Family Life in Saigon

My host in Saigon is the fourth of five children in a family of pharmacists. Him, his mother, his sister, nephew and niece live in a 8×55 foot house subdivided into three small rooms, with the kitchen subdivided again to make for a small bathroom. We are sleeping in the first room with our host.

Most of us would consider it ghetto; the house has no hot water, no shower (only one faucet), but our host family appears middle to upper class: they have relatives living and working in the US and Japan, a DSL internet connection and a Windows XP desktop, and my host is quick to write down English words he doesn’t know on his Sony Cleo PDA.

My host showing us his English studies while his sister prepares the table for lunch.

Sister and friend making dinner at home.

Four-year old neice enjoys a comic and a strawberry. Her mother is working in a textile factory in Japan, so she’s living with Grandma.

Dinner of beer and stew with some friends of my host.

Tomorrow we leave Saigon for the Dalat flower festival, 300km north.