Summer Series: Tao Dan Park in Ho Chi Minh City
Saigon’s Parrot Club meets at Tao Dan Park’s bird cafe on Sundays at 9am.
Meeting Peter the Parrot
This discovery made us love Tao Dan Park even more.
The highlight of the park for us is usually the playground, as Sunny is still too young and too active to appreciate the bird cafe, which is near the Cach Mang Thang Tam Street entrance of the park.
Every morning, flocks of Ho Chi Minh City bird-fanciers congregate at the cafe with their beloved song birds. The bird-lovers, usually older men, spend a great deal of time fussing over their charges, moving the cages around to maximise the bird song.
They’re usually so good at this that at times the noise can be quite deafening.
This particular Sunday we noticed some colourful non-caged birds strutting around a long table. We wandered over to check things out and ended up meeting some lovely birds and some equally lovely bird owners.
When the birds seemed to have had enough of our kids, we herded them over to the play area, where Miss M joined an art class.
Tired but determined to keep playing.
On our various excursions to Tao Dan Park we’ve seen scout groups, cheerleader practice sessions, aerobics classes, ballroom dancing meetups, some form of Tai Chi with long curved swords and many many happy kids.
The indoor and outdoor play areas of the park are very crowded on weekends, but still worth visiting. You never know who you’ll meet at the park!
Miss M’s verdict: super fun!
My verdict: fun (but hot)!
Highlight for Miss M: feeding the parrots.
Highlight for Sunny (now 17 months): running around the circular paths.
My highlight: the friendly parrot club, burning off enough childish exuberance to be able to have an afternoon nap.
Don’t miss: the miniature Cham Tower in the park.
Details:
Address: Tao Dan park is bounded by Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Cach Mang Thang Tam, Nguyen Du and Truong Dinh streets in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Entry fee: free.
Time required: one hour to three hours, depending on you and your kids’ stamina.
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9 years ago
By: Barbara
A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.
I remember the satisfaction well – of wearing the kids out enough at a morning activity to have a blissful hour’s sleep in the afternoon. Our kids were never big on day time sleeps. Swimming seemed to work the best for us 🙂 Poor Sunny he does look tired.
budget jan recently posted..The Blue Cave Biševo Island Croatia
He WAS tired but just would not sleep. Not until a moving vehicle is involved!