mostly vietnam memories that i want to remember & some other as well (not in order)
Arrival jan 20, 2026
Layover in korea but the sleeper bed ran out so i slept in a fitting room for the night
Waking up at 6 am while in bien hoa everyday so i can braid my little cousin’s hair then eating literally different variations of the same noodles (hu tieu) with my ong 8 everyday since its his favorite food
Karaoking with ong 8 and he sang my favorite vietnamese song to me (lau dai tinh ai–which means castles of love)
Hanging with tran in saigon and our endless eating and shopping
Bro deadass eating 4 meals a day and desserts with my family, i dont even have time to poop and digest before have to eat again
Tran’s stomach issues and constant diarrhea and farts so i had to solo hoi an alone. Coincidentally met this italian boy (coincidentally because i lived in italy for a bit) so we vibed and explored the city and food for 3 days. Rode the coconut boats. Lantern boats, explored hell and heaven cave and also monkey mountains
Not a big fan of bathroom anywhere in southeast asia. Dirty and no toilet paper to dry my butt even when i wash it with a bidet
Met up with tran again in ha noi and ninh binh. Loved ninh binh so mf bad. We had such strong deja vu because it was a lot like a trip we previously once did, which was exploring the european cities together, got tired of the same architecture so we escaped to the countryside of switzerland. Ninh binh was a parallel to that. So history was repeating itself again on the other side of the world. We explored pagodas, got a beautiful huge room with each of us having an own queen bed. Hired a private driver for a day. Oh when we landed in ninh binh, we rode bikes until the sunset. Also had a massage. Hiked. Had the best che (vietnamese dessert) of our lives. Went on a private boats that took us down a riverstream and overlooks mountains and rice fields.
Tran and i Did a trip to seam reap, cambodia. Felt like we were on crack because we probably had 3 hrs of sleep. Also hired a private driver and explored Angkor Archaeological Park. beautiful beautiful. My favorite site was Ta Prohm (fun fact: temple run was inspired by this) so that was awesome to see it in person. Also went to the floating village. Kind of broke my heart there so i do want to say–i am so so grateful for everything i have and i do know that im fortunate to do these kind of trips
Riding mopeds
Meeting my dads side of the family for the first time and pranking them by bargaining an ABSURD amount. When they figured out who i am, they shriek in happiness and called everyone out. We hang and talked and they immediately took my to a temple to visit my grandparents (dead). My family also call me Ca Ro which is a type of fish in vietnamese so one of my aunt took me to a market, bought some and we released it in a lake together for some good karma.
In general about my whole family after reflecting: i am so fortunate to be born into such a loving family. We were raised with not much growing up as a first gen and low income but love was definitely something we never lacked. this goes out to my immediate family, the ones in alabama, and the ones in vietnam. I am extremely aware that immigrant parents have such a tough way of showing love and there were lots of times when i didn’t understand it but now that i am older, i see how much effort, resilience, and care went into creating stability and opportunity for the family. Whether it showed up through food, acts of care, or the 10+ phone calls ive been getting here a day, I know it always came from a place of love. being here and hearing stories of how my mom and dad had it growing up has honestly put so much into perspective for me the sacrifices, the uncertainty, the strength it took to build a life somewhere new. Im blessed. And i am thankful. thankful for this community built on resilience, sacrifice, and for the chance to see firsthand the roots of where we come from
Last updated feb 14
Last updates feb 16 for correcting some misspells but not really
