Long Hai Beach Resort

I have just returned to Saigon from a week visit at this 4-star resort located near Vung Tau. Linh & her mother weren't feeling well and therefore only Vinh, Dragon Boy & I went on this trip. The Phamily's friend is the "Director" of this hotel and they somehow arranged for 2 free rooms! I agreed to go if I paid for food/transportation. Staff, rooms, property, and food were great! this is a pic of the lobby/receptionist area. For other pics/info see http://www.longhaibeachresort.com/

Long Hai Beach Resort "Cottage"

Top pic is of me and Dragon Boy on porch/terrace of my cottage. Bottom pic is of me & Vinh fooling around in front of my cottage. Room had all conveniences including great A/C, refrigerator and an actual shower!

Long Hai Beach Resort Walkway

The property's grounds were well landscaped and maintained. This is Dragon Boy on "main walkway" of the property.

Long Hai Beach Resort - Infinity Pool

The resort is "beach front" - but the Vung Tau beach is very dirty and crowded most of the time. To compensate for this, the resort had a huge infinity pool overlooking the beach where we spent most of our time swimming, laying in sun, and playing Phom. This is pic of Dragon Boy at pool taking early in the morning before many people "arrived". Note South China Sea in background.

Tet 2012 & "Phamily"

The Pham family (Linh, father Vinh, mother Thuy & brother Long) have really "adopted" me as a family member. Understanding this, my daughter (Kimberley) suggested that I refer to them as the "Phamily" - which I thought was a great idea & they even chuckled when I explained this to them.

The Phamily invited me to spend the entire day of Tet Eve with them. The day began at 10AM when Vinh picked me up at my hotel. We drove many kilometers shopping for flowers/plants for their house <-- an absolute cultural necessity in Vietnam during Tet.
Above pic is me with the Phamily eating Tet eve feast which includes many traditional, culturally significant foods. Vinh took this pic - hence his absence.

We then spent the rest of the day honoring their ancestors with food/incense offerings at the family alter, playing Phom (a traditional Vietnamese card game often played during Tet), debating politics, and general socializing with extended family members & friends. The long day concluded with a trip to the Saigon River front to watch the fireworks ("flowers in the night sky") & back to my hotel for a much needed rest.

Btw - 2012 is the year of the Black Water Dragon which occurs only once every 50 years or so..

First Day of 2012

The first visitor of the new year to someone's house is an auspicious occasion because it represents a pretense of events for the coming year - good or bad luck. Vietnamese heads of households (men) "select" their "first visitors" very carefully & take the "selection process" very seriously. I was honored that Vinh invited me to be the "first visitor" of the year to his house. He picked me up at my hotel @ 10AM -- this is very early for the first day of the year.
This is a pic of the Phamily around the bonsai tree I brought to them as a Tet gift. This is a very traditional gift. It comes with e different colors: yellow (from the southern provinces) and pink (from the northern provinces).

Tet "Good Luck Money"

Another Tet tradition is to give children money placed into red (signifying Tet) envelopes. In other cases, envelopes are given to adults who are "in need" for some reason. The amounts of money is normally small - the intent being to give the receiver good luck in the coming year. This is a pic of me giving "good luck money" envelopes to Long (age 11) and Linh (to help pay for the computer I brought to her for which she repaid me in full)!

Tet Means Off to Relatives' Houses

It is traditional for people to visit other family members during the first day of the year. The Phamily took me to with them to visit 3 different family homes.

This is a pic of Linh wearing her normal motorbike attire. And yes - it was hot - about 90F! Vietnamese women avoid exposure to the sun - their belief is that the whiter their skin the more beautiful you'll look! So - they go to what I consider extreme measures to present their skin from tanning (getting darker). Note that Linh is even wearing gloves along with her hooded sweatshirt! She also has another jacket covering her legs. Face masks are worn for 2 reasons - prevent exposing face to sun & counter the smog (which really isn't that bad in Saigon.

Tet and Phom

At each of the Phamily houses we visited, delicious food & drink were served, and a Vietnamese card game called Phom is played - similar to gin rummy and played for small amounts of money. This is a group of us playing Phom at Linh's uncle's house. Btw - I'm pretty good Phom player - but not a "winner" by any means.

Tet Temple Visit

It is traditional for Buddhist to visit their temples on the first day of each new year. The entire Phamily visited a 300-year old temple near Linh's Uncle's house - I was invited to go along. It was a beautiful temple run entirely by female monks. This pic is of the female monks serving tea/small sweets to me and Phamily members while we fill-out forms containing the names/ages of our living relatives. These lists are given to the monks with a donation - the monks then pray for prosperity & health in the coming year for each name on your list. Later, prayers were said/offerings made for all of our deceased relations (ancestors). This concluded my Tet 2012 celebrations. Very enlightening, enjoyable, and amazingly terrific people!