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itsaphanlife

Monthly Archives: February 2017

A tour of Saigon’s pagodas, and my mother’s year of living in one

19 Sunday Feb 2017

Posted by itsaphanlife in Saigon life

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O
n a warm, humid Saturday in February, two American friends and I drove our motorbikes west of the city to visit some Buddhist and Taoist temples in Cho Lon. Cho Lon, or “big market” in Vietnamese, is Ho Chi Minh city’s massive Chinatown, noted as possibly the largest Chinatown in the world, in fact, and has been here for as long as the main section of the city has been. Even before the French made of this slice of Vietnam its Cochinchina, building up Saigon’s most emblematic buildings, Cho Lon was already a separate Chinese township, its homes packed together like any dense section of Hong Kong, existing in its own particular sphere of culture and housing the many immigrants from China living, trading, and setting down roots here.

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Where I live in district 4

07 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by itsaphanlife in Saigon life

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L

ong known as the poorer, more dangerous sibling of district 1, district 4 in recent years has been shedding its reputation as repository for thieves, pickpockets, and gangsters of the city, or as a thoroughfare between its more prosperous neighbours, D1 and D7. Now, it has picked up noted prestige as a place to go for the best street foods, to shop in busy markets, a location to find every imaginable necessity sold cheaply and in bulk. District 4 is more true to Saigon’s old pace of living than D1, and its profusion of pastel painted, closely packed low rises reminds visitors of a different city and time, even as high rise behemoths and razed plots of tufted grass and gravel demarcating future apartment complexes appear ever more frequently.

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I still pinch myself every day to make sure I didn't just dream up this life with you, em. That I didn't just dream of you. To celebrate our one year wedding anniversary, here are pictures of you amongst beautiful art pieces we got to visit together last year, and one of you with a beautiful art piece that we created together. Happy anniversary, em yêu. #artlovers #anniversary Family visit with dogs and infants #familyvisits #newborn Remembering Water is now available on Kindle ebook. Link in bio. If you can bear with me until the fall, my exciting summer project (besides caring for Liam) is to narrate an audiobook version. It promises to be a magnum opus of grand soundscapes, with me doing voices and banging pots and pans for sound effects. Who wouldn't love listening to a tale told by a sleep-deprived parent as narrator? Be on the lookout for it on spotify or wherever audiobooks are sold by... September or so. #ebook #2023debuts #memoir Liam's first book and he's out like a lamp after the second page. #readalong #bedtimestories #babies #babyreading Gỏi cuốn, chả giò, veggie spring roll, hoành thánh dumpling, sushi salmon roll, or plain unwrapped thịt heo quay, you decide what's more delicious. #swaddled #swaddledbaby I can't get my book in Vietnam so I'm vicariously living through photos of my friends (and baby niece Alanna) reading it in the US. Thanks for the purchase and hope you enjoy the read! #authorsofinstagram #rememberingwater #memoir #dogsandnewborns #dogstagram Regarding my mother’s years of raising me, I wrote this in the memoir:

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