Hanoi Happenings

Meeting new friends is a great way to get to know the local culture….so while in Hanoi, we reached out to a lovely Couchsurfing family and made arrangements to meet up with each other.

Hong lives in the “suburbs” of Hanoi with her husband Huy, mother Minh and 12 year old daughter Hang (She was also born in 2003 like Zoe, but in Vietnam they count when she is born her first year). We made plans to visit Hong’s house for lunch and spend some time learning about the locals.

A common thing around the world is that socializing and hospitality always includes food. We sat down to a delicious Vietnamese lunch prepared by Hong, her mom, and Hang. We ate a lovely bowl of chicken Pho, (pronounced Phe) and some pork and shrimp spring rolls. I love how they have a small bowl of dipping sauce with vegetables that are all cut into the shape of flowers – so pretty!

Beautifully cut up veggies!

Chicken Pho

Lunchtime!

For dessert, we had a traditional rice ball with green bean paste in the middle all floating in jelly. Hang preferred the ones with just cubes of sugar in the middle. Both of them were delicious:)

Rice ball with sugar cubes – Hang’s favourite!

Rice ball with green bean paste in jelly with fresh coconut.

The girls disappeared after lunch to Hang’s room and it wasn’t long before we heard laughter and giggling as only young girls can do. They played the piano for each other and taught different hand games that are popular in their school yards. Meanwhile, the adults chatted about more “serious” topics like education for our children and IT:)

Afterwards, we went to a local park which was absolutely amazing! The park was gigantic and full of really cool equipment like ziplining and other great climbers. What was interesting was that we had to go in barefeet to protect the astroturf on the ground.  Imagine going barefoot in the park in Toronto – lawsuits galore!

The girls had a great time running around and seeing all the great equipment. As we’ve learned through our travels – it doesn’t matter where you go – a park is a great place for kids! They can think up their own activities and just go for it.

Cool CLimbers

Making our way to the top!

We did it!

As we wandered, we came across a large group of young adults playing a game that looked like “hackie sack”, but instead of the bean bag ball, the shape is more like a badminton birdie. It wasn’t long before some very kind kids came over and asked us if we would like to join in. Of course we said yes and we were right into learning how to play.

Shuttlecock kicking

Pass it but don’t use your hands!

How long can you keep it up?

The game is called “shuttlecock kicking” and it’s popular in all school yards around Viet Nam. The shuttlecocks are homemade and sold for pennies around the park. The rules of the game are that you try and keep the shuttlecock up and pass it to other players in your circle. You can only use your legs to kick the shuttlecock and keep it up, but you can also deflect it off your chest, knee etc….

Let’s give it a try!

Pass it!

Give it a try!

Nice pass!

We had a lot of fun learning the game and were so glad the kids included us in their circles. We purchased a couple of the shuttlecocks so that we can continue to play and practice these new skills of ours!

We finished the afternoon by doing something very typical – stopping at a local shop to get ice creams. Overall, our afternoon taught us that it doesn’t matter where you live – playing in parks is a great for all global kids and nothing beats the heat on a hot day like ice cream!

It was fun to spend the day with Hong’s family and learn so much about Vietnamese life and culture in the local neighbourhoods. We chatted about our kids doing possibly doing an exchange next year. Couchsurfing has certainly opened our doors and minds to new opportunities!