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Friday, June 18, 2010

Daddy in Ho Chi Minh City!

Town Hall of Ho Chi Minh City along Nguyen Hue & Le Than Ton

Tuscan Style office inside the Zoo at Nuyen Bien Kiem

Lake and Bench at the Zoo at Nguyen Bien Kiem

Female Statues at The Saigon Opera House

Chinese Temple at the Zoo in Nguyen Bien Kiem

Paintings at Paragon Mall

Nice Shop at Paragon Mall

Acoustic Night at YEN Cafe in District 3

Newly opened Yogen Fruz branch in Phu My Hung

The Famous Fanny Ice Cream in Thon That Tiep

Adidas World Cup Mascot at Parkson's Mall

Notre Dame de Saigon along Le Duan and Nguyen Du

Last March 8 Dad arrived in Ho Chi Minh for one and half months of vacation and obligation at the same time. I was scheduled for my surgery last March 17, so he was the one who was by my side during the operation and my 4 days and 4 nights stay in the hospital. He was with me also during my recuperating period. So when I was feeling okay, I tried to tour Dad to some of the city's hot spots and restos. Most of the time we were together or we were with my good friends here in Saigon. There are almost a thousand pictures Dad brought home after his vacation. Hope he did enjoy his trip to the quaint city of motorbike.

Father's day is almost here, and I guess almost everyone around the globe will celebrate this wonderful occasion. I recently watched the movie "Everybody's Fine" it's the type of movie that will pinch your heart. Seeing Robert De Niro growing old and being away from his kids is something that really happens in real life. And we must admit that we give lesser time to our parents because we are busy with our daily routines. The movie also captured the reality that sometimes kids cover the ugly truth from their parents most specially the imperfections of life. Most of us do not want to disappoint our parents so we keep things from them.

The last scene and dialogue of Robert De Niro in the movie caught my attention. He said something like this: "Your children may not grow the way you want them to be, but what's always important is...everybody's fine." Then the movie ended that one of his daughters is a lesbian and a single mother at the same time, then another daughter is separated but now with a new partner, then a son that claims to be a musical conductor but just a drummer and lastly the son who died as a drug addict and a painter. Life isn't perfect and it will never be. As long as everybody's fine...yeah life goes on and we should find happiness on what we have and deal with it.

See you on Sunday for my Father's day FOOD blog :D

hugs,
joanie xxx

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

happy, happy father's day to
your dad and to all the dads
in the whole wide world!
from someone frm sydney....

Debbie Martin said...

Oh sweet girl. Your post is true,
Happy Father's Day to all dads!

Unknown said...

Cheers to your dad!

Joanie said...

Thanks Debbie & Mama Joy!
Hi to all the Aussie Dads down under :)

Grace D. Chong said...

Please say "hi" to your dad. I don't know if you remember, he and I used to work together at DYR. The photos show him looking hale and healthy!

Joanie said...

Hi Ms. Grace!
I definitely remember you and most of my Dad's colleagues. Some of them became my colleagues also namely Harvey, Val & Norbert.

I am not sure if its you or Lucy Bigornia who wrote the book "Now the bed is all mine" which I read years ago maybe I was highschool or college then... regards!