Family Of 5 Vietnam + Cambodia

Having stayed here the longest we were definitely settling into a routine. The first time all holiday it was a leisurely wake up with breakfast around 9ish… favourites including all the breaded products for Eashan, bacon and eggs for Matt and Millen, chocolate spread for Arushi and the most awesome passion fruit and homemade yoghurt for me. Deffo going to miss that when we go home!

This morning we did a craft workshop making lanterns. Apparently the humble lantern was brought over by Chinese and Japanese merchants when they came to Hoi An to trade and settle in the late 14th century and is now one of Hoi An’s most famous symbols and they are everywhere!

We had popped along to this place before and it was very busy, with a great set up of the ubiquitous plastic chairs around a sort of “tuff spot” with all the materials needed. Luckily for us (and boy did I need it) our timing was great as we were the only people there therefore benefitted from the lantern lady, her husband and her mother’s attention and help!

The process of making lanterns is divided into 2 main stages: making bamboo frames and fabrics covering. The bamboo must first be soaked with salt water for 10 days to avoid termites, then dried, split and sharpened into thin strips depending on the size of each lantern. This has already been done for us.

We then got to choose which size and which shape lantern we would want. We are hoping we can put these up on the cherry tree at home and bring a bit of Hoi An back into Mallinson Road!

After using our muscles to force the bamboo into certain shapes, we attached them to 2 wooden rings at two ends and then tied as tightly and neatly as we could with string to hold it altogether.

We then all pondered over our different silk fabrics and stuck them down with glue whilst snipping off the excess. Finally we finished the lantern off with a decorative tassle and .. ta- da!!! It was a labour of love for some of us.. it was also clear to see how much Arushi and Eashan impressed the lady! But “ Papa” did well too, when he wasn’t cutting the string off!😂

This had all worked up quite an appetite so with our 5 new lanterns in our bike baskets headed off to our usual lunch haunt… see I told you we had become creatures of habit. We loved Madam Khan’s so much this was our fourth lunch there with exactly the same food and, not like us at all, no one had even had a bite of anyone else’s we were that happy with what we all had ordered no one ever dared deviate away. There was no way we were going anywhere else for lunch!

As it was our last day, we found ourselves mooching around the shops and markets picking up our last few souvenirs. The children had their own money to go and bargain by themselves. They had learnt some good tips… when asked where they were from, they responded 'India' rather than 'UK' for better exchange rate deals! They had learnt not to pick anything up unless they really wanted it and also to remember yes it was important to not get ripped off but also to be mindful to do it with grace and humour and as a foreigner here maybe don’t worry if it’s a bit more than you wanted to pay! They had also learnt that walking away is a bargaining tool and if they call you back, do not let your pride get in the way of coming back.

The prices here were definitely inflated for us tourists but with the charm of the Vietnamese you couldn’t help but not mind!

All the shopping had made us thirsty so we headed off for a coffee. We had heard about “The Reaching Out Tea House” which is a social enterprise that supports the local speech and hearing-impaired community.
All of the staff at this quaint café are speech and hearing impaired and therefore speaking out loud is actively discouraged. I have loved being with my family every second this holiday but also was suddenly aware how this environment of no talking for half an hour felt like a treat!

The Tea House provide communication tools to help from notes, to word blocks, gestures, and generous amounts of smiles we found there were plenty of ways to communicate with the friendly staff. Millen wrote me a note saying I’d set him up- he’s not one to enjoy the silence.

Arushi told us afterwards she found it very stressful trying to order our drinks (they provide you with a tick sheet but we also seems to fill in different ones!) and Eashan seemed happy enough but the cookies we ordered were clearly disappointing for him.. a lovely array of wholesome cookies flavoured with ingredients such as coconut, tea and cardamom.. not quite his ideal!

I could have stayed longer just people watching. It was fascinating when you turn off your senses (in my case no talking and no listening) how our other three senses dialled up significantly. Sitting in the huge open window of the tea shop made me really open my eyes to all the wonderful daily activities happening in this beautiful town right in front of me. Millen was almost in tears not being able to talk so we left!

We pedalled back home, becoming accustomed to the crazy driving rules (simply there aren’t any!!) went for a swim and begun packing for our journey home tomorrow. I’ve had such a great time here. I’m going to miss this place so much.

It’s been 3 weeks of total immersion in a foreign and exciting world. I’ve felt my parents have been with me all the way as I’ve chatted to them here everyday. They would have loved this place and would have adored to hear our recounts of it all.Read more