A visit to the Reunification Palace

On Monday afternoon, June 1, 2010 we went with the Jacksons, our Senior couple there in Ho Chi Minh, on a little city tour. Our guide was a pretty devout member of the local party, Communist, but he was a lot of fun and reminded me of Martin Short in Father of the Bride, by his mannerisms and even the way he walked. He made me laugh. However, he doesn't even know who Martin Short is. He took us to the former White House of the President of South Vietnam before the takeover of the North to the South. That's why they call it the Reunification Palace. It is now a museum because Hanoi is the capitol of the country.


This is the front of the grounds. Very pretty.

The formal dining room when they had heads of state and big crowds. Sometimes, some of these rooms are still used for various things today by the government.

This is the office of the president, so Elder Jackson thought it would be appropriate to have President Smedley stand by the desk of a former president (of South Vietnam)

This is a lacquer painting. It takes many hours of painting and sanding to create a picture like this. It is in a room where heads of state were welcomed.

Our very own Martin Short. Sorry, but can't remember the guide's name.

Behind us is where the first family lived.

The President had his own library and his family lived on this level also and then they had an upstairs too.

More of Ho Chi Minh

Our little guide took us to this beautiful plaza honoring Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh never married and never had children. So it's interesting that the statue shows him with a child. The people of Vietnam love Ho Chi Minh because he freed them from the French rule. At least, that is my understanding of how they feel.

Notre Dame Cathedral of Vietnam. There is much beautiful hand painted stained glass pictures in this cathedral. This building is a very old building and the Catholic Church has been here for many years.

The Old Post Office building is still in use today with many windows to serve people. There is also a central souvenir shop to try and get tourists to buy in every building, I think! It is a beautiful building and reminds me a little of some of the buildings in Europe.

The last place we went to was a lacquer shop where they have a process of painting on lacquer after they put a design of eggshells or mother of pearl. THen they wash off the lacquer and sand it until the picture shows. This is very time consuming and costly. Sometimes they will just put several layers of lacquer on a plate and then paint a picture on it, put lacquer on it and sand until the picture shows. This is less costly and of course, that is the one I bought. But it still cost $24! But I love the plate. It is of gold fish which means happiness and good luck.

These are plates before the first coat of lacquer. These are designed with egg shells. Amazing.

Here is my plate. Hand painted and lacquered.

Zone Activity: First Stop A Snake Farm

On May 29, 2010, Saturday, we had a Zone Activity and the first stop was the snake farm. There were so many snakes in this bush, I couldn't count them all. Maybe you can figure out how many! I thought I was brave to even stand by one of the bushes.


In the bush next to this one there were Green Mambo snakes. They blend in so well with the bush, it's hard to identify them, but....I promise, they are there! I am standing by the bush in the first picture.

The other side of the first bush. I think there are more snakes on this side! Yuck!

They also had this golden turtle. Maybe it is an albino turtle. But there is a legend in Vietnam about a Golden Turtle who gave a prince a sword to fight a battle and when he won and was on the waters coming home, the Golden Turtle came and retrieved the sword. Also a turtle stands for long life.

There were three rows of cages like this, mostly filled with snakes. I got a picture of a cobra, but it didn't run off from the camera to the computer. I'll have to try it again.

Sister Jackson, Elder Ly and Elder Thinh looking at the snakes.

There were also about 14 alligators on the snake farm. And crocodiles.

And Baboons!

Members in Hanoi Branch

We met in the Hanoi Branch on May 25, 2010 in the evening. This beautiful people are part of the wonderful Young Adult group in the Hanoi Branch. Their advisors are our Senior missionaries, the Talbots, Julie and Ardell from I believe Snowflake, Arizona.


Future missionaries posing with Scott and I from the Hanoi Branch in Vietnam. The redhead on the right has been doing an internship and is now home in Idaho. The three boys in the back are also from BYU doing an internship. The branch president, President Tung, is standing by me. The two on the right of Scott are the ones wanting to serve missions. The boy is filling out is papers and the girl will be a member one year in February and wants to serve. She would be a fantastic sister missionary. She is already working with the branch mission committee and helping alot.

I love this family. This is only part of them. The oldest and the youngest child. This is Brent Omdahl and his wife, Natasha. They have 5 children. This last one they adopted from an orphanage in Hanoi. They have had him for one year, and he is really filling out and doing well. Brent works for the USA Embassy and is being relocated in the states and now their oldest boy will experience a regular high school for his senior year. They have 4 boys and one girl, Ruby, named after Elder Haight's wife. All the older boys play the piano. They are just a good, good family. He has been a counselor to President Tung and she got released as Relief Society President about 4 months ago.

Meeting With the Hanoi Branch Saints

On May 25, 2010 after Elder Oaks and Elder Pratt met with govenment officials, we had a fireside where they spoke and later shared some desserts. Here is Elder Oaks greeting a member. On Elder Oaks left is Brother Shane Harrison and his two sons.



Members of the Hanoi Branch with Elder and Sister Oaks and Elder and Sister Pratt after the member fireside.

The Primary children showing their Testimony gloves that Sister Oaks gave them.

Brother and Sister Sam Chow and their two sons.


Sister Oaks with two of the young members of the Hanoi Branch.

The Branch President. President Tung. He went to Salt Lake City last October and received his endowment in the Jordan River Temple. He was thrilled and loved how kind everyone in Utah was to him.

Sister Harrison in her beautiful Vietnam traditional dress.

Lunch and Shopping in Hanoi

Our hosts that took Sisters Oaks and Pratt, Me and Scott around all morning while Elders Oaks and Pratt were in government meetings. On the Left is Sister Jenny Marchant and on the right is the Relief Society President, Sister Harrison. I have told about Sister Harrison in an earliler blog. They took us to this very nice restaurant where we had some very good Vietnamese food. As soon as Scott ate, he was off to do interviews, so he didn't get to do any shopping with us. Can you imagine his disappointment? He had been a good sentinental watching over us all morning while we saw a few sites in Hanoi May 25, 2010.

I like the clean lines and relaxing atmosphere of this restaurant. It is called The Wild Rice Restaurant and we had their signature salad of Chicken Wild Rice Salad. For anyone who cares about this it had no rice, but shredded Jicama with the shredded chicken and a vinegar sugar dressing. Delicious.

Sister Oaks was looking for some sheers in this shop. This is where we spent our shopping time. They have beautiful sheers with hand embroidered designs. She found some beautiful ones to go in their new apartment.

This is a sample of what they had. My favorite is the brown on the left. I bought two table runners that are hand embroidered. The prices were so reasonable. In the states all of the items we purchased would have been out sight. I think I paid a total of $18 for my purchases.

We had a delightful visit with Sisters Oaks and Pratt. They are very gracious, friendly and kind to all whom they come in contact with.

Cultural Experiences in Hanoi

Sister Harrison is the Hanoi Branch Relief Society President. While Elders Oaks and Pratt were in government meetings, she and Sister Marchant, whose husband works with the Embassy, hosted us. They took us to see the Lotus Pagoda, The Palace of Literature, lunch, and then

shopping. Scott was grateful that after lunch he had interviews all afternoon so he didn't have to shop with us!

Entrance to the Palace of Literature. This courtyard is over 1000 years old. However, behind the statue and Sister Oaks and this cute Vietnam lady is something very modern. Yes, a very modern ATM! We found that quite unique. This statue is also very old. The symbol in front means friendship and I don't know about the signficance of the statue.

This is one of the entry ways to 5 courtyards at the Palace of Literature. From L-r: Sister Harrison, Sister Oaks and Pratt, me and Scott.

A group of high school girls were behind one of the turtle posts. They wore their special Vietnamese costumes and looked so pretty we went to meet them. They wore their traditional dress because it was a last field trip while they were in high school. Several spoke English and wanted a picture with us. Really friendly, cute girls. Everyone loved Sister Pratt's light colored hair and several people stopped to ask if they could have their picture with her.

The girls were behind these turtle posts. There are 82 of these in the Palace of Literature. Each one has a different looking turtle and each one represents someone who got their Doctorate back over 1000 years ago. Hanoi is celebrating it's 1000 years of existance this year!

These girls came up to Sisters Oaks and Pratt and wanted to teach them to say I love Vietnam. They were doing it for a class. These high school girls just loved the sisters. We were by the Lotus Pagoda.

This group of children were telling all of us, hi, hi, hello, hello and Sister Pratt and Sister Oaks went over and talked to them too. I thought I was friendly, but they are just comfortable talking with everyone. I learned alot from them on how to do that!