For the prequel to our Vietnam trip, visit my last post on the time we spent in Cambodia directly before flying to Vietnam.
As I explained in my last post, our Vietnam trip was cut short--from 5 days down to 2.
Luckily, we mostly had planned to spend time enjoying the beach in our little beach town near Hoi An, so we didn't have to miss much sight seeing.
I feel like spending only two days in one little town in Vietnam doesn't really qualify me to speak about Vietnam. But I'll tell you about our short experience there.
We loved our airbnb, which was super cheap and around 100-200 meters from the beach.
We had everything we needed in that little beach neighborhood--good cheap restaurants, plenty of beach fun, and a few convenience stores.
We'd love to go back to this place to experience again the simplicity of staying right by the beach and eating delicious vietnamese and doing little else.
It was a really nice contrast to the exciting but more difficult (for the kids) (and sickly mom) daily exploration of Angkor Wat...
We just sat on the beach and let the kids run wild.
We ordered ice cream, drinks, treats right on the beach from old vietnamese ladies who live and work on this beach every day. I loved this convenience without the big city feeling--I still felt like we were in a remote, foreign country, away from the busy world, in a fairly quiet beach, and yet we could order a shake without getting up from our beach chairs.
One of the best perks about staying right by the beach was that Brad and I could switch off relaxing at the house while Skye napped (with wifi), while the other parent relaxed at the beach or played in the water with the kids... or snapped a zillion pictures.
I had a lot of fun with the camera and the kids those 2 days. These are the times when photographing is most fun for me. When the whole world is quiet, because I'm abroad, my phone doesn't even have data and nobody can reach me... and I don't have to cook or clean or plan our schedules, and I can just be with the kids, and watch them enjoy whatever part of the world we're exploring.
When I give myself plenty of time to create art with the kids, especially with just one of them, my brain quiets down and my artistic spirit wakes up and sees the light, color, shapes around me, and I can finally create the art I've been dying to make.
Shoutout to my skilled husband for this one^^^.
We also toured the town of Hoi An, which was really insanely busy because of the Lunar New Year. (FYI, don't ever try to visit Vietnam during this time because most of the restaurants are closed and there are hoards of people everywhere!)
Hoi An was exciting and different but I think I need to go back at a quieter time to really appreciate it. I spent far too much time irritated at the taxi drivers that passed us without hesitation and the giant tourist adult strollers bumping into us and the closed signs in all the restaurant windows... to really take in the beauty of Hoi An.
I'm glad we picked this as our second and final stop on our big winter trip and... I know I keep saying it, but I will return to this beautiful country!