Peapod on Purpose

Vietnam is a country like no other. From rice fields to Train Street and bustling cities to calm towns, we got to experience many different ways of life in the country.

On the first two days in Hanoi, we walked around and explored the city. We went for banh mi once, and we walked around a lake. On the third day, we went to Train Street where the train was speeding through three feet away from us! We all got fresh coconut water, and Daddy Pea got coffee.

After that we walked about one and a half miles to the Temple of Literature. There was a playground outside that we played on for about fifteen minutes. When we finished playing there, we went inside the temple. It was a Confucian temple, and it was the first place where people were trained in the ways of Confucius. There were many golden Confucius statues, and people had laid a lot of food offerings in front of them. We read about Confucius and the paintings in the temple.

In the evening after dinner, we went to see a Vietnamese water puppet show. There was Vietnamese music, and the people backstage had long poles connected to the puppets to move them. There were multiple acts, including a dragon act where two dragons shot water and fire out of their mouths. There was also a parade act and my personal favorite, an act where the water puppets were chasing a wolf trying to eat the ducks! It was especially funny when the girl that was chasing the wolf accidentally hit the boy. 

The next morning, we got out of the house early (ish) to go on a tour of the area around our building. It was a private tour with a college student practicing her English. Her name was Winne (that was her English name; I don’t remember her Vietnamese name), and she was super nice. We walked around and saw many of the outdoor street vendors. In the part of Hanoi that we were in, each street had a theme with restaurants and food vendors spread throughout. One of the streets that we went on was a shoe street, while another was a glasses street.

We stopped by two temples, one of which was a temple devoted to the white horse god. There is a myth about how the city walls in ancient times would not survive, and how a white horse appeared and ran around the city. When they built the wall on the course that it ran, the wall stayed up. This is why they worship the white horse god.

After that, we headed toward an old house that was built during the time the French were ruling over Vietnam. It was a traditional Vietnamese home, complete with exclusively wooden furniture (including the bed), a reception room, a separate kitchen, and a bathroom in the back. Next, we went to a street that sold paper clothes, paper money, paper TVs, paper phones, and paper computers. These are called votives. The Vietnamese people burn them because they believe that their ancestors need them in the afterlife.

In the evening, we went to see the night market for the first time. It was super cool because the street vendors (in the middle of the street!) were not set up during the day, and only set up at sunset. There, people were mainly selling souvenirs and jewelry. Along with the vendors in the middle of the street, the daytime vendors were also set up. We saw a lot of small vendors that were selling banana crepes and rolled ice cream. There were also ladies walking around with baskets of sesame-flavored balls of dough (cooked). We got some, thinking they were doughnut holes. We were disappointed to find out that they were sesame balls after we had tried them. (I warn you, never try them! They are gross!)

On the fifth day in Hanoi, we went to an amazing water park with a little kid area and seven big kid slides! The kid area had two small slides; one of them was a very wide slide, and the other was a twisty slide. My favorite was a very tall slide that had an almost vertical drop. Another of my favorites was like a county fair slide where you sit in a burlap sack and fly down in between four other family members!

On Sunday, we went to church at Hanoi International Fellowship, and in the afternoon got to have an amazing experience on a night train! When we got on the night train, we went to our compartment and got settled into our bunks. Dad had to sleep in a different compartment with other people. We all had our own bunk, and in the middle near the window was a table that was just big enough to play Monopoly Deal. After we played a round, we went to bed. The beds were not too hard, but they weren’t a cloud either. In the morning I read for about two hours, then dad came in and we looked out the window for the last thirty minutes of the train ride.

We arrived in Da Nang City and took a forty minute drive through the countryside to Hoi An. We drove past a dragon bridge, marble statues, and water buffalo grazing in rice fields. The Airbnb complex had a pool in the middle and our villa was a two-story building with three bedrooms and a dining room/small kitchen.

During our stay here, we got to experience the different stages of the rice harvest. When we got there, the rice fields were a bunch of different shades of green, and the tips were yellow. After about six days, the field workers started harvesting the rice. They separated the rice from the stalks as they were harvesting; then laid the grains out in the middle of the roads to dry! The last step was burning the fields to regenerate the soil. By the end of the month, the rice was off the road, and new sprouts were growing out of the ground!

As the next day was our first full day in Hoi An, we did some school and visited the beach. During a lot of our calm days here, we did school and/or visited the beach.

The second full day in Hoi An, we did school during the day, and in the evening we went to the Hoi An old town to walk around. We ended up going to a tailor to have handmade dresses and shirts made for me, LP, Middle Pea, Daddy Pea, and Little Pea. We got pho from a street vendor for dinner. Afterward, we strolled slowly through the old town to get to the night market! It was fun to be there; the vendors were selling all sorts of trinkets and toys. They were also selling things like handheld fans and trendy chopsticks. After we walked around for about an hour, we started going back toward our Airbnb. On the way, we stopped for some rolled ice cream and banana pancakes.

The next few days were a series of calm days, and on the first Sunday in Hoi An, we drove to Da Nang City for the Da Nang International Fellowship (DIF). There was a kids service that mom and dad let us go to! We learned a memory verse, talked about it, and made some new friends. (Ps. We also had to drive on the dragon bridge to get to the DIF!)

The day after the Da Nang International Fellowship, we met up with our new friends for an Asian style lesson of Krav Maga. We did some warm ups, then we practiced defending ourselves. After the lesson was over, we ate dinner out with our friends.

On Wednesday, we got to experience the Hoi An markets during an amazing cooking class. First, we got picked up by a bus from our Airbnb. Next, we headed to the daytime market to get the ingredients for four recipes and two dips.

Afterward, we went to a river to see a coconut boat show, and to go crab fishing (well, we tried to anyway). Then we went to see how rice milk and rice paper were made.

You make rice milk by grinding rice in a grinder that spins. It takes many spins. To make rice paper, you take one ladle of rice milk and put it on a cloth stretched over a pot of boiling water. You wait about thirty seconds, then use a small, flat, wooden stick to take it off. Once it cools down, there you have it!

When we finished with that, we finally got to start the cooking. First, we added the spices to a boiling pot of beef bones to start the beef pho (Pho Bo). Then we watched the demonstration of making the Vietnamese spring rolls (Goi Cuon). All you do is put a bunch of herbs and shrimp in dried rice paper that you get wet. I LOVED the Goi Cuon, and I ate them all throughout the rest of our time in Vietnam. We also made a peanut hoisin sauce (Nuoc Leo) to go with the Goi Cuon.

The second thing we made was a southern Vietnam style beef vermicelli salad (Bun Bo Nam Bo). One of the fun things about it was that you had to fry the beef in a flame to cook it. You added herbs, noodles, peanuts, and a special sauce on top. After that, we made a Vietnamese pancake (Banh Xeo). To make the pancake, you take rice milk mixed with green onions, shrimp, and pork. You fry it in a pan of vegetable oil and once it gets golden brown, you take it off. Then you put bean sprouts and herbs, fold them up like a taco, and wrap it with rice paper. The last thing we made was a sauce to go with the Banh Xeo. The Vietnamese name for this sauce is Nuoc Cham. To make it, you have to pound garlic and red chilies with a mortar and pestle. Then you mix it with sugar, lime juice, fish sauce, and water. The experience of a Vietnamese cooking class was one I’ll never forget!

The day after that, we went to lantern making class where we got to make our own Vietnamese style lanterns. What you do is you take the lantern frame, put glue on it, and wrap it with the cloth of your choice. You make a tassel to hang off it, and learn how to fold it up. Me, Middle Pea, and Little Pea, all made our own unique lanterns. (The one on the left is mine, Little Pea made the one in the middle, and Middle Pea’s is the one on the right.)

Over the next two weeks, we settled into our normal life routine. On the second to last day however, we went to an amusement park that had an adventure section, a traditional Vietnamese section, a jungle section, and a waterpark!

We first went to the jungle section where we went on a Jungle Safari and saw giraffes, elephants, monkeys, tigers, and more. We then went to the Vietnamese section and got to experience a traditional Vietnamese water drum show. We also got to see how they used to do their weaving! Next, we went to the adventure section and went on a few roller coasters. After that we got to see a 4D movie!

The last section of the park that we went to was the waterpark. We spent quite a few hours there, went in the kid area, and rode on the few waterslides that we were allowed to go on. Most of the waterslides were only for people who were 140 cm tall and up (sadly).

The next place we traveled to was Ho Chi Minh City. Here, we were staying in a skyscraper next to the tallest skyscraper in the city! The apartment complex had pools, restaurants, and shops located on the first floor of the buildings.

The reason we came to Ho Chi Minh was because we were going to serve at an English-speaking Christian school! The first few days, we just walked around and went to the pool. Then, we went to a full day of serving at the Kingdom Light International School. LP taught the chapel service to the students at the school, and then our family went to lead the English classes for the day. We played games and had conversations to help the students practice speaking English. In the middle of the day we had a lunch break. We met up with the founder of the school, who treated us to a delicious buffet! After lunch, we went back to the school for the next half of the day. 

We have been so blessed to be able to visit this amazing country! God has shown us many things throughout visiting the temples, watching the cycle of the rice fields, helping in the school, and spending time together.