more time with me!
After 1 week of vacation and irresponsibility, the gym took first priority the next morning, and I managed to guilt/convince them into joining me! I quickly regretted this as I realized that, in spite of avoiding gyms for the better part of 2 years, Jocelyn still looked more confident lifting weights than I did huffing along the treadmill I've been abusing these last 3 months. Can't win everything, I guess.
The rest of the day proved far more relaxing: we ate, had ourselves a proper tea party, got our nails done, took an obligatory afternoon nap, and talked late into the night. I bid them adieu the next morning as they boarded their long-awaited plane to Hai Phong to explore Cat Ba island.
Husband and wife, everybody
Spending time with my family is always a joy, and this trip, short as it was, was no exception. I won't see my mom again until the late spring, and Jocelyn and Jon in the late summer - so every tea-drinking afternoon, scooter ride, and begrudging gym session is a blessing. I miss you guys!
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