CHUYEN 0~ DU L!CH, ~M THifC VIETNAM EDITION /T~P 6 2015 JUNE2015 NOT FOR SALE

m 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

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 super 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 headed 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 deteriora 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 put 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 educated, 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 what 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 started 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 mountaintop, 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 while Dad watched, I felt like we'd finally redeemed ourselves.

Father Knows Best Dad warned me that if we did certain things in our fairly upmarket hotels, we wouldn't be invited back. He reminded me to write a Trip Advisor review for Karavansara, our Siem Reap accommodation. The sweet yotmg manager Rei apparently talked v.'ith him for "10 minutes" about how nice it would be if we would do this. "It's a good job for her," he reasoned, "and it's a small thing we can do to help her out."

Sideways related to this is something I slowly realised: Dad is a prototypical mark. A woman approached us after our overpriced boat ride into Cambodia's Tonie Sap Lake, holding plates adorned with our blinking, mid-conversation faces, and Dad seemed to entertain her US$10 offer. Small moves tha t help me to avoid rip-offs in my daily life - like ordering food in Vietnamese - were futile. We paid VNDSO,OOO a bowl for our streetside pho on our first night in Hanoi. I wasn' t looking to cause a scene.

The next day, Dad wanted to do some washing. Our schedule was pretty tight, only two nights in each place minus travel time. But Dad brought the Woolite.

After he did some sink washing we

headed out for the night, leaving the shirts and underwear hanging by an open window. But Hanoi's a bitch for line-drying, especially when your window opens onto a wall .

Everything was still damp when we got back, and we were leaving the hotel at 7.30am the next morning. So Dad improvised, and took the blow dryer to each article of clothing separately. I can still hear that sotmd in my mind.

This ties into Pro Tip #1: if it makes him happy, don't fight it. Maybe Dad wants to spend your siesta time washing clothes he doesn't need in the sink, maybe he wants to buy a US$10 T-shirt at Angkor Wat. If he's happy, you should be happy.

Understandin9 Vietnam I don't know about your dads, but mine is the smartest man in the world.

In the morning, Dad was reading a book I bought him before the trip, NeilL. Jamieson's Understanding Vietnam (never mind the two other books he tore through in the first week). Though I bought the book for him, I didn' t get past the first 30 pages, and he was teaching me things. He read a poem to me at breakfast about colonial resentment:

Milrn; a mere boy for rice and a tunic? Even in hunger and rags one still knows shame. My parents taught me long ago,

A gir/1VIlo rtms after boys brings ridicule upon herself.

-Nguyen Khuyen Like our tour guide in Siem Reap, this book

gave Dad some context. It helped him to better understand what's evolved here.

Later, we wandered into an exhibition of art about Hanoi's Long Bien Bridge, at Maison des Arts (mnisondesnrtshnnof.com). Dad had just read about its birth, and this encounter was one of those synchronistic travel threads it seemed we were meant to pick up.

The owner, Nga, told us about her project, while Dad wisely held back. He'd just read about Paul Doume; the governor-general of French Indochina at the time. During the bridge's three-year construction, 3,000 forced labourers were drafted, many dying on the way to its completion.

But when Nga told us her motivation for preserving Long Bien, Dad began to understand how Vietnamese people make sense of their complex history.

"We believe there are many souls under the bridge," Nga said.

The Rest of the Trip I don't want this to tum into one of my Skype phone calls home (Mom will be more than happy to fill you in on the details). Suffice it to say we had fun, through cafes, hotels and laundry blow-drying sessions. We did some

light tourism in Hue's Imperial City and on Victoria Can Tho's up-river excursions. I tried to match Dad up with some cool, age-appropriate friends. Even now, a month after him leaving, my friends are still asking about him- and teasing me about having had a glimpse into my fuhtre.

We slowed down after Hanoi - we did about six different things in our one full day there - instead concentrating on eating well, hanging out in our lush hotels (and swimming in La Residence Hue's and Victoria Can Tho's lush pools) and walking around aimlessly. These are basically the things I do in my everyday life here, the life I wanted to let Dad see.

When we returned to Saigon, we met more friends, went to more cafes. We bought more shirts (to make a total of 20+ on the trip), and spent one of our dinners going place to place to get in as much of my local favourites as we could. The next night, Dad took my friends out to Cue Gach Quan.

On the morning he was leaving, he told me something he'd expressed a few times aln>ady. '1 see why you want to live here," he said. He saw the energy of this place, he went on, it was all around.

And that's the best thing he left me with, besides for a five-pound salami and two loaves of rye bread. The idea that he gets what my Life here is about, and he approves. t!!l

RAVEL

Six Senses Vietnam sixsenses. com Six Senses Vietnam are inviting you to celebrate your summer with them and are sweetening the deal for Vietnam residents this year. On the price of all rooms they're including round trip airport transfers, a daily buffe t breakfast and a bevy of adventure and wellness programmes at all three of their five-star luxury resorts.

The Wonders of Vietnam @ La Residence Hue /a-residence-hue.com La Residence and Spa Hue are rolling out what General Manager Phan Trong Minh calls " the most intensive experience of Vietnam th at any traveler could have inside a single week". Incorporating five UNESCO sites, The Wonders of Vietnam package shepherds travellers from the 's tupendous gro ttos' of the world's largest cave system, into the pavilions and palaces of East Asia's most charming imperial city. "Hanoi and Saigon are fine destinations, but these si tes are the Vietnam that every traveller dreams of." You won' t get an argument from us.

Father's Day, Asia-Style @InterContinental Nlia Trang nha tra ng. in tercon tin en tal.com Father's Day can sneak up on even the

most devoted offspring. So make it easy, with a special Asian set dinner at his favourite beach getaway. Cookbook Cafe's six-course dinner should have everything he's looking for, including a complimentary glass of sparkling wine - and his favourite present, a mug that probably says 'World's Best Dad'. All this plus live music, Jun. 21 - VND499,000++ per person.

White Ni9ht @InterContinental Danang da nang. in tercon tin en Ia I. com Admit it, you've always wanted to be Don Johnson. Now you can Miami Vice your way through M Prive's new White Nights, dressed in your mos t pristine to a backdrop of the Monkey Mountains. Drinks pour for free for ladies from 9pm to llpm, and the dreamlike vibes continue all through the night. Every last Saturday of the month, 9pm till late.

Paradise Hotels and Cruises parad isevietna m .. com One of Halong Bay's premiere vacation specialists is now combining their specialities - offering two and three day packages that combine their hotels and cruises, plus much more. Take a spin on the Paradise Luxury vessel, then dock for the night at s tylish Paradise Suites Hotel, island-hopping, caving, kayaking

and cooking in between. Packages start at VND2,150,000 per person, per night.

Pullman Danan9 pul/m a.n-da nang .com June is seafood month at Restaurant Epice, and if a restaurant with a perfect little slice of beach nearby is emphasising their seafood offerings, you know there's got to be something special going on. Every Saturday evening in June and July, throw down your hard-earned VND695,000 net for the freshest scallops, oysters, fish and grill you can handle, or carouse their day pots for some Thai green chicken curry or braised beed Massaman - saving some room for the chocolate fmmtain treats, of course.

Father's Day Feast @ Novo tel Nha Trang 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 boy I 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