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Published: July 22nd 2008
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On Monday we visited Thu's grandfather. The trip takes about two hours from our little village, but I don't remember the name of the place where he lives. Her grandfather moved back here from the States about four years ago -- it's much easier to live well here than in Arizona! Thu called the day before to say we were coming over and ask when would be a good time to arrive. He apparently hadn't checked his e-mail in a while (since you have to go someplace to do that), so he had no clue she was here! It was a good surprise.
When we arrived, the new wife greeted us and welcomed us into the house. It's a huge house! Not the biggest I've seen in passing, but definitely the biggest I've been inside while here. And it's gorgeous! Granite stairs, tile everything, big windows, and even a two huge jetted bath tubs! The house is two stories with plenty of room -- apparently the area doesn't allow taller homes to be built, so most houses are shorter, allowing a great view from the rooftop of this house. Around the house are beautiful plants, some with good smelling
They just keep feeding us!
We're constantly told we can't come to Vietnam without eating the seafood here -- I don't think that's been a problem. Look at all that crab! flowers (like jasmine), some with fruit. I love trees with a dual purpose -- shade and food. :-)
Co , the wife, said that she was going to feed us twice before we could leave. We had a huge meal of fried egg rolls, salad rolls, noodles, and really good ngoc mam for lunch, followed by LOTS of fruit. Oh! And instead of water apparently it's better (and cheap) to buy coconuts and just drink their juice, so we had more coconut than I've had even in a year. For dinner we had the best hot pot I've ever tasted, filled with fresh shrimp and squid, with deep fried fish on the side and again tons of veggies and noodles. It was excellent and WAY too much food. The wife kept apologizing that they didn't have more notice because then she would really feed us. I guess she loves to cook. Thu's grandfather says that his wife loves to cook and he loves to eat, so it's perfect. There was plenty of talking and laughing and I really liked the new wife and Thu's grandfather.
We had to leave at 5PM. The driver took us to a big shopping center that Thu's uncle had pointed out previously. We thought it would be regular shopping, but it turned out to be a mall, which wasn't really what we were looking for but we enjoyed it anyway. We think her uncle sent us there because it is safer -- they are all so worried when we're on our own! (Chu Hai wouldn't even let me and Peter cross the street to the internet cafe by ourselves!) We got to experience the Vietnamese equivalent of Wal-Mart and bought some snack foods and other items before taking off. Then we stopped at another market but most of it was closed because it was dark (of course it gets dark here before 7PM, which really throws me off). We walked the street to see this market and our driver was so cute -- he kept following to make sure we weren't lost and he'd check on us periodically. When we were about done, Thu bought some hum bao and then the driver pointed out a bubble tea place (!!!) and we had that before heading back to the house.
Once back at the house the uncles brought out fresh crab -- staight from the ocean that day! We all looked at the food and groaned -- we were still so full from the day's meals! (Grandfather's wife kept pushing food saying she couldn't have us leave saying we were hungry at grandpa's house! -- Oh, she also said that when we have kids we must come back and she would help with them. :-) We dutifully dug into part of the crab, which was excellent. I really am going to come home pale (since it's too hot to be in the sun) and having gained 10 pounds, I'm sure.
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