KAPOORS ON THE ROAD
I made this entry so that I could include some random photos of things we saw and enjoyed in Saigon. Most of the photos are self-explanatory but there are a couple I want to tell you about.
The first is the photo I took of two young women riding a bicycle together. Although you don't see too many people on bikes anymore is this bustling city, now and then there is a moment like this that brings a smile to a visitor's face. It was hard to get this scene without any blurring because we were whizzing by in a taxi. The passenger riding on the carrier behind the bike seat has her feet on the pedals too, and is helping her friend propel the bike through the busy traffic. I have only seen this done in Vietnam, the first time was on our last visit to Hoi An, but I was never able to get a picture of it. It's such a fine example of the closeness of friends we see all over the country.
The other photo that bears mentioning is the one I took outside a hotel with an arch of balloons and a large photo of a bride and groom, waiting to greet the wedding guests. It seems it is a very Asian thing to do, for the bride and groom to dress up in their wedding finery before the wedding and have professional photographs taken. This is so very different from our western custom where the groom is not supposed to see the bride in her gown until she walks down the aisle. There's something to be said for this arrangement because all too often, the wedding guests have hours to kill between the wedding ceremony and the wedding banquet while the bride and groom rush all over having the wedding portraits taken. I've also heard of disaster stories where the wedding photos didn't turn out and everyone was sorely disappointed. There are whole stores dedicated to Asian wedding photography were couples can pose for countless pictures in costumes provided by the photographer. It's been fun walking past some of these businesses and marveling at the extent people go to have fantasy photos celebrating their love for one another.
As this is my last entry for Saigon, I want to take the opportunity to say how much we enjoyed our holiday with Donna, Duncan, Logan, Hunter and Aidan. This is probably the most time we have ever spent together and we enjoyed every minute. We look forward to holidaying with them again but we are aware that this might be harder and harder to do as the boys finish high school and start University. Their own programs may make it difficult to coordinate plans for all seven of us to be together again away from home. That makes this time we have spent all the more special and we now have memories that we will cherish for a long time to come.