Day 83

Today we’re going to take the kids to Den Sen Park for a little swimming and playing time so at 7 am I get up and go to the shower. I get dressed and prepare my backpack with everything I’ll need at the park. Around 8/8.30 am everyone’s ready so we call the taxi and when it arrives, Thach Thao, Phuc, Miss Thoa, Xuan’s mum, Xuan and me jump on the taxi and head for the park.

I’d seen how things work at the swimming pool but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw today. Today is holiday in Vietnam; they’re celebrating the end of war, which is something very important for a country that was devastated by war. So when we arrive we go buy the tickets and if you’re thinking there’s a cue to buy it, you’re completely wrong, there’s no organization, no respect for who’s in front of you, nothing! There are just many people in the same place fighting to be the first buying their tickets.

Then it’s time to enter the park and here there’s a cue but not organized either.

When we enter, we start walking around and, in the end, this is just another big thematic park for kids and grown-ups and there are so many people, so many people that it seems everyone in HCMC is here. Every shadow you can find there’s someone putting a blanket, a raincoat or something else so they can seat and eat and drink.

While going around the kids go on a carrousel ride and we see the faces of the people who go on this big rollercoaster, Thach Thao even participated in a magician’s performance while I was asked by 2 Vietnamese to take pictures with them but I also had to show my koi fish tattoo. I think all we did for an hour was walking around so of course Grandmamma and the kids start to be a little bit tired and hot so we go and seat at this place where we drink ice tea. Because it’s still early we also go on a bus ride along the park and the other side of the park, where we hadn’t gone yet, has so many other stuff to see…

did I tell you that this park besides the rollercoaster and the swimming pool also has a circus and a haunted house inside? Insane!

The bus ride finishes and the kids start to be a little bit sleepy so we find a shadow and grass and lay them down. Miss Thoa and Grandmamma stay with them while Xuan and me go in search of raincoats and food for lunch. As we can’t find anything good we decide that we’ll all going to eat at the stone garden where, at least, we know the food is ok and that the kids will eat properly.

We seat at a big table and I eat beef with French fries and rice while all the others eat chicken or beef with pepper. The kids are getting very sleepy and are even start saying they don’t want to go to the pool anymore, they just want to go home. While Xuan and me drink a cà phê sữa đá, the kids rest a little bit on the grass under the shadow. When we finish our coffee we call the kids to come dress their swimming suits and head to the pool.

Only Miss Thoa and me go with the kids and when we enter we try to find a place under a shadow to put the backpacks and the shoes.

As soon as we find the place, Miss Thoa goes with the kids to the pool while I stay near the backpacks but always paying attention to what Thach Thao and Phuc are doing. There are so many people in the pool that I’m always scared to loose the kids so when Thach Thao starts running away from Miss Thoa and not caring if Miss Thoa is calling her or not, I leave everything and enter the pool running.

Neither Miss Thoa nor me can see where Thach Thao is so when I find her I reprehend her and calm down Miss Thoa. I tell her we’re leaving the pool because she was bad and she starts crying and trying not to leave the pool, I’m so upset and the adrenaline is running so high that I grab her and take her out from the pool. We dress the kids and call Xuan to meet us so we leave.

We get a taxi and head home, the taxi driver gets lost in the streets of HCMC, which I understand… HCMC is a big city but if you are a taxi driver maybe you should know the street names to do a proper job, it’s just what I think… at home the kids go to sleep, and I go undress my wet clothes and take a shower. Then I rest a little bit ‘cause my adrenaline is still pumping with what happened; it’s a big responsibility taking care of children that are not yours and imagining that someone could have grabbed Thach Thao and we’d never see her again is very scary…

Around 4.30 pm I leave the house and go buy my ticket for the cinema tomorrow, I always like to try the cinemas in every country I’m in. I buy my ticket and go for a walk to calm down my still nervous brain.

When I get back home Xuan tells me I should eat so we can go to the center after and it’s what I do; I eat and get ready so we can go out. It’s a nice night tonight and so when we arrive near the park there are so many people to watch the show to celebrate the end of war that it’s difficult to find a place for us. There’s a TV channel doing the coverage of the event so I ask Xuan to ask for the producer in order to understand where can I leave my résumé ‘cause who knows what can happen, maybe I find a job here and that could be nice… after watching a bit of the show we go for a walk along the big avenue that goes from the park to the Vincom center. We do window-shopping, we watch the fireworks but we mostly walk and see the sights.

It’s getting late so we go back where we parked the motorbike and we head home where I take my shower, watch a TV show and fall asleep… =)

Night night everyone, don’t let the bedbugs bite!