Vietnam-Family history

The whole city of Saigon is a market. So I found it humorous when dad would say that someone was going to the market. Every available inch of street property is a shop in front and living quarters behind it. Even in the alleys and back roads there are carts set up selling wares. The only exceptions were religious structures, and the government properties like the parks and museums. The areas that were not streets were a cross between sidewalks, parking lots (for motorbikes), and vendor store front. So the pedestrians were just as likely to be walking in the streets as the “sidewalks”.

It was well into the dark hours of the night when we walk through the closing street market leading to grandma’s first apartment. Debris from the market completely littered the street. As we left the alley there was a 12 inch rat (8” body, 4” tail) that scurried across the path. This could have been home.

In the daylight dad showed me where grandma’s last condo was. In the same day he showed me where grandpa’s stamp store was and the place where he met mom. He answered the question of how they met each other. He showed me where he proved that wood was stronger than his ribs and the hospital that grandma took him to afterwards. This was how he got all the stitches in his abdomen.

Dad shared with me stories about how he and his father bonded working the stamp shop and his errands to the post office. He told me about what he had heard about his only uncle that lived outside of Shanghai, where grandpa was originally from. He also shared what he knew about his only cousin. We also covered mom’s side of the family and why there was some bad blood with parts of that side of the family.

Spending time with dad in Vietnam provided an opportunity to see and hear things that I would never have experienced otherwise.