October 15, 2025
Lenny’s birthday is here! Kayleen had gotten a few balloons, birthday banner, and two toys delivered to us in Saigon before we headed out to the Mekong River delta. She set them all up on our little porch for Lenny when he woke up and went outside. He was thrilled with his capybara balloons, there was one for Ollie too, along with his remote-control truck and transformer. The transformer was pretty banged up which is why the store also sent a remote-control truck. Sadly, the remote-control truck would meet its end before the day was over as it smelled like it was about to catch fire and then stopped working after limited use.
We headed to breakfast where the hotel brought out a small cake for Lenny. He didn’t have much interest in eating the cake but the idea of having a breakfast birthday cake had him very pleased. We did our best to transform the transformer at breakfast but it isn’t going to be long for this world as multiple pieces came off during the process. After watching the happy birthday videos that Lenny received, we headed back to our room to pack. We left most of our stuff in Saigon so just needed to squeeze everything back into our backpacks.
The morning activity was just a boat ride on the Mekong with two stops, one at a local market and the other at a coconut processing plant. Seeing a million coconuts seemed to be very fitting for Lenny’s birthday. The ride was pleasant but the boys were staring to get restless by the time we got to the market stop.
We hopped off the boat and had a 10-minute walk to get to the market. We encountered chickens with the craziest feet, actually maybe a tie with the Coot in Amsterdam. Kai called it the Chinese chicken because they used the feet for many things. The real name is Dong Tao, aka dragon chicken.
Once we got to the market it was definitely a local market that people did all their shopping at. We were the only white people; unlike some other markets we have stopped at where there are parades of tour groups. The market had a wide variety of seafood with the most notable being a bucket of whole octopus and a large metal container with live eels. I was pretty into watching the eels and so was Ollie. When we went to the next row of the market he went back to stand and watch the eels. The boys get a lot of attention and when he was watching the eels someone took a few pictures of him which thoroughly freaked him out. He came running over to us crying and Kayleen eventually talked him down but it took a while. Kai read the room and said we could go back to the boat instead of doing a more extended walk of the market which we gladly agreed to.
The coconut processing plant was on the way back to the hotel. It had nothing to do with the harvesting of the milk and meat rather only the shells and husk. There where raw coconut husks, bagged coconut husks, and husks that were actively being turned into rope, rugs, and insulation everywhere. It was impressive to see but we only needed about 15 minutes there before it was back to the boat.
We departed the hotel shortly after getting back from the boat ride to begin our long drive back to Saigon. The drive didn’t have anything memorable other than more Harry Potter. Once back in the city it was time for Lenny to get his day. He wanted to go to an arcade and then have pizza and popcorn while watching a movie. We started by heading out to an arcade but the first one we went to did not exist any longer. Luckily our next attempt was a success and it had great rides and games for them. Kayleen met us there after stopping to pick up some medicine and arrived just in time to see the boys on the crazy virtual reality rides. They would scream and yell to each other while the ride was going which was hilarious for us to watch. There was a magic carpet ride, an ocean ride, and a frozen sled ride. I got a good laugh imagining these rides outside a ShopRite like the little moving cars were when we were kids. After cashing in their tickets for a few little candies we headed back to the hotel.
Kayleen ordered pizza to be delivered and I bought the movie Bad Guys 2 for the kids to watch on Amazon Prime. Kayleen had also found popcorn kernels which was perfect with our full kitchen so she completed his birthday wish list with some freshly made popcorn. Our guide Kai and his girlfriend had helped us get a cake, candle, and some balloons. We ended the day with a final happy birthday song for Lenny and his second cake. Happy Birthday Lenny!!!
