To my Pomelo

Bong and I have been the best of friends since high school. I can hardly recall the first conversation we have ever had, but I remember we were getting along great, and our teacher decided to change up the seating arrangement as I was talking in class too much with the guy next to me. So she put Bong in his place. As you can imagine, we were so surprised and excited but had to act cool as if we didn’t really care. And we have not stopped talking ever since. No, actually we did have a fall out for a few weeks when Bong told me that I dressed like our agriculture teacher. 17-year-old me did not take it so well. But I have moved on since then… I think. The first time that Bong sneaked out of her house for a sleepover was with me just so we could finish up the conversations we were having. I was the first person she would turn to when there was any fun or trouble. And then there were Hanoi, Hoi An, Saigon, Barcelona, New York, Greece and so many amazing memories that some of our friends here know almost too well. We have shared some of the best time of our lives together.

Our story might be long, but in the end, no one understands me better than Bong and perhaps Bong than me. We know each other so well that we can have a full conversation just by winking/raising our eyebrows or kicking each other’s leg under the table. We know each other so well that when our friends could not contact Bong, they would usually call me and 50% of the time, Bong was sitting right next to me with her phone in her bag somewhere. And we know each other so well that when Bong told me that she had some news to share, I immediately knew that Duc had proposed. And I was really struggling if I should give him some warnings about this girl that I knew so well. I was debating from the moment you had your engagement ceremony back in September until late October when you had your 4th wedding in Hanoi. And now when it is the 5th wedding here in beautiful Nha Trang, the moment of your season finale, I think it is probably too late now for any warnings. So good luck, bro. I can just leave you with a small tip to keep my best friend satisfied: 2 answers that can save you in any situation and shut her up: 1, “You’re right, my love” and 2, “Okay, buy it.” This is applicable to all women so guys, you’d better take notes.

Just a small joke, but to be honest, I, like all of our friends, am very happy for you and Bong. Thanks to your multiple weddings this year that I got to see my best friends and all of the girls so many times, something we can really appreciate now that we live in different corners of the world. I want to officially ask you to take my place and become Bong’s best friend, to always be by her side, in both good times and bad times. To always stand up for each other as you are now on the same team. To always make her laugh, make her happy, because even when she acts tough and gangster, we both know that she has the heart of a teddy bear inside. Once the two of you can connect and share everything with just a wink or a kick under the table, then I believe you will be able to walk to the end of life together happily. And in case she is acting up stubbornly, just send her on a girls’ trip with us and we would be happy to fix her up for you. So, to anh Duc, you may now (finally!) update your Facebook status. And to Bong, you may now eat whatever the hell you fancy. To the bride and groom! Cheers!

My quirky town – Barcelona

** Present to you a blog that I have written a year ago, finally got the time (and motivation needed) to officially declare my eternal love for Barcelona, the first town we experienced living as a married couple back in 2014. Enjoy and start planning your summer holiday!

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This blog has been 3 months overdue. Believe it or not, I planned to take out my computer and note down my amazing experience in Barcelona so many times but always ended up taking a lazy walk in the park to enjoy the sun or checking out new restaurants in town. To be fair, Barcelona is a city meant to be experienced, not to be looked at from afar.

This is also not my first blog about Barcelona. I had the chance to visit the city with my cousins back in 2009. We had a blast storming through the city in 3 short days, crossing all the checklist items, La Boqueria, Park Güell, Arc de Triomf, Las Ramblas, Montjuïc Fountain and many more. We drank sangria, ate paella, watched one or two flamenco shows, danced with thousands of people at Montjuïc and thought Barcelona was THE place to be. Leaving Barcelona that summer and thinking of  ‘that guy I just met at Jan-Chi wedding’, I never would have thought that one day, we would be returning to the city together as a newly wed couple.

For us, it was a completely different Barcelona this time. To be honest, we barely visited any major tourist attractions during our four months here (drove by Sagrada Familia once on the way to Korean restaurant and had tapas at the famous Pinotxo Bar at La Boqueria with some friends in town). We lived Barcelona through blending into traffic on our scooter across the city everyday, taking long relaxing walk along the beach in Baceloneta or in our hip neighborhood El Born, going to lunch at 3 and dinner at 10 (which was just perfect for Loic). It was dancing on tipsy feet at midnight in Plaça de Sant Agusti Vell, sipping on wine from La Vinya del Senyor with magnificent view of Santa Maria del Mar cathedral, squeezing in at La Xampanyeria (2 euros for a bottle of cava anyone?) having rose cava spilled all over but couldn’t stop laughing. Did I tell you we were drunk half of our time in this town?

Barcelona for us was living in a cozy sun-filled apartment four flights of stairs up (and complaining about it every single day). The area still managed to maintain its impressive centuries-old architecture with forged iron balconies running along beautifully engraved facade (where it was quite common to find your upstair-neighbor’s panties falling into your balcony). We were also just a few steps from Arc de Triomf and a short stroll to Parc de la Ciutadella, the biggest park in town (which also meant a lot of Sunday cava picnic – without the actual picnic… just cava basically). Our trendy El Born neighborhood was lined with cool bars, restaurants and gourmet shops, but we developed the habit of stopping by the local Mercat Santa Caterina to pick up dinner supplies. We would be swinging by our veggie guy to admire his collection of 20 different types of tomato or mushroom, stopping at our meat guy’s shop to get some freshly shaved jamón ibérico de bellota – the finest acorn-fed pure breed of Iberico ham that melted in your mouth, or picking up sashimi-quality tuna from our fish lady while eyeing the fresh octopus next stall. We would be practicing our broken Spanish and growing to be good friends with our favorite vendors, who showered us with presents (mostly cava) when we came around at the end of our stay to bid farewell.

Barcelona for us was also being surrounded by some of the most creative bars and restaurants in Europe. Please run over immediately if you would like to experience Michelin restaurants at a reasonable price. We arrived during the peak of the Asian-fusion cuisine movement and thus got to enjoy a wide range of mouth-watering collection of recipes, from Japanese-tapas venture Dos Palillos to Japanese-Brazillian fusion Ikibana. Vietnamese food was one of the hottest trends in town at the moment, but sadly nothing could pass my quality radar :(. We also managed to make the 2-month reservation for the hottest spot in town, Tickets, which deserved a whole separate post. Living in Barcelona also meant drinking cava during cocktail hours, rioja during dinner and gin tonic any other time. But not your usual lime-squeeze G&T, here in Barcelona, some of the more serious places boasted a menu of over sixty different types of G&T infused with a variety of herbs, fruits, flowers. Our favorite was the local-made Gin Mare with notes of thyme, rosemary, olive and basil, perfect to pair with tonic, mango and black pepper on a hot summer night.

Barcelona for us was meeting new friends and reuniting with others. We often joked that we got to host more friends from Netherlands and Belgium here than we ever did when living in the Netherlands. Since our time in Barcelona was quite short, we got to experience new things with each group of friends visiting (hence the a-lot-of-cava part). The city was also a perfect place to meet random people (which could quickly turned into a series of barhopping, after which we may or may not end up losing our motorbike and puking in front of Manu Chao’s bar… hazy memories :-p). There was always some room in the city for the artists, the party animals, the retirees, the wanderers, the foodies… It was the city for us all.

We were lucky to start our life together in such an exciting place. We were forced to adapt quickly to the pace of life in this strange town where we did not understand the language. It was puzzling time standing in a supermarket and wondering if this bottle was a dish washing detergent or floor cleaning solution (and hoping that we picked the right one). It was navigating through delightful narrow winding back streets to find secret hidden squares and trying to figure out how to get back home. It was overcoming hiccups and difficulties together, learning and accepting each person’s strengths and weaknesses without giving up (it was not like I could just run back to my mom’s place and spend the night…). There were the occasional time when Loic ran off to watch football with the guys or I went out shopping with some girl friends, but for the most parts, we got to experience every moment in this city together. And it was pretty good indeed ;-).

And now some snapshots from our life in this quirky town, let us know if you need help planning your vacation here!

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Don’t worry Barca, we will be back!

Our island days

Let me tell you about the time when we spent four months living on a remote island off the central coast of Vietnam.

My friends didn’t believe it when I told them that it was quite tough. They thought we were on holiday our whole time there! I wouldn’t blame them, from the pictures that we posted on social media, it seemed like the perfect heaven to roll out your beach towel and watch the day go by while sipping on (multiple) daiquiris. We were working at Six Senses Ninh Van Bay, one of the most beautiful places in Vietnam that I have encountered. Beautiful turquoise waters embracing fine white sand and dramatic rock formations while the mountain encompasses the entire bay with lush greens and tropical jungle creatures. The resort itself was also quite impressive, or as one travel blog described, barefoot eco-luxe at its best. Imagine rustic natural wooden houses with crisp earthy-colored linen (and air conditioner of course, are you crazy?! :p) nestling in complete privacy. Every villa came with its own swimming pool, outdoor shower, wooden bathtub overlooking the bay and its own private butler, who catered to guests’ every need, no matter at which hour of the day.

I was excited to be at such beautiful place, but more fascinated with its operation. Behind these 59 secluded and beautiful villas was an entire village with 400 staff to make (or attempt to make) everything go smoothly. They harvested and filtered their own water, grew their own organic garden (more for show, but still), produced their own electricity, and even made their own essential oil (60 kilograms of lemongrass to produce 300ml of essential oil, see, fascinating!). There were people specializing in carrying guests’ luggage up the hill, people sorting out fruits, people filling minibars, people catching seaweed… It was more or less a village trapped on an isolated island where gossips and rumors went around as fast as the endangered monkeys swinging on trees from one end of the bay to the other.

We arrived at the resort with less than one week notice and no idea what to expect. It took me less than two days going to the staff’s canteen to realize how ridiculous all the clothes I had brought along were. What was I going to do with my high heels and short skirts and tank tops in this village where most people wore uniforms long after working hours? I ended up taking half of my closet back to Hanoi a month later to switch off with more ‘normal’ clothes (picture digging up my closet for some long jeans and old t-shirts, or as one of my girls put it: ‘nerd-ing it up’).

Over the first few weeks, we quite enjoyed settling into this new and exciting environment, something that both of us always dreamed of (beach resort, isolated place, back to nature…). Working in hospitality was quite a funny thing, you always started off the day with the same routines (briefing with the team, walking with guests over breakfast, making reports for the next day…) but took different twists and turns during the day and ended the night exhausted, thinking of some of the crazy shit you just witnessed during the course of the day. It was completely expected and unexpected at the same time. I was happy we had each other to share stories at the end of the day. I secretly loved riding my bicycle down the hill late at night, breathing in the fragrance of fresh jasmine (up the hill of course is still a different story). We saw monkeys hanging outside of our simple room every morning on the way to work. Finding sand in bed did not bother us anymore.

Sadly, the honeymoon phase wore off pretty quickly. Long working hours and different schedules meant we did not get to see or talk to each other so often. We were still new at the job and had a lot of acquaintances to smile and say hi to but not real friends to share past stories with. And absolutely no social or night life! Loic would be working long dinner shift into the night and I would be sitting outside on our front steps waiting sometimes, craving for dinners with family or a night out with the girls (please note that this was before we bought a TV, things improved drastically after that, feeling so lame to tell this story already!). Rumors also got around about how the GM over- favored us, leading to quite a few jealous looks and insane gossips to follow shortly. It was still a small village with veteran-staff who were afraid of changes and acted superior to everyone around them after all. Turns out it was quite easy to feel lonely living among 400 people.

Here I would fast-forward through all the sad cheesy needy stories to get to the exciting part where magic happened to us and we lived happily ever after (not quite :p). It took just a few people with the same mindset and outlooks to make things much better. So we were not too crazy with all the politics and drama going on here after all! We soon embraced our new friends, who, surprisingly, were either newbies or different from the rest like us. There was this fun pastry chef who let me hang out in his kitchen and fed us delicious desserts every night (it got to a point that we would expect something magnificent from him for any occasion…even the smallest). The young hilarious guy who seemed to know the ins and outs of everything on the island, the guy behind various late-night eating and drinking sessions at host bar while always asking me to join him on a diet. The lovely young girl who laughed so often and easily, sang songs and fed cookies to me, the girl who could finish my sentence in a funny story that only the two of us could understand. There was also this guy who tried to look and act tough but had a soft spot for his little doggie, we would have a really mean conversation, challenging the other in a total bullying way and laughed so hard and felt so good about it. And then there was this sweet guy that I consider a brother (sometimes older, sometimes younger), we talked so much about everything, growing up in two different parts of the country, being trapped, dreaming of something bigger than both of us… we also shared a very special intimate 15-minute fish massage session at the shopping center where we had to try to hard not to laugh and scream at the same time. I will not forget to mention Worstie, our little dachshund friend who pissed and pooped all over our room and then slept in our bed on his back with four legs up in the air like the cutest thing ever. We miss you all very much.

We are gone but hope the memories stay. Those long random ‘Another Day in Paradise’ email chains that I had to delete from my work email on the very last day, it nearly broke my heart. Those late afternoons when we decided to escape from the office and walk around the organic garden to snip some veggies before heading to host bar for instant noodle. Those late nights when we drank beer and gin tonic at host bar and talked about life and relationships while bats flew madly over our heads. Days when we forgot to eat running around and days when we got fed so much running around. Group itineraries for the exciting days off ahead in the city and pie charts to split costs the week after. The friends who visited us in the city and on the island (whom I presumed we all took to Skylight, the best place in town) and the friends who failed to visit (who are now called ‘Van Anh’s imaginary friends’). Our culinary tour of Nha Trang that spanned over 9 restaurants/bars in one night (which turned me into ‘the pregnant-looking lady who danced and drank like crazy at Sailing club that night’). 5am drunk kebab sessions followed by 10am movie shows. A lot of wine bottles and midnight swims. Followed by even more of elbow-dances and face-plants.

So this post is for you my friends, just to capture a few moments of one very memorable summer when we spent four months living on a remote island off the central coast of Vietnam. Enjoy this cheesy moment and know that we miss you very very much, our island crew.

A truly beautiful place…

Me attempting at yoga with Ink, my Thai friend

Little Worstie’s first excursion to the sea

Cake and more cake, this one is for our first Anniversary

Me walking on air in the organic garden

Cousin Mi came to visit and got into so much trouble 😉

With Haykel, the birthday boy at Patrick’s, after quite a few bottles of wine already

Haykel and his girls Alexandra and Vladimira

Before our heavy eating night out, innocent faces not knowing what was coming yet

At Skylight with our usual punch bowl, oh how we miss that place!

Haykel in his elements

 

Elbow dancing with the master Vlado

Me and cousin Diep happily drunk at Sailing Club

Mi and Diep came to visit at SS!

And of course, Haykel had to make a cake!

The Nha Trang crew

My brother and sister (the other one refused to come with us)

The master of fake Vietnamese smile

I went hiking to the top of the mountain (and thought I almost died)

Our farewell cake, delicious berries and pistachio mousse creation

Our last day, with my dear team

Saying goodbye was tough, but it’s not too bad while on the other side of the bay, we were greeted by two crazy guys and continued the farewell party for 2 more days.

Our train through Europe

How do I begin… Skimming through the pictures and thoughts from my last posts and having mixed feelings. Oh right, I do have a blog, and shit, I have neglected it for the last 7 months. Don’t get me wrong, since the last post, I have seriously attempted multiple times to note down our amazing adventure in Barcelona, the time we roamed the Italian countryside to look for truffle, the moment I saw my best friend walk down the aisle in London, my love for the gorgeous flowers of the Netherlands, meeting new friends and reuniting with others… I think of my life of the last six months as a fascinating train ride through Europe (the best way to explore this continent really), the journey that took us to random corners of the Old World, sometimes leaving us enough time to have long dinners and meaningful talks, and other times just allowing us to run out to give dear friends big hugs. Sometimes we found ourselves standing at the edge of the ocean, admiring the wonders of nature and for the rest we peaked at different cities through our windows, wondering what it would be like to live in this part of the world…

I often find my self swiping through old pictures on my phone and think of what an amazing journey we have had. The opportunity to experience life in such amazing places, especially together as a newlywed couple. I think of the time when we stood in front of rows upon rows of cleaning products in Spain and wondered cluelessly whether this was laundry detergent or dish washing soap. I remember that moment way passed midnight when we walked back home in our lovely neighborhood of El Born and salsa danced in our clumsy way like two lunatics. I smile when thinking of the beautiful bouquets Loic picked for me from the open air market in Maastricht that filled our apartment with colors and light. I love sunny days drinking cava in the park and waiting in line at the ice-cream parlor. We took the sun for granted in Barcelona and then treasured it more than ever after three months living in Maastricht. Life feels good when we have each other.

Some people asked me what it was like surviving the first year of marriage. I still don’t think my experience speaks for the rest since as of this time two weeks ago, we were still bicycling to school and packing each other lunch bags. It feels weird going to class with your husband and studying for exams together. I told them it felt quite natural even though we were together 24/7 everyday. I told them the first month moving in together was much tougher than the first month of marriage, that they should really consider moving together to a foreign country after getting married as it would challenge the relationship and potentially make you stronger. As in our case, being in a strange place where we did not speak the language really prompted us to stand with our backs together, our hands holding tight. We were lucky to have all the time in the world to ourselves with no family obligations and no kids (well, just a lot of homework and assignments and presentations and exams but that’s all :-s). I can imagine looking back to this time period in 20 years and telling our kids about the glorious days we had in Europe  ‘back in the day’ (and probably thinking kids, please hurry the hell up to go to college and leave us alone again).

Of course, it was not always sunny and rosy in our first year of marriage. There were as many days I went to bed angry as the number of times Loic was disappointed with my stubbornness. There were days when privacy seemed like such a luxury and all we longed for was a little air to our own. I was craving my girly time when he was more than happy to join the guys for a few PS3 sessions. I unconsciously complained why he came home so late in my sleep but was happy to snuggle until morning time. Life does feel good when we have each other.

And so here are just a sneak peak into the highlights of our journey, glad to be back and happy Greek Easter everyone!

The magnificent Arc de Triomf by our apartment in Barcelona

My first Barca game with the girls

Let’s go to the beach

Playing with Mr. Gato the Cat with my bestie Bong

Greg and Aiko followed us to Barcelona and so we took them for a local tapas feast at La Boqueria

Quick drop to Madrid to see Rod and have the guys acting cool

Road trip in Mallorca with our Dutchies

Somewhere out of a dream in Mallorca

Our Christmas photo ritual, but this year all the way from Le Marche, Italy

The amazing countryside of Le Marche

My beautiful home girl got married!

Quick stop by Germany to visit our auntie and uncle, and dear Gallia of course

Not to be missed – Carnival in Maastricht

Blue sky at the beautiful Mdina, Malta

Breakfast in Istanbul but the best guide we could ever ask for

Belgium crushed Cyprus 5-0 at a Eurocup qualifying game

Caught Keukenhof on a sunny day, Netherlands has the best flowers on Earth!

Making ducky face in front of the swans with Marina

Last stop, Amsterdam with Loic and his beau Nick, my dream came true when they took me to the Red Light District!

All the love in the world

Four years ago, during the first Europe trip together, Loic took me to Greece, the country that was deeply intertwined with Loic’s childhood, where the sun bleached villages sprayed across rolling hills and the soft sandy beaches embraced by warm waves of turquoise Aegean water. Loic wanted to show me the authentic Greek experience, to introduce me to the hospitable and kind-hearted locals, to treat me to hearty meals prepared by grandmas and homemade wine poured by grandpas, and to enjoy magnificent sunset over the Aegean everyday with full contentment in our hearts. And so he picked his favorite island, Naxos, to be my first real exposure to traditional Greek hospitality.

I have fallen in love with Naxos at first sight. Thanks to its large mountains and fertility, the island has always relied on its agricultural production that has left it relatively unscathed by the mass modern developments that have plagued some of its neighboring islands, while retaining its original charms. During the few days that we spent exploring this beautiful island, Loic drove me along the little roads lined with seas of wild flowers, we got lost in Chora’s old Venetian streets, explored the Cretan settlements perched high in the mountains, and crossed to the other side of the island to grab a nice ouzo on an old harbour dock gazing out onto the Aegean. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the turquoise waters, sharing childhood stories, laughing out loud, and feeling closer than ever. We left the little town of Moutsouna just before sunset, and promised to each other that we would go back one day to that perfect place. And so, three years later, when we decided to get married, we knew in our hearts immediately that we wanted to take our family and friends to our little secret corner of the world, the quaint little fishing village that felt so much like home.

Planning for a wedding is not easy, planning for a wedding from half way across the world was even more difficult. We remembered the day perfectly, but could not quite stitch all the images and memories together to make important venue and event decisions. Imagine turning a village of about 40 households upside down to find places to welcome 100 guests from 22 countries and 4 continents. We were jumping up and down when our dear family and friends who had hopped on planes, got on boats, then drove across the big island, finally made it to be with us on our special day. These are people who gave us life, those who make us the person we are now, those who witnessed our love from the beginning, those whom we only heard about through stories from the other. The villagers were almost as excited as we were to welcome the first guests. It was probably the most international thing that had ever happened in this sleepy town. They put our guests on their pickup trucks to get to the town, gave us ouzo and cheese with a pat on the shoulders, tried to talk with us in their broken English with the brightest smiles. It was truly a village affair in the most genuine sense of the word.

Even though we came from very different family and social backgrounds, Loic and I both agreed on one thing from the very beginning that we wanted a wedding in our own style, following no specific traditions or rules. As the control-freak wedding planner that I was, I arrived on the island with a suitcase filled with decorations and excel files that nailed everything down to the minutes. However, after a few days getting mellowed down in the Greek pace of life, we realized that it was the chilled, rustic, unpretentious nature of this place that made us fall in love at the very beginning. So 4 days before the big wedding, we threw out the big plan, and decided to just go with the feel of the place, trying to give our family and friends a really good time and initially letting our own instinct lead the way. In the end, everyone was here just to be with us, not for any amazing shows.

Our wedding way did indeed take many unexpected twists and turns. It was not the wedding that we envisioned or planned for, but in the end, it was just perfect. My mom cried the tears of pride and happiness when helping me put on my wedding dress. My auntie did my makeup while my best friend helped me put on my shoes. Loic and I walked through the fields of wild flowers in the cheers of our friends and the happy beats of the Greek band. The mayor of Naxos decided last minute to help us tie the knot, he was from Moutsouna and could not be more proud himself. I cried when Loic promised to always hold me in his arms at the end of the day no matter what might happen. Loic’s parents gave me a giant hug and called me their beloved daughter. The villagers all came down and danced with me on the way to the dock, where we held our cocktail reception. The dinner lasted until the wee hour of the night with many hearty dishes, lovely wishes and emotional toasts (I was crying about 4 times that day, is that normal?). Our DJ friend kept the party going around the swimming pool, where we did some (too many) regrettable shots. Everyone raised their glasses for the bride and groom, danced with their new friends, jumped into the pool to cool down, and watched sunrise on the beach to welcome a new day.

When our family and friends took turn to say good bye and continue on their own journeys, they all told us how much they had also fallen in love with this little charming town, that they had had a wonderful and super fun time, that they had gotten to know so many new friends, and that they would come back to this place some day in the future. It was a weekend full of colors and memories. We could all felt the love in the air, and more importantly, Loic and I have stepped into a new journey in the presence of all our family and friends, in this little village nestled between the highness of mountains and the deepness of the sea.

 

 

The acoustics of the city

Saigon has won over my heart once again. Saigon with its ever-amazing hosts, state-of-the-art rooftop lounges, midnight snacks in Chinatown, street coffee by the park, heart-wrenching acoustic music from a hidden bar, old market shopping, naked man running around at 4am, gentle rain followed by brilliant sunshine… The city seems to have it all figured out. Saigon to me is heat and colors, energy and rush, light and happiness. It is difficult to be upset in a city where every corner presents another lovely treat that can brighten your day in a second.

There is this one place that I think of every time I’m back to the city, Acoustics Bar. My friends often gave me the ‘seriously?’ look when I mentioned the place. I thought to them it was a place that was too touristy for the locals, yet too local for the tourists. So they swept me to the most trendy lounges and hottest bars, from where my Acoustic was just a tiny little dot hidden deep inside an alley that never slept.

It started in the summer before my senior year in college. I was twenty year-old, young and fearless, interning at a big advertising agency, and feeling like hitting a home run every single day. I remember joining creative briefings on bean bags in the company’s meeting room, going up to get water in the kitchen, which was actually an open-space rooftop offering panoramic view of the city, wearing tank tops to work just so I could join the dating scene in Saigon right after office hours. At the end of each day, I would return to my little bedroom shared with my younger cousin, who was always hungry to hear more about my ‘adult’ world.

One time, a friend fixed me up with a Saigon guy for a blind date. “He’s super artsy, extremely nice and incredibly fun,” she stressed, and I laughed, Saigon was all about surprises and fun so why not. Eight o’clock sharp, I opened the doors and greeted Mr. Frodo, who was just barely my height, with a head full of messy curls and a gap in his teeth the size of the Saigon river. At least he was smiling, I thought and clumsily climbed onto his shabby Win motorbike, trying to figure out how to hold onto my clutch and the motorbike without crashing the heels inside the wheel. Fairy tales did not happen that night. It was a very bad date and I was about to text my cousin begging for that emergency call when Frodo (okay, sorry, name-calling is really mean :”>) offered to take me to a “super fun place” on the way to drop me home. We entered Acoustics bar and only managed to get a table all the way in the back, but it was more than enough to get me hooked. You know the feeling when you thought you knew this city, and yet, it never ceased to surprise you.

I had been to many live music bars in Saigon but there was something very different about this place. The singers here, mostly amateurs, teachers and architects and students and doctors by day, singers by night, always seemed to sing with all their hearts. Or how should I put it in a less cliche way… There were no manicured shows, no elaborate dancing, no flashy costumes. The singers went up stage, put their hearts out there, wowed the audience, then went back to their corner to finish their beers, and quietly left by the back door. I was back to Acoustics almost every week after that, sometimes even two or three times. I took my cousin, my friends and my dates there, telling them how much they had been missing out (like, a week more than me). I was taken back there by other dates, who was so confident of wowing me with this place that I had to shyly go along, acted surprise while all the waiters seemed to recognize me. Sometimes I would even go by myself, just to get loose in the music, waiting for my favorite song to make the day a bit brighter. One time, one of the singers came by to say hi. We flirted and laughed. He told me to come by in the afternoon in two days, when he and his band would be practicing. I did, just to learned that he probably did not even remember who I was. Oh, dear twenty-year-old girl, did anyone ever tell you not to put your heart on your sleeve?

It was one of the best summers of my life. I still went back to Acoustic from time to time after that 2008 summer, but often discouraged by friends, and the fact that the seats filled up quite quickly most nights. Until just a few days ago, when my girlfriends and I decided last minutes on a quick getaway to Saigon. On our last night, after a fabulous dinner with all my besties at my favorite restaurant, we hugged and parted way. My best friend and I found ourselves on the street of Saigon and decided to take an all-nighter in our beloved city, starting at Acoustic and ending at 5am, exhausted at a random street cafe in the backpacker district. We talked about old times, laughed, sang along, drank, got emotional, hugged, laughed, and enjoyed each other’s company in silence even more. By the time we came back to our friend’s apartment, the sun was already up, shining bright, the city was in its most peaceful and serene state before entering a new exciting day. And slowly we fell asleep, dreaming of the music that seemed to be out of this world.

20-year-old us

My top destination wedding destinations

Getting married is never easy, especially if you are planning to tie the knot half way across the world. But the idea of spending a holiday with all our beloved family and friends at some place both exotic and so dear to our hearts makes the whole ride a lot more exciting and worthwhile. It took some intense discussions to arrive at our final destination of Naxos, Greece. Not only is Naxos the middle point for our family and friends coming from all 5 continents, to us, it is also Greece at its best: mesmerizing, hospitable and unpretentious. Of course, I can spend hours telling you about what I love about this special Cycladic island, but this blog is dedicated to all the other amazing places where we have stopped on our travel through to say “This could be a great place for a wedding!”

Montepulciano, Tuscany

Think Italian medieval town and Twilight, because this is actually where the movie was filmed a few years back. We were on our wine tasting mission for Loic’s birthday in Tuscany when we stumbled upon this little gem. Walking up the hilly cobblestone street and stopping from time to time to have a little taste of the local salami, cheese and wine, we arrived at the Palazzo Comunale at the top of the hill. We actually caught a glimpse of an ongoing wedding reception, thinking how wonderful it must be to get married in such a place rich with history and culture. And of course, the famous Montepulciano red wine.

The High Line, New York City

This is another place where I walked right into a wedding celebration during my visit. And of course it was high tea at 4 o’clock in the afternoon (It was New York, what do you expect?). And it seemed so perfect, with the terrific sunset view along the Hudson, the exciting backdrop of Chelsea and Meat Packing District on the other side, a trumpet musician playing something jazzy, mid summer’s warm sun and cool breezes. This is the place that truly captures the spirit and pulse of the city. And for those of you who is unfamiliar, this is the city’s new project to build a linear park on a section of the elevated former railroad that runs along the Lower West Side. It was my first visit and I fell in love constantly.

Loutro, Crete

This was actually our second option for the wedding, one of the best waters that I’ve ever seen. But more than that, this is where Loic has picked to make the best decision of his adult life (asking me for marriage of course!). This little picturesque village is only accessible by boat or foot, making it even more serene and stunningly beautiful. In the village where it takes only five minutes to walk from one end to the other, yet you still feel so small amidst the magnificent nature, steep, harsh, rocky mountainsides surrounded by the sweet warm turquoise waters. If only the town was bigger to host all our friends and family.

Leros, Greece

We are the kind of couple that would chose a wedding destination for one amazing restaurant. And this is why we dream of coming back to Leros every time summer rolls around. It was THAT amazing! And the castle nestled on the top of the hill would be the place we hold our ceremony (we actually saw a sunset wedding there one day, a row of Fiat 500 making their way up the hill, so adorable!). Then, drinking wine in the courtyard and making our way to the Mylos restaurant by the water for octopus carpaccio, kataifi cheese roll with honey, lobster linguini and of course, panna cotta for Van Anh!

Gili Meno, Indonesia

We would go back to the Gili islands anytime. Just 2 hours off the coast of Bali but this is completely out of this world. Same scenery, same beautiful waters as Bali, but  minus the seven million tourists scrambling the island. We love this little beach bar in Gili Meno, the most peaceful island out of the three, decorated liberally with strings of red corals and white shells. This is where I imagine a barefoot beach wedding to be, in the warm light of sunset, with a pina colada in your hand, followed by a beach BBQ reception and ending the night with dancing around the bonfire. Oh Loic, can we change?

Coron/El Nido, Philippines

The Philippines with thousands stunning islands also holds a very high position on our list. I have posted lengthy article about what an amazing place and how much we love El Nido/Coron. But one of the special places that we fell in love with is a little quirky hotel on the top of a hill overlooking the ocean called Al Faro in Coron. Loic described it better than I ever could, “The benefit of coming to this remote location is that the stress of the normal world simply melts away within an hour after arrival. With its almost Cycladic design, the first impression is that there is a huge amount of attention to detail around the hotel, from the lovely staff, to the fresh hibiscus flowers all over the room, but most importantly to the focus on creating wide open spaces that let everyone enjoy the views and fresh breezes.”There are still many more places we love, Prague, Lisbon, Tulum, Hoi An… but we can only have one wedding so our friends, hope you can make time to visit all our favorite places above… and see you in Naxos!

The tango of life

It is exactly four months to the day of our wedding. And yet we still have so much to learn about living together. We are lucky that we got to move in after the Vietnamese engagement ceremony and before our actual wedding, and for the most parts, it feels very natural to be together. To be fair, we have spent much time traveling together. But then again, when you travel and absorb so much good food and greatness, it is difficult to be upset and unhappy for long. You don’t really have a solid ground to protest when he is your ride everywhere.

But of course, living together as two adults in a grownup-looking apartment with a fully stocked kitchen and numerous paintings on the wall can feel quite serious. If you have been to one of our house parties, you will know first hand that we share a lovely spacious studio apartment together. This is also our first source of problem because for a place where kitchen, living room, bed room, dining room are all connected, you will have no privacy whatsoever. And for a person who likes to stomp out and slam the door during a fight like myself, I only have the option of stomping out to the hallway or into the bathroom, both of which are not very nice to stay long enough to make my point (oh and trust me, I have a lot of points to make). In the long term, I might have to consider setting up mini bookcases in both the hallway and bathroom.

Like most couples, we stumble into so many problems from time to time. Let’s just call them the ‘inconveniences’ of our lives. From why you did not change the toilet roll to why you disappeared until 4am and did not call me… I remember my mom’s friends asked me once when I escorted my mom to a girly lunch, “Do you guys ever fight? How can you fight back? What do you say? Do you call him ‘dog man’ (their translation of “thằng chó”, a bad name calling in Vietnamese)?”. It was quite hard to keep me from laughing when explaining to them. How could I tell a group of middle-aged Vietnamese women, including my mom, that when the two of us fight, we go full steam. Of course, this is nothing that I’m proud of, as it is mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted every single time. I would come out of a fight feeling like a part of me has just died and that I have lost a few years out of my lifetime. It is in these moments that we fully expose our raw, unprotected selves to our opponent. I like to back out and disappear until my anger subsides while Loic likes to confront and make sure we talk it through right then and right there. We often end up fighting by the door, me attempting to leave and Loic trying to pull me back to talk. And maybe 10 minutes later on the couch, wondering why we have fought in the first place.

I like the idea of a relationship as a tango. If you step up then your partner has to step down. You both move back and forth, sometimes you sway, sometimes you twirl. Love should be a beautiful dance like that. Like a compromise. There is no such thing as a perfect couple. I believe that even the most perfect couples fight the hell out of each other behind closed door. It is just seeing how far you can go to meet your partner in the middle, how much you are willing to give in, and what happen if the same problem emerges. You have to adapt.

This is not a self-help guidance because I am in no position to give out relationship advices. Our life together is not perfect. I will use every opportunity when eating out with friends to order tofu and porridge while Loic can no longer enjoy a meal of super spicy stew at home. He hates it when I mumble up in my sleep, while I can’t stand the way his beard hair shreds all over the sink. We fight and we make up. We think of ways to kill the other and of things to make that person happy. Sometimes we are stuck and other times we move on. But at the end of the day, if we can kiss good night and snuggle in peace then I guess it’s another happy day of our lives.

* picture of us freaking out for the wedding!

A promise-to-be

Another two months have gone by since my last post and I seriously curse myself everyday for it. With two holidays back to back, and a million unwanted no-name things happening around, I feel like a sleepwalker who keeps moving around without knowing exactly what she’s doing or where she’s heading to. Staring at the six half-done posts in my draft folder, I’m not quite sure if I should feel better or worse about myself.

I blame it on the upcoming nuptial that has occupied pretty much the right half of my brain, and on my ‘fiancee’ (still feel weird saying the word) for not hiring a secretary to keep me on track and remind me to breathe in and out from time to time. These days, instead of scrambling down my thoughts into this blog, one of my top favorite things to do after midnight, I have to divide my time either into writing to my wedding planner to get things sorted out or into writing to my clients and reassure them that their weddings are all under control. And so now, when midnight just rolled around, and here I am, sitting in the middle of a scattered mess of papers and glue-guns and scissors, working on a birthday party two days away, and freaking out that it’s four months to the wedding and I still have not gotten anything done. No invitation, no restaurants, no airplane tickets. No wedding gown!

Remember all the wedding guide books which offer you a year-long week-to-week planner of all the things that you need to do before your big day? Those that I never used because I was too confident with my organization skill? Well, those books would probably laugh at my right now if they could, considering the reality that I probably will have to squeeze a year into these four months. When we envisioned our destination wedding in Greece, I thought of a sunset ceremony, where everyone with his/her toes in the sand, smiling, Loic held my hand and told me that I was the most beautiful bride on Earth (isn’t that what grooms are supposed to do?). I dreamed of a beach reception under endless strings of light, fresh, hearty local foods, everyone dancing to the music of a Greek band, my bridesmaids and groomsmen told us about such a wonderful couple we were (okay, this part is really a dream, I know they would crush us with embarrassing stories that we probably don’t even remember). The point is that I was promised cake and funny dances and cheers and laughters. Nobody warned me that there would also be arranging accommodations for 100 people, or that most Greek restaurant owners escaped their own islands from Christmas to Easter for low season, or that just a week-long promotion from Vietnam Airlines could suddenly result in frantic panic mode among my whole family.

I think about all the weddings that I have organized, about what I really look forward to at my own wedding, about what really matters in the end. I think about how much I care about my guests’ experiences, about what I can let go, about when I can let go of it. And then I think about our relationship afterwards. It is one of the things that I want it to be amazing and memorable, but not overwhelming to the point of changing our shared life. I like to think of it as a new page in our book (the one with exciting illustrations!), instead of the start of a new life together. I hope our wedding is a mini vacation, a reunion party, a lovely amusement for all our loved ones. I hope we would have fun too. In the place where love has happened.

So I will make a promise to myself, to write down my experience leading up to my big day every week, whether it is short or long, scandalous or insignificant. It is part of the story leading up to the big page. And I want to look back many years from today, remember all the silly thoughts that have rushed through my head, and feel like doing it all over again.

In the end, I write a wedding blog, so why can’t I blog about my own wedding, right?
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* photos of us from our engagement ceremony, Loic did tell me that I was the most beautiful one there haha

All I want for Christmas…

Christmas is really not my holiday. Growing up in a country where Christmas comes in the form of cheesy decorations and outrageous present giving, my memory of childhood Christmas involves putting a lengthy letter to Santa in a shoe by the door and waking up to the present first thing the next morning. My mom actually just teased me about it a few days ago in front of L, revealing that I was way into my middle school years when I figured out who my Santa really was. I smiled shyly, did not exactly want to let her know I got a few extra years of presents comparing to all my friends.

As L was usually away from home for Christmas, we tried to take a little getaway trip every year when the holidays rolled around. I tried to put myself in his shoes and compare Christmas with our traditional holiday, Tet (Lunar New Year), which came with so many family commitments and tedious tasks that most of us just wanted to get away from. Anyway, being away from home is being away from home, no more dad’s stuffing and mom’s pumpkin pie, you might dread it when you are there but the grass is always greener on the other side, isn’t it?

However, since I started my wedding planning business, we had to sacrifice our ritual of sending Christmas photos from the beach (with L being the Santa and me being Rudolphe) so I can work events during the holidays. Knowing L would be pretty upset about it, I often tried to think of nice presents to cheer him up. But usually my plan failed, proving that no matter how much good will I might have, Christmas would never be on my side (another case in point, what kind of person gets alcohol poisoning 3 days before Christmas after going on a Christmas bar crawl? Seriously). My attempt for the 25-day-of-Christmas advance calendar in the form of a Christmas tree made from red envelops stuffed with love vouchers last year stopped on day 12 after I got so carried away with work and forgot to keep up. I ended up getting something practical (but nice) for him for the holiday, which I sadly cannot recall now. Sometimes we fought about me being so terrible at romantic gestures and I would yell: “You never give me credit for anything, do you even remember the really nice present I gave you last year?!” while acting overly defensive in hope that he would drop the topic right there (for the sake of our relationship!).

You see, it is so difficult to get Christmas presents for someone who seems to already have everything (in storage at 4 different countries). We always talk about moving to the next place so it seems out of the question to have something big and bulky. I like to get practical gifts to use, it hurts to see someone give me something so nice but I cannot use because it’s just not me. For me, it would be firework if I was left with a credit card with the note “Treat yourself to something nice”. Life would be so much simpler that way, but then again, to punish me of being so dry and uncreative, the Universe decided to pair me up with someone who is always full of ideas, surprised trips, surprised parties, surprised fancy dinners, not to mention always a nice bottle of champagne to accompany all of these surprises. So with all these explanations, you can understand why Christmas is quite a shameful time of the year for me.

This year, our present for each other both ended up being neatly folded in an envelop. Me with airplane tickets for a road trip along the central and southern coast of Vietnam for L and L with a generous contribution to my new laptop this year. We were both surprised and pleased. It will be one of the things that we can hardly forget.

My nephew at his school’s Christmas show

Getting ready for the Christmas bar crawl…

… With Snow angel, Santa baby, Christmas tree and a beautiful version of Rudolphe

We were greeted with Santa with his evil bottle of tequilla

Our tiny Christmas tree with plenty of presents (mostly from Loic’s mother, I’m so terrible)

Decorations for our Christmas party

Us with our present to each other