It is unlikely Chi will convince me that it is worth living in the city again. I'll be off to stay in the burbs just outside Disneyland rather than in it (this is an analogy I just can't get out of my head..).
That was completely off topic, what I really wanted to post about was the effortless glide that Chi has made into life in England. Her cooking has taken my household by storm, we even have a special chopstick compartment in the knives and forks drawer now. Chi has already whipped up a couple of batches of spring rolls (with homemade fish sauce), a huge pot of bo kho, a mango salad followed by pho and a banana cake.
It's a terrible pic but you get the idea, Chi preparing her Vietnamese feast for my family on mum's birthday.
In all its glory - yes that is Buoi in the salad, available form the 'Asian foods' shop at the top of the road.
Here she is enjoying a picnic on the hill above Swanage, a part of Dorset's jurassic coast we are lucky to live by. The girl from the city was blown away by the view on what was a perfect summer's day.
Yesterday was a trip to London to see Manchester United vs Portsmouth in the FA Community Shield, along with 85,000 English football supporters.
Baby was treated to a deafening 90 minutes, kicking mum nice and hard to say 'What the hell is going on out there!'.
Ultimately however I think Chi was most impressed by the police and their horses....
Yesterday was a trip to London to see Manchester United vs Portsmouth in the FA Community Shield, along with 85,000 English football supporters.
Baby was treated to a deafening 90 minutes, kicking mum nice and hard to say 'What the hell is going on out there!'.
Ultimately however I think Chi was most impressed by the police and their horses....
11 comments:
Hi Jonathan! For some reason, your blog's RSS feed was recommended to me by Google Reader, and I've been intrigued by your writings on life of a British expat in Saigon, with a Vietnamese wife. A Saigon skeptic myself, I think the city is only suitable for making-a-career purpose. I've been living in London for study + work for the last 5 years, and when I come back, I plan to work in Saigon, but will definitely move to my hometown or the countryside for a simpler life after retirement.
As for Vietnamese food, I think it deserves more popularity here in the UK :-)
I'm pretty upset about what you think about SG. However,I -a Saigonese- sometimes feel the same like you. And I just hope that some of problems you mentioned could be solved.
You're so lucky that you both can see MU playing football :)it's a lot different from watching on TV.
Mith - yes I definitely agree, there is a market for Vietnamese food in the UK!
Thuy Van - I know what I wrote sounds harsh and basically I do love Saigon -- it has been a massive part of my life. It just wore me down over so long living there that I really needed this break...
It is better to talk about the problems of the city rather than 'brush them under the carpet'...and in the next 20 years I see significant improvements.
i agreed with some of your comments, but i have seen a HUGE improvement compared to 10 years ago.
i would not live there myself(prefer less crazy pace), but for people who like and prefer that all the better.
Hey Jon,
Glad to see you blogging again! Seems like you and Chi are adjusting just fine and hope the best goes for the both of you!
Glad all is well in the UK Jon, have been up to Wembley 5 or 6 times before coming to Saigon, the stadium is amazing but always takes forever to reach the station afterwards!
Hi Jon,
A good college friend of mine just moved to Saigon early this month to teach Economics for the Fulbright Vietnam Program sponsored by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government after living in the US for over 10 years. She already describes the city as noisy & dirty and her move to Saigon as the biggest mistake ever. Her opinion of Saigon, however, has not dampened my enthusiasm for a revisit later this year. Yes - my husband & I are going to be arriving in Saigon in early November before touring the Mekong Delta & making our way up north to Hanoi, visiting Da Nang & Hoi An along the way.
Glad to hear you & Chi are settling in nicely with your parents. I certainly have in my head images of myself 13 years ago in current Chi, cooking to impress my American in-laws and to ease my craving for home… Now my husband does most of the cooking ;-)
Good luck to you both as you welcome a new addition to your family. I am already expecting November to be a great month!
Hi, I've been reading your blog, because I just moved to Saigon to be an English teacher for the next year. So far, it's very exciting, but I do agree with some of the negative points you mentioned. Already the heat is really hard to deal with, but you can't do much about that.
Don't worry, you'll be back on your knees soon enough.
I think Saigon is a mess but an exciting one - although after two years I was ready for a break!
I think you're right though - the future does hold good things for it. It will be interesting to see what a difference the Thu Thiem tunnel will make routing heavy traffic away from the centre, as well as the growing popularity of electric bicycles. It also seems like there's a drive to get more people on the buses but there is a long way to go there - and the subway is at least 10 years away.
Vietnamese food in the UK - damn right, there should be a lot more! We make a trip up to Hackney as often as we can - I highly recommend Tre Viet on Mare Street - and its right next to a good Viet supermarket. Kingsland Road in Shoreditch is a bit more hit and miss though we've only tried two places there, but I thought Cay Tre on Old Street was great too - though a pricier than Tre Viet and with grumpier waiters!
Ah well - hopefully will be eating by the roadside again in another couple of months!
this is great.
Hi chi,
We just created this blog and we are a non-profit organization.
Please take a look on our project and we are sure that it will benefit Vietnam a lot.
thank you so much
kelvin
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