Big Book '99by Phuong Pham
We woke up at 7:30am then we went to Melbourne Airport at 9:00am and got aboard the Vietnam Airline aeroplane at 12 o’clock noon. The flight form Melbourne to Saigon took eight hours. During the flight, the film "Ever After" was screened. The movie was enjoyable, though I slept through parts of it. It was a bit hard to sleep because the seats were close together. It was easy for the Vietnamese passengers to communicate because the flight attendants could speak Vietnamese quite well. The flight was okay altogether.
When we landed at Saigon Airport it was it was the 26th November 1998. The local time was 4"00pm, the temperature was 21degees. My dad and I got our luggage while my mum looked after my sister and our handbags. My cousin Tuyet and her husband Pham were there to greet us. Tuyet is seventeen years older than I am. We took two taxis to a hotel that Tuyet had already booked.
We stayed overnight in Saigon. The next day at 3:00pm we went to airport again. This time we were there to catch the flight to Da Nang. The flight took less than an hour. My eldest sister Hanh was there to greet us, with her husband Duc, my two nieces Hoa and Linh, my auntie Quynh and my three cousins Tuoi, Vy and Meo. Hoa is eight years old and she’s in grade two. Linh is five and she goes to kinder. Aunt Quynh is my dad’s older sister. She’s the only auntie I have left on either side of my family. Tuoi is aunt Quynh’s daughter, she’s twenty. Vy is my uncle Nuoi’s son, who is on my mum’s side. Vy is sixteen and is in year nine. Meo is my uncle Huynh’s son, who is my dad’s oldest brother left. Meo is twenty-eight and he goes to sea. They had already looked a twelve-seat van for us, which had taken them from Quan Ngai to Da Nang. It took over five hours to drive from Da Nang to Pho An, the island I lived on the Quan Ngai.
When we got to the island, it was about 9:30pm. Although it was late, some of our old neighbours were there to greet us. I didn’t remember anyone’s face. After listening to the adults talk for a while, I got bored and became tired, so I went to sleep.
We stayed at my parents’ old house, which Hanh lives in now. The house only has three rooms and a kitchen. Two are bedrooms, one is Hanh’s the other was used by my parents. The one room that’s left is quite big compared to the bedrooms. It’s used as a guest and dinning room, though in each corner it has a bed. One is my grandma’s, the other was used as mine. In the middle of the room is a dining table. The kitchen is on one side of the house. At the backyard in the far corner is the toilet and bathroom. At the front is the verandah.
Pho An is a really small island but the population is quite large. It is a fishing island, though some families with money do send their children to school Most young men start to go to sea at about the age of fifteen. The female population, stays at home looking after their family, though some do go to sea with their husbands and family. There is one main road in the middle of the island. It leads from one end to the other. There are also other smaller streets leading into houses. The houses are really small and close together compared to the ones over here. The whole island is covered in sand. Therefore the road and streets are also of sand. All the unwanted rubbish is thrown into the beach, which later drifts into the ocean or the sea, therefore, the water surrounding the island is really dirty and polluted. The island is divided into five parts, Ganh, Som Mot , Som Hai, Som Ba and Tan My, I lived in Som Mot.
For the first month before the Vietnamese New Year, which is called Tet.i stayed home almost every day. I didn’t go anywhere off the island, except for sometimes going to the Thi Market on the mainland. Thi X Market is just like the markets over here, except it’s so much dirtier. The market sells everything you need. There is only one main road leading to the market. It is nowhere as smooth as the roads here, though some parts are Okay. Others are really bumpy. The main transport to Thi Xa is by motorbikes. There are usually four people on the bike including the driver. To get to the mainland we cross the sea by motor ferry.
On New Years Day, all the little children wore their new clothes and shoes, parading up and down the street. I went with Tuoi and her friends to the graveyard in Tan My to visit our relatives’ graves. Usually all adults go and visit their relatives’ graves on New Years Day. When I got home, all my little nieces and nephews had come to get their Li Xi money from their adult relatives.
After Tet, if I ever went anywhere, I always went with Tuoi. First we went to Da Den. All there is there is a rocky beach and rocky mountains. There is also a light house because of these rocky mountains. We got back late so we stayed overnight at a friend’s house. Early next morning we headed home.
The next day, Tuoi and I went with a bunch of other kids to Hue, one of Vietnam’s ancient cities. We only went to the best tourist places. At Hue we went to the Mausoleum of Khai Dinh, built in 1920-31, the Mausoleum of Tu Duc built in 1864-1867, Thien Mu Pagoda, the Citadel Centre and Thai Hoa Royal Palace. On the way back we stopped at Da Nang and went to Non Nuoc Pagoda.
After that trip, I didn’t go anywhere. Instead I stayed home packing to go back to Australia. On the 13th January we went to Saigon. Most of my family farewelled us. It was really sad. In Saigon, we stayed in a different hotel. We stayed inside for most of the two days that we were there. On the 15th we went to Australia.
This is a holiday that I will remember for life. I shall remember all of the good times that I had in Vietnam. I am already planning for the next time.