Vietnam

I’ve never been to Vietnam and, being a history teacher, much of what I know is seeped in tragedy or horror. But friends who have been there insisted to me that this is not the Vietnam that they have seen and I had a natural desire to explore the real place, beyond the images I’ve seen for so many years in the History books. And so I set about exploring the culture of Vietnam and, as so often happened on our pretend travels, I suspect that I have been educated far more than the children have!

Peanut Brittle

Both of my children love baking and cooking and, as we were already ordering a Vietnamese meal, I thought it would be fab to make something sweet for dessert. Many of the sweets or candy I found recipes for looked delicious but were very complex to make with an enthusiastic three year old and I could just imagine trying to manage two kids and a pot of boiling sugar. One authentic recipe that really appealed to me was the Peanut and Sesame Brittle, but I decided to use a less authentic but much easier recipe to create it with the kids.

Both kids were very excited to make this, as both have a real love of cooking, Freddie especially loves to drag his chair up as soon as I turn on the oven. The recipe was pleasingly simple and both took it in turns to stir the sugar, golden syrup and butter and to pour in the peanuts. This recipe was rather self serving as peanut brittle is one of my most favourite things! I know that we cheated a little but our hearts were in the right place and it was a wonderful peanuty adventure.

Silk painting

I loved reading all about the silk painting that is famous in Vietnam and so it seemed like something the kids would love to do. Penny is very artistic and was pretty excited about this and we looked at pictures of the beautiful images on the internet. My mum, many years ago had been given a roll of parachute silk from WW1 and she had some little bits left, so the painting was on genuine silk! I stuck the silk onto paper to make it easier to use and stop it moving about. I was pretty happy with the results and I enjoyed painting my own version with flowers too. We love all things crafty on our adventures and you can read about our other ideas for world travel crafts.

Tug of War

I like to do something physical with the kids on these pretend visits and when I researched Vietnam I discovered that at many festivals people enjoy a Tug of War, as well as also liking more standard sports such as football. We had our own family version in honour of the one in at Tran Vu Temple on the outskirts of Hanoi, and although Mark is currently injured he still easily beat the rest of us! I’ll have to get the cat and the dog involved next time. This was actually very funny and the children tried very hard despite our obvious disadvantages. I liked the fact that everyone could join in and I liked the fact that it was funny – definitely a win! Freddie took it very seriously.

Vietnamese Folk Tales

I loved reading the Vietnamese folk tales while I was researching this day and my favourite was the story of Chu Dong Tu and Princess Tien Dung, but Penny preferred the tale of Tam and Cam, which is incredibly similar to our Cinderella story. I had suggested putting on a play, but Penny felt a bit shy, so we decided to make a puppet show instead. We used our peg dolls and some of the silk granny had found for the painting. We then acted out the play using our little puppets. The story is all about a girl called Cam who is badly treated by her step mother but goes on to marry a King. Cam is wearing the blue dress!

Pho Cafe

I have always wanted to eat here, but because we are currently on our post-Spain quarantine we decided that we would get a delivery from there instead. The food was absolutely delicious – just the right type of spicy! My favourite dish was the Beef Pho Xao and the kids absolutely loved their chicken fried rice. It was so warm we even ate outdoors.

Vietnamese Dress

Sometimes on eBay you get lucky and in this case I got very lucky and managed to bid on an authentic Vietnamese outfit for Penny for only £5! Even the label said made in Vietnam. I was so impressed by how light and pretty the outfit was and Penny felt like a real princess while she was wearing it. It’s a real shame that because of the quarantine we couldn’t take Penny out in her dress but I have a feeling that we will be heading to Pho very soon because we really loved the food and so she will be able to wear it then! In addition my friend bought us round a genuine Vietnamese hat which had bought when she travelled there. So perfect!