MOM visits me in Vietnam!

To finish up an amazing summer... my mom came to visit me in Vietnam for a week before the school year started up! This was a hi-light of my summer... and was just as great as I had thought it'd be.  :D

My mom (she's amazing!) had just spent a month in Japan on a Fulbright Study Tour for teachers. They traveled the country and learned all about education, arts, culture, history, etc. etc. Since she was that much closer to Vietnam than usual, she made another 6-hour flight to come visit me!!  :D

First on our to-do list in HCMC?? ...Getting our hair washed!

We walked about two blocks from my apartment to do this... we laughed when I said that I first chose this place to get my hair washed because it is the one hair shop in my neighborhood that has doors on the front!

Basically... by "hair washed" this means that they massage your head for 45 minutes or so and they do wash and style it also... AND, instead of getting a crick in your neck while you lean back in a chair with your head in the sink... you get to lie down on a chair-bed, which leads right into the sink... comfortable and amazing.  :)

Mom looks beautiful!

(On the street near my place where the hairdresser is...)

(Those are chickens with feet sticking straight up... 

behind Mom, on top of the red bucket... normal.)

Then we went to Jaspas on Dong Khoi to sit in their comfy booths and get their french toast, roasted banana... and fresh mango! Mmmm... a favorite of mine as far as Western restaurants go in this city.