Pho ever missing Vietnam

It has been close to 6 months since i’ve updated this blog. To be honest, i never thought i’d be writing about Vietnam again. The wife and I still reminisce about the good old days in Hanoi and how we, as a family went through it together and bringing one of the best experiences in our lives. We can’t stop talking about Vietnam.. well, mostly i was the one who still blabbers and compare Manila to its neighboring Asian country.

This blog will serve as my memory of Hanoi and hopefully, will continue to help others in discovering this wonderful country. I’ll try to add some more useful stuff here especially for people who have no freaking clue what Vietnam was all about. Believe me, before i went to Vietnam and decided to move there for a while, I’ve done a lot of research from Googling to viewing images on Flickr. I thought i was ready but boom! When i got there.. culture shock started to set in for the first two weeks. It is really very different once you experience being there yourself. From the rich culture and respected traditions that have been brought down to the current generation of mobile-phone-using-while-riding-on-motorbikes, it is very hard to forget!

Thanks for those that continue to visit and post comments on the site albeit a small population of the web community. All I can say about Vietnam is that I never realized how beautiful Asia was until i went to this country. My love for photography came out along with the spirit of adventure and the thrill of the unexpected. That itself coming from someone who has lived in the Philippines throughout my entire life. What is it about Vietnam? You’ll find out soon as i take you back to my journey there 🙂

My Last Ride.. Hoo-Rah!

We will miss you Hanoi!

It’s been more than 5 months since I’ve updated my blog. I’ve been pretty busy with work/family and taking care of our baby Justin is really a handful! Things have been going well and Justin is growing up just fine here in Hanoi but he seems to be getting bored these days. We need to find him new toys soon and better places to go to so he can continue to be entertained and also for his development 🙂

Yep, the title says it all. This will be my last ride in Hanoi. Returning my reliable motorbike next week! Finally going back to the home country after more than a year and it has been an enriching journey here in Vietnam. I’ve learned so much and embraced the people (lahat kami singkit kaya feel at home), adapted the culture and most especially loved the food! Vietnamese cuisine is really something your taste buds will crave.. aah.. bun cha, pho bo, bit tet, cha ca.. yum! The closest we have to Vietnamese food in Manila is Pho24 (which isn’t that good compared to here as the wife has tried it) and Pho Hoa. There’s Hue in Greenbelt though but looks expensive and I’m not sure if it’s still open 😀 Enough about food for now.

Seasons of Hanoi

To celebrate the wife’s birthday in Vietnam, I’ve decided to take her and baby Justin to a great Nha Hang that I recently discovered care of a fellow pinoy expat (Thanks Mark!). This fine dining restaurant is called Seasons of Hanoi located at 95B Quan Thanh Street. It’s a great place with good service and the food is fanstastic. You get what you paid for that’s all I can say 🙂

So Happy Together..

Wow, it’s been a month since i’ve updated this blog. I haven’t had time to do so for the past few weeks as I’ve been very busy with work and the family. I managed to squeeze this in as our little king woke us up and now he’s making all these baby noises and trying to sleep! The Simbols are sleep deprived and a full 8-hour sleep is now outside of our dictionary. It’s 5AM as of this writing and I keep telling Justin he’s in the wrong time zone.. *LOL*

Finally, after close to 4 months (seems like an eternity for me) Anna and Justin are finally here in Hanoi and it was a very tiring and late flight c/o Cebu Pacific.  That’s what you get for a budget airline! 😦 Flight was delayed for an hour and we took off around 11:45pm instead of the scheduled 10:50pm. Anna was carrying Baby Justin throughout the 3 hour flight and I think she’s developed bigger biceps than me now.. hehe.. how do moms do that??? I carry our 18 pounder bundle of joy for just 5 minutes and I’m pooped! Justin pretty much slept through the whole flight and when he woke up..tada! You are now one hour younger! Hehe 🙂

It takes a while to get back my parenting skills and I can officially say that my 4 month old Justin now recognizes me again 🙂 ..i’m back to my old paternal duties – Sterilizing bottles, changing diapers (I delegate the poop stuff to the wife *LOL*), preparing milk and playing with our li’l kiddo until he cries from so much laughter.

After a grueling and tiring day at work, nothing beats going home and seeing the wife and our baby smile! What’s next for the Simbols… hmmm 🙂