In Saigon Vietnam for a Friend’s Wedding

February 15, 2014 my good buddy Andy got married. The wedding ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Below is Andy pictured with his beautiful bride.

Here we are with Andy’s family in the streets of Saigon about to get buffett on Valentine’s Day.

I’ll admit when I first got the invitation months ago, a lot of thoughts ran through my mind. I was scheduled to coordinate an action film (which I finished just 2 days before my flight out to Vietnam), would I be missing out on other projects? What about the financial costs of taking time off and traveling? For anyone who knows me, they know I have a very sporadic schedule and I take things moment by moment so I hardly ever lock down plans too far in advance. Though I couldn’t decide immediately, deep down I knew this was a wedding that I would be attending.

And so it was! I booked my flight and flew out right after finishing a grueling week of night shoots and no sleep. Andy picked me up from the airport and we got to catching up. I had already been to Vietnam twice so there was much less sight-seeing this trip. We focused on rehearsing for the wedding and just all hanging out, partying, and having good food.

Of course I had to have pho while in Vietnam. Here is some delicious chicken pho that I had my second day in Vietnam. The pho was good, but not as good as the fresh home-cooked pho I had at Andy’s house a few years ago. I also had some amazing fresh coconut juice to pair with this meal.

The Chinese food that we had for lunch the day of Andy’s wedding was phenomenal. I lived in China for 3 years and have traveled to Taiwan and Hong Kong multiple times, but the dishes we had at Legend Hotel in Saigon were some of the best Chinese food I have ever tasted.

Andy decided to do a dance/performance with all his groomsman. This was a good “team-building” exercise. haha! We ended up learning the Men In Black dance, Thriller, and Gangnam style. Our dance was pretty not in sync haha but we had a good time learning it and performing it.

Andy really did his wedding right. He invited close friends and family and kept it tight knit. The decoration and venue was very beautiful. He put time and thought into his wedding while still keeping it light-hearted and fun so that it was not stuffy.

We all had a great time and Andy was a great host. We then went out to celebrate at Lush and Sin Lounge.

I’m heading out to Beijing tomorrow, but am so glad that I made it out to Vietnam to share this memorable occasion with Andy, his wife, and everyone else that made it out to Vietnam for the wedding. The two take-aways from this trip are: 1) Food in Vietnam is amazing. Really amazing. 2) Good friends and relationships should be cherished and it’s worth it to go the extra mile to share lifelong memories together.