My Dog Mona’s Funeral Last Friday we had a small funeral for our beloved dog Mona. Our Vet helped us to cremate her. When you cremate a dog in #vietnam they cremate them in their favorites outfit, so we cremated Mona in her favorite red Christmas dress. The #Vietnamese believe she will have that dress with her in the afterlife. Mona’s ashes were placed in a lovely blue and white urn and then the urn was wrapped with red paper and a bow was placed on the box. We also had a lovely bouquet of fresh flowers. I learned a few things about the Vietnamese #culutral with our funeral. One was you do not bring anything dead into a home or office, so we needed to put the ashes in river. The other was the best time to do that was at dusk, dawn or in the night time. We decided on dusk on Friday afternoon. Also it is best to throw the ashes directly into the river as the river is moving and flowing so that means the spirits in the afterlife can do the same. Suu, Mona’s main caretaker and I decide the best spot for this was the old French #longbienbridge. The Long Bỉen bridge was designed by the same architect that designed the famous Eiffel Tower in Paris and has a walkway that allows you to look right into the river. It was around dusk on Friday so the traffic on the bridge was quite heavy. Suu and I went to our chosen spot and Suu tossed everything - and I mean everything - into the river - the box, flowers, the red wrapping paper, the porcelain urn and Mona’s ashes. We look down at the flowing river that had carried Mona away and said “bye, bye Mona, we love you and will miss you”. May you Rest In Peace. #belovedpets #dogs #funeral #expatlife #mondoro #hanoi (at Mondoro Living)
