Lunar New Year - Part 2

Part 2 of our lunar new year trip took us to Ho Chi Minh City.  It was a unique opportunity to see Indonesia, Vietnam, and Taiwan during this holiday season.  We saw beautiful decorations everywhere and many spontaneous lion dances.  

Some Ho Chi Minh highlights: 

• Visiting and learning about the Cu Chi Tunnels
• Cooking class with Hoa's kitchen

The history of the tunnels was quite sobering. While it's quite commercialized now (lots of tour groups), it's still eery to be in the place where the war took place.  Our tour guide shared the ongoing impacts for multiple decades after the fighting stopped. Lexi was impacted by the stories of the war and nervous about the visit.  Ellie was engaged in the engineering behind the tunnels and the booby traps. We might have a STEM-kid in training.  

Our second highlight was a cooking class with a local guide.  We made pho-ga (chicken pho), spring rolls, and a coconut crepe - forgot .  It was a lovely way to enjoy the culture and of course enjoy a delicious meal. 

Our trip to Ho Chi Minh City was quick, but informative AND delicious. 

Upcoming family adventure year trips: 

✅ Warren: Bali & Komodo Island Indonesia for the Komodo dragons (Jan 2025)

❑ Mel: Kyoto, Japan for the cherry blossoms (Mar 2025) (Moving Kyoto to Feb 2025 with Michael & Richelle and will search for cherry blossoms in Taiwan)

✅ Lexi: Chengdu, China for the giant pandas (Oct 2024). She also voted for Komodo dragons. 

✅ Ellie: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for the underground tunnels.  She also voted for Komodo dragons. (Jan 2025)

❑ Tori: Hong Kong for Disneyland (May 2025). She also voted for the mall. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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I'll be adding some practical travel tips for anyone traveling with younger kids. 

Practical travel tips for Cu Chi Tunnels (Kids ages: 3, 7, 9).

• Itinerary: Speedboat (1.5 hours) + Tunnels (1 hour) + Lunch (1 hour) + Return boat trip (1.5 hours).  
• Carrier:  We brought this, but no need. The tunnel tour is very little walking, so the kids were fine. 
• Clothing:  I'd recommend long pants since it gets pretty dusty while climbing the tunnels. If you take a boat in the morning, a long sleeve/jacket is a must. Even though the weather was around ~90°F in the afternoon, we were all cold in the morning due to wind of the 1+ hour speedboat ride. 
• Shoes: Kids wore their sports sandals which was fine.