October 9, 2025
We were left to our own devices today with no planned tours or activities. These days are typically easier and more enjoyed by everyone but we came all this way so have to see some stuff! Having a tour, the first day in a new place followed by mostly free days works best for us.
We did breakfast and then swapped turns at the gym while doing home school with the boys. The gym has a tile floor but also a few metal plates which seems like a recipe for disaster, though I only noticed one small crack so far. It is definitely the oddest gym setup yet but is more than sufficient for us do enough to feel good about ourselves. I had planned to do some swimming with the boys while Kayleen had her gym time but it was raining hard. To get out of the room we went down to the lobby/dining area armed with coloring supplies. We haven’t done much coloring but it went shockingly well. After a short protest in the beginning, we colored for nearly an hour, myself included. The boys traded compliments and ideas of why to color parts of the others page a certain color. I think the fact that I was also sitting there coloring, not looking at my phone, played a big part in their enthusiasm for this. I did enjoy the coloring myself.
We headed down the road to a place called DEMO Coffee for lunch. Since I tried egg coffee, I moved onto salted coffee which I preferred over its egg companion. The food took a long time to come but everyone’s enthusiasm for Uno was revived as we moved to a tournament style play with the winner getting to pick activities on a free day. We play our normal game but the winner gets 3 points and second place gets 1 point. Once we move on from a city the tournament ends and if there is a tie the younger person wins.
After lunch Kayleen and Lenny had to hustle back to the hotel to get their nails done at the spa. With lunch taking a long time Lenny was concerned that they might miss their appointment, asking Kayleen “When are we nailing?”
Next up we needed to head to the tailor for our first fitting. We hailed a tuk tuk since it was still lightly raining out. The kids were happy to go back since they showered them with little candies and they got to play Angry Birds on my phone while we talked with the tailors. My pants and two shirts fit on the first try but Kayleen’s dresses need a few small changes. We liked how everything came out so added a pair of pants for Kayleen.
Our plan was to walk through Old Town and stop at a bar for a drink and some more Uno. On the way we passed a card vendor with a Pikachu card that caught our eye. Ollie and I doubled back as Kayleen and Lenny went on ahead so we could buy it for Lenny’s birthday. We caught up and made it to Mộng Nguyệt (Secret Bar) where it was just us in the whole place. The bartender made us two fancy local cocktails that were very good and we continued our Uno tournament
Since it was not raining any more, we decided to try and do our lantern boat ride on the river. Luckily, we had our guide from yesterday, Huan’s, detailed instructions about where to get a boat and how much to pay for the lanterns. There are many people trying to sell boat rides and lanterns but we wanted a row boat and not a loud motor one. We navigated the vendors and got in line for the boat we wanted which is when all the lantern vendors pounce. Opening offer was 200,000 VND ($8) each. Thanks to Huan telling us the right price we ended up paying 50,000 VND ($2) for four.
The ride was fun and the biggest thrill was going under the very low bridge twice. Ollie had many concerned questions about what happens to all the lanterns in the river. We told him they were likely cleaned up in the morning but he asked about the ones that sunk. I was thinking the same thing and we told him that we were sure they had thought of something to clean them up but honestly, I’m not so sure.
We walked all the way back to our hotel and were planning to go to restaurant down the block but were told the kitchen was closed when we arrived so continued further down to find another spot. It was good enough food but the highlight was desert at the mini-mart next to our hotel. A boy and his mom were leaving when we were selecting our ice cream from the freezer outside. He asked Ollie and Lenny where they were from and when hearing USA let out an, “Oh Cool!!!” with a ton of excitement. He said his western name was Joseph and that he was nine and from South Korea. They were all happy to take a photo together before parting ways.
We went back to the hotel and ate our ice cream in the dining area while we squeezed in another Uno game. During one bathroom break the boys raced back to the table with the winner being the first one to sit in their chair. Lenny attempted some kind of a trick to gain an advantage on Ollie but as he came flying into his chair, he overshot it and flew right onto the floor. This led to Ollie being the victor and a quick talk about karma. Kayleen headed to her evening massage and it was time for the boys to go to bed. I had a nice lead after the first day of our Uno tournament.
