CHUYEN 0~ DU L!

CH, ~M THifC
VIETNAM EDITION /T~P 6 2015
JUNE2015
NOT FOR SALE

NHAXUATBAN lAOa6NG

TRAVEl

DOMESTIC

n my third trip home since moving

to Saigon, everyone started coming
around. Th is time, the standard
question "When are you coming
back?" los t a bit of its currency. And Dad
started to make vague comments abou t
coming for a visit.
After some back-and-forth - involving
food photos, viral videos and a harder sell
than I'd yet given him - our plans evolved.
He'd come over at the start of Tet break,
celebrate his 70th birthday on Feb. 19 with all
the other 'Tet orphans', then accompany me
on my first whole-cotmtry travel.
On Feb. 17, Dad arrived. Fresh off 24 hours
in transit, he was raring to go. I took him to
the Tet flower market on the back of my bike.
He thrilled at seeing a passing biker with
seven beer cases stacked between his legs.
He'd never expressed too much interest in my

114 I 'Ward June 2015 I wcnMetn<m.ccn

adoptive home, but now I could see it written

on his face, and in all those photos he made
me posem.
Over the next couple Saigon days, we
puttered around a bit. We saw the fireworks,
and went over to my cleaner's house the next
day for Tet lunch. Tha t night he blew out the
candles on another birthday. A few friends
came, and we Skyped my mother in when it
was time for the birthday speech.
The next day we woke up, scrambled to
the airport, and started our 12-day, five-stop
grind.

Dad's Dream
I'd budgeted in three nights for Siem Reap the only stop he'd explicitly requested - and
booked the hotel. We thought getting the tour
guide would be the easy part. But nothing is
easy over Tet.

We booked a car to take us around the

temples, s tarting a t s tmrise. When our driver
told us he'd wait in the car, we realised the
deal. Siem Reap buyers beware: you will get
charged for everything.
We chinned up and went exploring, along
v.<i th 1,000 other people. But after an hour
of bumping around and taking pichtres
of stat ues, we decided to look for some
guidance. And here's where we encotmtered
our first challenge.
All of tl1e tour guides were booked up, of
course. But Dad improvised. While I went
to the bathroom, he chatted with strangers.
And a nice couple from California ended up
inviting us to share their tour.
Our guide was the cheeky and
knowledgeable Ho Kimhoetm - Kim for
short (kimlweun.kpt@gmail.com). He had jokes,
which my Dad loves. He also had a good

amount of experience. I can't remember the

number of times my Dad expressed our good
luck at finding him.
Day 1 was the small temple loop Angkor Wat, Bayon (the one with 216
faces of the god-king carved in) and the
tree-swarmed Tomb Raider temple. Then
we attended the Vaudevillian Phare circus
(pharecambodian.circus.org). It was s uper cool.
Dad loves cultural s tuff.
Day 2 was the large temple loop - far less
crowded, no less beautiful. That nigh t we
went to Park Hyatt Siem Reap's (siemreap.
park.hyatt.com) free Apsara dance performance
- damn spectacular, taking place twice
weekly in the Hyatt's p ristine, fire-lit central
courtyard. Then we met some friends at 1940s
Shanghai-style Madame Wong Cocktail Bar
(misswong.net) for a drink, which is more my
kind of cultural experience.

Day 3 we head ed to Kulen Mountain - the

magic mountain where the Angkor kings
harvested their temple stone. This was a holy
place, a place of pilgrimage, where even the
tourists seemed to be part of the magic.

The Fortune-Tellin9 Monk

When Kim offered us a ttun at prophecy,
Dad told him a story. It was nearly 30 years
ago that he got his last forttme told, this time
in tarot. And it was damning. That night,
he got a call about his mother - she'd just
had a s troke. Over the next year, as both of
his parents' health d eteriora ted, his business
struggled. The yOtmg man who'd told his
fortune - one of my mother's students never read tarot again.
I, however, told Kim I'd do it.
I p ut a thin folio of Hindu Vedas on my
head, parting its pages with a pencil. Handing

A Quick lntro to Dad

- He was bom In Philadelphia, and
currently resides In New Jersey
-He owns a documentary film
distribution business
- While working In the New York City
Dept. of City Planning, he suppotted
my Uncle Fred's petition about
releasing snakes In the city to help
with the rat problem
- He loves classical music, and
thinks our cat does too
- He once ate 14 lobsters at a single
lobster buffet sitting

it back to the monk, he told me about the

page I'd landed on, describing Armara.
"Armara was chosen by th e king, Mohov
Shuth, to be his queen," Kim translated.
"She was a commoner, and was elevated
to the royalty. Armara was really good,
she was really educa ted, really useful.
Everything got better."
I asked about her parents - I'd made
my pre-fortune wish for the happiness
and good health of mine - and Kim said,
"Sure, of course! For her parents too."
Seeing my good luck, Dad decided to
give it a try too. And he landed on the
worst page in th e book - about Yama,
the god of judgment, who normally exists
between hell and earth. When I asked
Kim about Yama, he said, "In one day, the
god of Yama got into hell to see wha t was
going on. In one day, the assistants of the
Yama burned everything in the hell."
His wish had been for my good fortune.
On Kim's urging, we sta rted spreading
money around -100 Riel notes (VNDSOO)
to anyone who asked. We went up a
winding staircase to pay our respects
to the golden Buddha carved in to the
mo untain top, touching his eyes an d
mouth, dropping 100's everywhere we
could.
Later, swimming under a nearby
waterfall, dunking young monks
116 I 'Ward June 2015 I wcnMetnn.ccn

underwater wh ile Dad wa tched, I felt like

we'd finally redeemed ourselves.

headed out for the night, leaving the

shirts and underwear hanging by an open
window. But Hanoi's a bitch for lineFather Knows Best
drying, especially when your window
Dad warned me that if we did certain things
opens on to a wall.
in our fairly upmarket hotels, we wouldn't
Everything was still damp when we
be invited back. He reminded me to write
got back, and we were leaving the hotel
a TripAdvisor review for Karavansara, our
at 7.30am the next morning. So Dad
Siem Reap accommodation. The sweet yotmg improvised, and took the blow dryer to
each article of clothing separately. I can still
manager Rei apparently talked v.'ith him for
"10 minutes" about how nice it would be if
hear that sotmd in my mind.
we would do this. "It's a good job for her," he
This ties into Pro Tip #1: if it makes him
reasoned, "and it's a small thing we can do to happy, don't fight it. Maybe Dad wants to
help her out."
spend your siesta time washing clothes he
doesn't need in the sink, maybe he wants to
Sideways related to this is something
buy a US$10 T-shirt at Angkor Wat. If he's
I slowly realised: Dad is a prototypical
happy, you should be happy.
mark. A woman approached us after our
overpriced boat ride into Cambodia's
Tonie Sap Lake, holding pla tes adorned
Understandin9 Vietnam
with our blinking, mid-conversation faces,
I don't know about your dads, but mine is
and Dad seemed to entertain her US$10
the smartest man in the world.
offer. Small moves tha t help me to avoid
In the morning, Dad was reading a
rip-offs in my daily life - like ordering
book I bought him before the trip, NeilL.
food in Vietnamese - were futile. We paid Jamieson's Understanding Vietnam (never
VNDSO,OOO a bowl for our streetside pho on mind the two other books he tore through in
our first night in Hanoi. I wasn' t looking to the first week). Though I bought the book for
cause a scene.
him, I didn' t get past the first 30 pages, and
The next day, Dad wanted to do some
he was teaching me things. He read a poem
washing. O ur schedule was pretty tight,
to me at breakfast about colonial resentment:
Milrn; a mere boy for rice and a tunic?
only two nights in each place minus travel
Even in hunger and rags one still knows shame.
time. But Dad brought the Woolite.
My parents taught me long ago,
After he did some sink washing we

A gir/1VIlo rtms after boys brings ridicule

light tourism in Hue's Imperial City and on
upon herself.
Victoria Can Tho's up-river excursions. I
-Nguyen Khuyen
tried to match Dad up with some cool, ageLike our tour guide in Siem Reap, this book
appropriate friends. Even now, a month after
gave Dad some context. It helped him to better him leaving, my friends are still asking about
understand what's evolved here.
him- and teasing me about having had a
Later, we wandered into an exhibition of art glimpse into my fuhtre.
We slowed down after Hanoi - we
about Hanoi's Long Bien Bridge, at Maison des
Arts (mnisondesnrtshnnof.com). Dad had just read did about six different things in our one
about its birth, and this encounter was one of
full day there - instead concentrating on
those synchronistic travel threads it seemed we eating well, hanging ou t in our lush hotels
were meant to pick up.
(and swimming in La Residence Hue's and
The owner, Nga, told us about her project,
Victoria Can Tho's lush pools) and walking
while Dad wisely held back. He'd just read
around aimlessly. These are basically the
about Paul Doume; the governor-general
things I do in my everyday life here, the life I
wanted to let Dad see.
of French Indochina at the time. During the
bridge's three-year construction, 3,000 forced
When we returned to Saigon, we met more
labourers were drafted, many dying on the
friends, went to more cafes. We bought more
way to its completion.
shirts (to make a total of 20+ on the trip), and
But when Nga told us her motivation
spent one of our dinners going place to place
for preserving Long Bien, Dad began to
to get in as much of my local favourites as we
understand how Vietnamese people make
could. The next night, Dad took my friends out
sense of their complex history.
to Cue Gach Quan.
"We believe there are many souls under the
On the morning he was leaving, he told me
bridge," Nga said.
something he'd expressed a few times aln>ady.
'1 see why you want to live here," he said. He
The Rest of the Trip
saw the energy of this place, he went on, it was
I don't want this to tum into one of my Skype
all around.
phone calls home (Mom will be more than
And that's the best thing he left me with,
happy to fill you in on the details). Suffice it
besides for a five-pound salami and two loaves
to say we had fun, through cafes, hotels and
of rye bread. The idea that he gets what my Life
laundry blow-drying sessions. We did some
here is about, and he approves. t!!l

RAVEL

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You won' t get an argument from us.

Father's Day, Asia-Style

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Father's Day can sneak up on even the

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June is seafood month at Restaurant Epice,
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course.

Father's Day Feast

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novotel-nhatrang.com

Enjoy a poolside BBQ dinner with Dad, and

don't even entertain thoughts of not eating
all the fresh seafood and Australian beef he
wants you to eat - you're a growing boyI
gi rl, after all. If you can get him away from
the other tremendous plans you have lined
up early, he'll get a free drink from 6pm
to 7pm. And if you're that good a planner,
you might as well sign up early - booking
a day in advance lops 15 percent off the
VND630,000++ ra te. l!!J

wardvietiWI'IlCCI'II I June 2015 wan'l l 123