Day 1

Today, Holly woke up at 4:30 am and we went upstairs to the buffet to eat breakfast at 6:00. Tomorrow I will take my camera because the view of the Saigon River is outstanding from our hotel restaurant! You can see the river boats and ferries, as well as a main street along the river from there.

We went with Van & her mom to the fabric store today. I bought a lot of fabric and Van's cousin is going to make me some shirts, etc. out of them. After fabric shopping, we went to eat lunch. I thought I was hungry, but in this heat, I don't really have much of an appetite. Holly scarfed down most of Van's mom's rice, though! We came back to the hotel so that Holly could take a nap. We both took naps, although mine was only a couple of hours. Holly slept from 1 to 5, and I had to wake her up so that we could meet Van & Hai (her brother) out front at 5:30.

We went to eat dinner and I got to try a lot of Vietnamese foods. Van & Hai would have a long discussion about something, then they would order a dish for us to eat, then do that over & over again. Most of it was delicious! Holly ate rice cakes and refused even to eat ice cream when we were done with dinner. She was el cranko!!! We are back at the hotel now for the evening and hopefully Holly will go to sleep soon. She conked out in the taxi on the way back, but who knows when she will actually fall asleep for the night.

I've gotta say, jet lag is kicking our butts way more than it did when we flew to Taiwan. I don't know if it was the extra 5 hour flight, arriving at night instead of the morning, or the heat/humidity. I had a headache for most of today, but I'm trying to drink a lot of water. Its just now starting to go away.

Tomorrow we will go to a museum about the history of Ho Chi Minh City in the morning and then come back to the hotel for Holly's naptime. At about 4:00 we will go to Van's house and meet her cousin so she can measure me for the shirts. She will make those while we are up north in Hanoi. I think that Hai said we will leave for Hanoi on Thursday, but I have my days all screwed up, and I'm not sure I was paying attention enough when he told me last night.

I will remember to take my camera with me tomorrow! Sorry for no pictures today. Ho Chi Minh City reminds me a lot of Taipei, except the drivers are MUCH crazier - yes, it is possible! - than there. The storefronts & streets look very similar. There is a lot of brand new construction here right next to older buildings, or there will be a store like Gucci right next to a little mom & pop store that the neighborhood people would shop in.

I hope we get acclimated a little better tomorrow and get over the jet lag soon! That will make things more enjoyable for sure.