Day 16 - Just Chilling Out

Blogger was being a pain last night, so I'm doing yesterday's post this morning. Yesterday was total relax and do nothing day. Van got a couple of things for her friends back home for me to take home, but other than that, we just hung out at the hotel.

We did go to KFC for lunch and Holly had ice cream after she finished her popcorn chicken.
Actually, we all had ice cream. I was impressed that Holly ate almost her entire cone without spilling or tipping it over onto the table!

We took naps, watched some tv & cartoons, and Holly played in the room. She found plenty to keep herself occupied! She's a funny girl! We were going to go swimming, but just never made it up to the rooftop pool.

Oh, my! We've done this a lot here. She loves this game.

Yesterday we also talked about how we will be leaving today. I told her that after naptime we would go eat dinner, then get on an airplane to go home. I asked her who we would see and she shreaked "NANA, POP POP!!"

Literally the first words out of her mouth this morning were "We go on airplane. Go way up in air. Go see Nana, Pop Pop." So, she knows what we are doing today and she is excited!

Day 15 - Back to Ho Chi Minh City

Last night, Van said I needed to be ready to go at the hotel at 10:00 this morning. I debated about whether to get everything all packed up & ready to go last night, or wait until this morning. I did do it last night, which was a good thing, because Van rang the doorbell at my room this morning at 8:00! I had just barely gotten up and was in the shower, so this was both inconvenient and a little annoying.

Turns out her dad called her last night from HCMC and said he wanted us all to meet for breakfast, since it would be the last chance he would have to see Holly & I before we left on Wednesday. So, I hopped back into the shower, got all ready to go as fast as I could, and we went to meet up with him. Decent breakfast, great conversation, wonderful man. I can't thank him enough for such an out of this world trip. He kept asking if I liked Vietnam and if everything was alright with the trip. I kept expressing my gratitude, but Van's not super great at translating as completely as her brother, so I'm not sure if he knows exactly how much I appreciate everything.

At 10:15, we lugged all my stuff down from my room, put it into the car, and off to the airport we went. Our plane left Nha Trang at 12:10 and I was hoping that I could talk Holly into napping for the 40 minute flight. She napped for the last 5 minutes, on final descent. How can a kid have a "most inconvenient" radar as good as that? She is fabulous at waiting until the last minute to fall asleep, then not sleeping when I need her to.

We got to HCMC, checked into a new hotel, and laid down for a nap...well, I wanted a nap, Holly could care less since she had a 5 minute one. When I woke up and looked out the window, I realized that I can see the hotel we stayed in before right out my window. I'm going to have to go back through my pictures and see if this hotel is in one of them.

Van & Hai got here at about 6 to get us for dinner. We went to one of the same restaurants that we went to when we first got here. Holly has been watching everyone use chopsticks since she got here. She has gone from drumming on the table, to holding them, to now using them as best she can. She still gets the two ends mixed up, but she's doing a great job! Here she is eating her french fries with chopsticks. She even was able to eat noodles with chopsticks; well, chopstick, singluar.

After dinner, we went to get Holly some milk at a supermarket, like the Walmart of Vietnam. Or, more accurately, Hell. Think Walmart with people who shove and push (people are very rude here that way), narrower aisles, and more people. They have the same slow checkers and the same idiotic people who get a HUGE cart full of food, then want it rung up in 4 different transactions.

We came back to the hotel and I got all our stuff repacked, with the things I purchased in HCMC the first time and left here at Van's house. I was hoping I would be able to put Holly's backpack in a suitcase and not carry it on again - with my backpack, my purse, and the carseat - but it doesn't appear that I am going to manage to be able to do that...I may try to reorganize a little more tomorrow and see if I can get that to work, though. Honestly, I have a LOT of stuff to bring back and I am dreading going through customs in Seattle, mostly because I won't have any extra hands to help me. Please pray that everything will go smoothly on our way home, that there are no snafoo's or problems, and that Holly is really, really good.

Day 14 - To the Mountains

Today we went up into the mountains to a type of retreat that you would never knew even existed. The drive there was beautiful. One of the most interesting things about being out in the countryside is to see the differences between there and the cities. I love that you can see a brand new, very nice home right next to a run down shack (with a satellite dish on the top!). I tried several times to get pics of oxen pulling a cart, but the car was going too fast to get a good shot.
This is a family burial plot that is out in the middle of their farming land. They just farm around it, leaving the shrines untouched.

As we walked up the steps at the retreat, there was this dragon that was playing kinda strange music. There were steps from the bottom to the top, where the mouth is. Van said that people walk up through that to rid themselves of bad spirits and stuff. She said its really scary in those things!

Here is Holly sitting on a zebra. She really, really loved the elephant, and I had a great picture going, but then Hung wanted in the picture too, and Holly was super annoyed by that, so that photo sucks.

Up at the temple, there was a guy who might have been a monk. He told us a little about what all was there and things we could do. Around the temple, there were wood carvings of each animal in the Chinese zodiak. I took a picture of Holly hugging the pig. The pig was much more attractive in person than he appears in this picture!

Here is one of the two temples at the top of the hill.

Oh, Van! Such respect for the monks!

Both of Van's cousins went with us. Here are the girls sitting on a turtle. They pretty much had to sit on every animal we went by and wanted me to take their pictures on every single one.

This was a really pretty pool with dolphins spouting water into it. It sat right between the two temples.

We stopped to have tea and cold drinks here before moving on. When Holly was running over to Van, I thought she was going to keep going right through the space between the bars, go right over the edge of the platform, and tumble down the side of the mountain. She's really good at scaring me these days!

Half of this retreat was on one side of the river and the other half was on the other side. You had to go across a bridge above this river to get to the other side.

This is the bridge, which swayed as you walked and had boards that weren't all that sturdy. I got about 20 steps out onto the bridge and said NO WAY!!! I told everyone else to go anyway, but they didn't listen to me.

So we went back to sit on a platform where the girls used me to run round and round.

Holly "borrowed" Hung's princess crown and Hung just about went ballistic! She is really cute, but she's also quite a brat. She wants whatever Holly has (ie taking Holly's binkie out of her mouth, which doesn't endear her to Holly), but she certainly doesn't want Holly to have anything of hers.

The monk came to tell us that there was another way to get to the other side of the river by car. So down the mountain we went, hopped in the car, and drove to the other side. There, they had fruit trees you could pick from, and a super cool (not literally) place that was underneath these plants where they had picnic and rest areas set up for groups of people to go and relax. I don't know what kind of plants they were, but they were tall and it was like being in a type of forest.

They had hammocks for people to nap in.

And some super cool buildings.

When we were in Hanoi, I saw some fruit on a tree and Hai tried to describe what it was, but apparently we don't have that type in the US at all. They had the same fruit on trees here and we had some of it at lunch. Van said its her dad's favorite, but it must be an acquired taste, because it wasn't all that yummy to me.

After some more drinks, we headed back to where we started from and then back to Nha Trang.

Holly slept in the car, then refused to nap at all once back at the hotel. She finally fell asleep at about 4:10. I had to wake her up at 4:45 to go eat dinner. I'm sure you can imagine how thrilled we both were with that! We ate at a place that we had eated one other night, and Holly ate almost my entire plate of rice by herself. Van planned to go back out to Vin Pearl Land to the water park, but I asked her to bring Holly & I back to the hotel and they could go. I didn't want to be stuck out there until who knows how late with a tired, crabby kid.

They went to the beach instead, and we came back to the hotel. Holly took a bath and then played with her piggie while running around naked.

She asked me to take a picture of her naked bum, which I did, but you don't get to see that! She did the chicken dance for me and had lots of fun.

I was hoping that Holly would go to bed early or at least close to a regular bedtime, but she just now fell asleep. Good thing we get to sleep in tomorrow!

I got my bags packed up tonight; we leave to go back to Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow. We will get to sleep in, eat a late breakfast, and then pretty much head to the airport. I am looking forward to getting to HCMC.

Last night, I had my first dream about going home. I was eating McDonalds and Red Robin in my dream! I guess my brain is just getting ready for leaving on Wednesday night. Just in the last 2 days have I started looking forward to coming home. I guess that means its about time, right?

Day 13 - Wonderland Park

We went to the Diamond Beach Resort & Golf Club today. This is where Miss Universe 2008 was held. Wonderland Park is also located there. It is a combination of zoo, amusement park, and beach. Van's dad's driver has been taking us everywhere since Van's dad went back to HCMC, so he brought his daughter with us today. Here are the girls walking into the park together.
They loved the carousel of course. It was fun for Holly to have another little girl to share her excitement and fun with!

The girl's name is Hung, but they call her VIP (veep). She is the most beautiful little girl!!! She is 4 and if I could fit her in my suitcase, I would bring her home. :-) Hung thought Holly should be her best little friend.

As usual, Van was great about going on the rides wit Holly.

They all played the game where you hit the alligator on the head when it pops out of the windows. They had a great time.

Then Van tried to teach Hung how to play pinball. Difficult hand/eye coordination for a 4 year old! But she had fun, so that was the important thing.

Both of the girls loved driving the car together. Isn't Hung adorable in her furry, cashmere hat? I can't imagine wearing cashmere in a tropical country...

They all loved the roller coaster, too.

This one was mid-ride. I missed the one of Holly with her arms up in the air yelling "WEEEEEEE!!!"

Van & I also played air hockey and did bumpr cars with the little girls. After the rides, wen went to the beach.

All of the beaches in Vietnam are just beautiful. I haven't seen a beach that I didn't love looking at since I've been here. However, there is a LOT of garbage and junk in the water, which I think is really sad. If you have such great beaches, you should take care of them so that people will want to come back over & over again.

Hung's dad thought she was done swimming, so he carried her across the hot sand.

She had different ideas, though. After he took off her swimsuit, she ran back down to the water in her birthday suit. After the beach, we ate lunch and then headed back to the hotel for a shower & a nap.

At 5:30 Van came to get us and we went to eat Chinese food. Some of the best bbq pork ribs I've ever had! Holly was hungry; she ate 4 bowls of rice tonight!!! Afterward, we went to the milk store to get some milk for Holly, then stopped to get some ice cream cones, which we brougth back to the hotel.

Van also bought Holly a balloon to play with. Holly picked out the pig, which is much cuter than it initially looked lumped together with all the other balloons. I tried to talk her in to Hello Kitty or Mickey Mouse, but she insisted on the piggie. Actually, I really think its adorable! She doesn't have any toys to play with, so it will keep her entertained for the next couple of days for sure. She talked to it the whole way back to the hotel, saying things like "Hold on piggie." "We are almost there piggie." "Sit down on your bum piggie." "Don't be scared piggie."One thing I think is so cool here is that they have milk in little 180 ml servings with straws. Actually, they are just like juice boxes at home, but with milk in them instead. They are so convenient and, since people don't refrigerate milk here (like most places) until they want to drink it, it is highly portable. I really wish that we had milk in juice boxes at home!

Day 13 -

Day 12 - Super Lazy Day...Hooray!

Here is Holly last night after I got her ready to go to dinner at Van's family's. She was having such a great time running around the room and doing funny things that she didn't really want to leave to eat.
When we got there, Hai was cooking chicken. That is their grandmother in the background cooking something, also. All of their cooking, dishes, and eating are done outside on a covered patio. The kitchen is rather large, but mostly empty of "stuff." A refrigerator, a counter for preparing food, a few cabinets, and a sink. The washing machine is also in the kitchen.

Holly was very hungry, so Van fed her some rice before the rest of the food was even finished. Holly wanted to take turns with Van's cousin every time they were taking bites, so Van's cousin pretended to eat and chew when Van pretended to feed her. Then, Holly would take a real bite. It was so funny to watch!

While we ate dinner, Holly played with all the cousins' toys and even got to ride a two wheeled bike with training wheels! After we ate, she and Hai went inside to play with trucks in the living room.

Today has been a super lazy & relaxing day. Van had to go with her dad to do some things, so she didn't come get us until 11:00. Holly & I got up late, ate breakfast, and then went swimming in the pool. I have decided that I actually like the pool better because you don't have to deal with all the sand that comes with beach swimming.

When Van came to get us, we went to lunch. The waiter set this plate of food down in front of us, and I thought "I'm not eating that! It looks like raw meat."

Well, it was. Next, they brought out a little cooker where you can cook the meat right there at the table! It was so yummy! Holly ate a ton of other stuff, but not the meat because it was spicy and that would have been bad news for her. She had rice, bread, and some fried shrimp thing (that I should have taken a picture of, too!) with rice noodles.

We came back to the hotel after lunch and had a nice long nap. Van planned to come get us and take us back to the kiddie amusement park for Holly to play, then to eat Chinese food for dinner. About 20 minutes before she was to arrive, a storm rolled in. It was really cool to watch and it was SO WINDY!!! Needless to say, we didn't go to the park. Actually, we didn't go eat Chinese food, either. We had steak instead.

After dinner, we went to the baby store to get some diapers. Last time Van went, she bought Holly some pink shoes that she liked. We ended up getting Holly more shoes this time, too. These are all the shoes Holly has gotten since we left HCMC. I *think* she has 2 other pair that we got before we left there...yay, yay, yay...if this girl isn't naturally a shoe hound, she's going to get turned in to one! I still haven't figured out sizing on any of these. Every brand has a different size system. But I have figured out pricing. The 2 red pairs that Van bought today cost about $8 total!

When we got back from eating dinner, Holly was hungry, since she only drank 7-Up while we ate. She had some of her snacks that Van's dad bought her. He bought one box while we were in Hanoi and when he realized that Holly liked them, he bought about 4-5 more boxes of them for her. I kept trying to tell him we could buy them at the Vietnamese food store in Spokane, but Holly is set for a while. I don't know exactly what these are, but they are made from green peas. They are kinda dry and don't taste very good to me, but Holly can eat about 1/2 a BOX at a time if I let her!

Here she is eating her snack at the table. She got to watch some cartoons afterward while I finished this post.

Its still only about 7:00, but I told Van not to worry about us. We can take care of ourselves this evening and be well rested for tomorrow, when we are going up into the mountains. I'm sure it will be beautiful! I'll take lots of pictures, since I've been slacking the last couple of days!

Day 11 - A Change of Plans

This morning, Van's mom called from Ho Chi Minh City and said that it is HOT, HOT, HOT there and that we should think about staying in Nha Trang for a few more days so that we aren't in the city when it is so hot. We decided that was a good idea! We will go back to HCMC on Monday.

Hai left to go back to HCMC tonight on the train and Van's dad has to go back in the morning for work. By the time we get back on Monday, he will have left to come back to Nha Trang for the week. Now that I think about it, I may not see him again before we leave on Wednesday night!

Because we were not planning to stay in Nha Trang, the hotel I was staying at was booked already for the weekend. So, I had to move to a different hotel. It is just down the street from the other one. Here is the view from my room window.
And of the city out my room door. I could look out at the city all day long! It is so interesting to see everything and all the different people.

This hotel faces the ocean, like the other one. Here is the view out the front of the hotel. I am on the 12th floor, so the view is beautiful.

Today was a pretty lazy day, which we needed. Holly slept in until 8:00!!! How heavenly! After breakfast, we moved to the new hotel, then went to another market where Van bought some bracelets and hair clips for me to bring back to her friends in Lind. We went and ate lunch, then came back to the hotel for a rest. Holly & I both napped, then we all went to the beach.

At the beach, I did try parasailing. It was fun, but my arms and legs are a bit sore. Being so far up in the air was amazing and a little scary at the same time. I am glad that I did it, though!

This evening, we went to Van's grandmother's & uncle's house for dinner. I bet I have not eaten as much lobster in my entire life as I have while I have been in Vietnam! They know I like lobster, so they make sure to order it for me or, in this case, Van's uncle (the lobster fisherman) brought some in to cook tonight just for me. How nice is that? Dinner was wonderful and so filling.

Then, we came back to the hotel early and Holly was in bed and asleep by 9:00 pm! I think that's a record since we have been here. I had a chance to read a newspaper tonight, watch CNN, and I'm now watching a show about Taiwan & building technologically sound buildings that can withstand earthquakes. Super interesting!

I don't know what our plans are for tomorrow or the rest of the weekend. I suspect it will be hot here also, but at least we have the beach to go to in the afternoons! A few lazy days will be a welcome change. I know that Van's mom wants to take us shopping again when we get back to HCMC. I'm still looking for a deck of cards for my collection!

Day 10 - May be the limit

Today was a really long day! Van came & picked us up at 9:00; I thought we were going to her dad's factory but we ended up going on a boat ride with one of Van's dad's customers. People don't really do business here the same way we do in the USA. Van's dad spends a lot of time having fun & doing things with his customers and they never talk business. But, they end up spending some serious $$$ with his company, so whatever works! Here is a ship that is out in the harbor at Nha Trang. We passed right by it on out boat outing.
We met up with a glass bottom boat and went to take a look at some sea life on that for about 20 minutes. (Van, Van's dad, Van's dad's customer in the photo)

Then we stopped at this really cool island where people go to just get away from people, do fun things like jetski & parasail, and lie in the the shade drinking beverages with umbrellas. Van & Hai went parasailing. They wanted me to go, but I didn't have my swimsuit with me...I thought we were going to the factory, after all!

Ready...

Set...

Go!

Hai forgot to take his glasses off and lost them when they landed. Yesterday, Van's cousin lost his when they were on the waterslides at Vin Pearl Land. This afternoon, they both went and got new ones so they could see again!

Next, they tried the jetski. Neither one has ever been on one before.

Meanwhile, Holly and one of Van's dad's drivers had a long conversation about boats in English/Vietnamese depending on who was talking. Holly also looked at the photos from scuba dives that they use to talk people into doing that.

Then we went to lunch. Here is Holly at lunch...

And later at naptime!

Hence the name of the post. I think 10 days is the absolute upper limit of days to be in a foreign country with a 2 year old who gets unpredictable naps and unreliable bedtimes every single day. Despite the pictures, she is SO CRANKY!!! And rightly so, since I'm dragging her everywhere every day without a quality nap ever. And we still have a week to go. Yikes!

This afternoon, we did go to Van's dad's factory. Van kept telling me he was the manager of a textile company, which is true. In reality, he manages 6 textile factories (weaving, spinning, and garment making) in Nha Trang, and is the Vice President at a higher level of the company in the office in Ho Chi Minh City. Here is his office building in Nha Trang.

He took me through all of the factories except the weaving one because the humidity is so high that it smells like mold in there, I guess. If you ever worry about only wearing clothes that say "Made in Vietnam/China/Cambodia/..." you shouldn't lose any sleep over the fact that it's not made in America. The cotton that those clothes are made from is from Texas and other US states that grow cotton as their major export crop. Van's dad says he imports something crazy like 100,000 tons of cotton a MONTH from the US.

Here is the first step in the spinning process (to make cotton thread). That's cotton in that machine.

Step two. The cotton goes from being fluffy hunks to thick strings that are really soft to touch.

Step three. The thick strings are made into thinner and thinner threads, then put into this machine where eight strands of the thin strands are spun together to make one really strong thread. The spools on the top are the finished product that they then export or send to wherever massive quantities of thread are used - like to sew clothing.

This is just one row of machines, all spinning cotton into thread. There are about 10-12 rows in the width of the building, and they just go on and on and on. These machines are some of the older ones, so they are really noisy, too. The newer ones were noticably quieter.

Here is the one garment factory in Nha Trang that they have. They were making shirts with the Port Authority label on them. They also make LaCosta and other high end shirts, too. The entire factory would have taken me 5-7 pictures to get it all. It was huge!

I'm glad that I asked to go see where he works. The whole tour was incredibly fascinating and I got a lot better idea of what Van's dad does exactly. He gave me some free towels that their company makes, too!

Holly did not go into the factory with me. She stayed with Van in the office. Maybe she will be their next CEO or something. She looks right at home at Van's dad's desk, doesn't she?

On the way back, we stopped by Van's grandmother's & uncle's house, where they are staying while we are here. Holly and Wong (Van's youngest cousin) were playing while we visited, but Holly wasn't sharing very well, even though the truck wasn't her's to begin with.

Here is Van's family. To my left is her dad, to my right is her aunt, clockwise from there are her uncle, grandmother, Van, and Wong. Van's grandmother invited us over to dinner tomorrow night, so we will go back then to visit some more.

After a short rest at the hotel, we went on a dinner cruise in the harbor. Here is Van facilitating some good will between Holly & Wong.

Holly was mostly tired and grouchy the whole time, but was happy to have some milk to drink.

We didn't get back to the hotel until close to 10:30, but Holly is finally asleep. I hope she sleeps in tomorrow some. It was another great day, even if it was long and exhausting. Tomorrow, I think Van & I are going parasailing again and I don't know what else. To be decided, I guess!

Day 9 - Vin Pearl Land

Lat night, Holly had some milk & cookies before she went to bed since she didn't eat a single bite at dinner. She's sitting on the floor, which is fine, but she insisted on putting her cookies on the floor, too. Yuck!!! I couldn't do a thing about it though. She refused to eat at the table behind her and she already spilled water in the bed the first night we were here, so I didn't want to sleep in a milk puddle last night.
This morning when Van came to get us, she said we would go to a park for Holly to play, then come back to the hotel about 11:00 so she could take a nap before we went to the water/amusement park in the afternoon. When Van said park, I envisioned swings, grass, slides, etc. You know, a PARK. Instead, she took us to a miniature amusement park for little kids. Holly was happy to see all the fun things to do!

When we were done riding rides, we had some ice cream. This is Van's little cousin, also named Van but with a different middle name. I think she is really, really beautiful! And she is so sweet. I wish I could bring her home with me!

Holly rode the choo choo train three times, I think.

They all had fun on the carousel. I rode with Holly the first time, but then she went with Van & cousins and I sat in the shade.

Then Holly found the slide. It was pretty cool because you climbed up these stairs, crossed a little bridge, then went down the slide on the other side.

She played here for a very long time! Until sweat was pouring off her little face!

After a good long nap (both of us; don't kid yourself and think only Holly sleeps at naptime here!), we were ready to go to Vin Pearl Land. You can get there by cable car or by boat. We went by cable car. Holly was ready to go!

The view from the cable car.

I wasn't sure how Holly would react to the height of the ride, but she didn't even notice, except to point out all the boats.

We spent about 4 hours at the water park part of the place. There is a kiddie pool that Holly & I were in the entire time. Van, Hai, & cousins went on all the fun water slides and other stuff there is to do, while Holly went down lots of water slides of her own. It will be really nice when she figures out how to close her mouth when she puts her face in the water or stand up when she falls down. I was a nervous wreck the entire time because all she wants to do is do everything herself, so she throws a fit if I try to hold her had. I have to walk directly behind her and pay close attention to scoop her up when she falls down or forgets to pay attention! She had a fabulous time and didn't want to get out of the water, even though she was so tired she could hardly stand up!

We ate dinner there after playing in the water. Hai entertained Holly with made up music...or she entertained him by playing the chopsticks on the table and dishes...I don't really know which!

I talked them into a family picture, even though they thought it was dumb. Aren't they all so stinking cute?!

Holly was starving tonight! She's definitely back on her game when it comes to food after being sick for a couple of days. And she didn't have lunch because she was napping. She kept cramming noodles into her mouth and would choke herself because she wouldn't stop to chew what was in her mouth before eating more. She ate about 3 platefuls of noodles and stole a few of Hai's french fries, too.

We watched a water & light display set to music, then went to the aquarium there. The aquarium has a really cool moving sidewalk that you stand on and it takes you through all these different fish tanks that are on both sides of you and above you. You see so many kinds of fish from a completely different point of view than you normally do in an aquarium.

Then it was back to the hotel and to bed. Holly is snoring up a storm next to me as I type this. Tomorrow we will got to Van's dad's factory and over to her cousins' house, I think. Maybe it won't be such an intense and busy day tomorrow. We will leave Nha Trang sometime on Thursday to go back to Ho Chi Minh City for the rest of the time before we leave.

Day 8 - Aquarium & Temple

This morning Van & her cousin came to find Holly & I as we were eating breakfast. Hai would have come too, but he was feeling sick and stayed at his grandmother's house instead.

Van & her cousin loved the big bed in my room and Van KNEW that Holly didn't stay on one side of it last night, but kept ooching over nearer and nearer to me, even though its a king sized bed!
At the aquarium we saw sharks and all kinds of fish that Holly loved. I think this is a Bala Shark.

Holly really liked the parts where they had windows that you could look into the sides of the fish tanks and the fish could swim right by you.

Van and Holly had lots of discussions about the fishies. Next to Van is her cousin and behind her & Holly is Van's dad's driver, who took us around today while he (Van's dad) was working.

This reminded both Van and I of when we went to Seattle and she got a fish to do the same thing there. Its funny that a fish will come up and do this at the window when they see people all day long!

We saw some of the HUGEST turtles I have ever seen in my life! You know how in the Pirates of the Caribbean he says he got off that island by standing on the backs to turtles as they swam though the water? It might have been these kind of turtles.

Holly was mesmerized by the turtles and threw a tiny fit when we went to look at something else. Do you see the expression on the other little girls face in the picture? Everyone looks at Holly that way here. I don't know if its because she is Asian, but speaks English, or what. But its really weird to me that she get so many stares. It bothers me a bit, actually. We never get that many stares in America, so its strange.

Here is a skeleton of an actual whale. It was so cool.

This is a baluga whale that had gotten trapped in a fisherman's net and was brought to the aquarium. Its not alive, but preserved in formaldahyde.

They have an entire room with jars of different kinds of fish preserved and labeled. I don't know if they are all from this area or all over the world. I didn't look very closely because a) I think its kinda gross to look at dead fish in jars and b) I didn't want Holly touching/breaking the jars.

After the aquarium, we went to a temple in town. Its built up on a hill and you have to climb a zillion stairs to get up there, but it was worth it. We were tired by the time we got to the top, so we stopped to eat some kem (ice cream)!

The view from the top was fabulous. This is looking out toward the ocean from there.

And this is the harbor with all the fishing boats. This is one of the fishing centers of the southern part of Vietnam. Van's uncle is a fisherman here.

Here is a little temple that I went into while we were up there. I didn't know if it was ok to take pictures inside or not and people were praying in there, so I didn't.

After the temple, we went to a brewhouse on the beach to eat lunch. Holly fell asleep in the car on the way (she has been natorious for doing this and sleeping though meals here) and slept through lunch. They were very nice and shoved 2 chairs together for her to sleep on while we were eating. She slept for about 4 hours total!

We came back to the hotel for a rest this afternoon and are now just waiting for Van to come back. I don't know what we will do next, but Holly is dying to go swimming, so we may either go to the pool or the beach for a swim.

This is a picture of a building that was built to look like a lotus flower here in town. Nha Trang is about 700,000 in population and Miss Universe was held here a few years ago.

Holly is still running a temperature, but I am giving her tylonol every 4 hours and she had a great time at the aquarium today. She is a trooper and is doing well. She is not nearly as hot as she was yesterday and she drank a lot of water last night and this morning. Today she has eaten an entire bag of potato chips and two baggies of pretzels, so I think she must need to replenish the salt in her body or something. We are both sweating profusely here, although Nha Trang is significantly cooler & less humid than Hanoi was. It was only 86 degrees when our plane landed yesterday!

Day 7 - To Nha Trang

Today we got to sleep in and I was very excited about that. Holly woke up at 6:15, though, so that was a bit of a letdown. I was very surprised that she woke up so early because she was awake until about 10 or 10:30 last night.

After breakfast, they took me to another souvenier shop and I ended up getting far more than whas necessary! :-) Van's dad isn't satisfied when I say "only one" and wants me to get more, more, more. Holly was very well behaved and patient with me while I was shopping.

Here she is all ready to go for the morning. She's wearing her new dress that Nana made her. So cute!
After shopping, we went to an art museum in Hanoi. I think it was like the history of Vietnam in art. It was fascinating! It helped that they got me an English speaking guide again who explained the different eras and types of art that were done during each period. I think I could have taken pictures inside, but I forgot because I was so interested in the tour.

Before we went inside, Holly picked up some flowers off the ground. They might be magnolias or something; they certainly look like them.

I guess after Holly picked them up, the flowers got put in the car.

I took pictures of them in this metal saxophone that is on the dashboard. When I showed the driver the picture, he gave me the saxophone. That wasn't my purpose in showing him the pictures and I was kinda thinking "What the heck am I going to do with this?!" What a nice gesture, though.

I like this one even more. These were just set up on the dashboard. Of course, when we came back to the car later, they were wilted and pretty much dead.

After the art museum, we went back to the hotel for a short rest, but Holly wouldn't go to sleep. Then we got everything together, got on another airplane, and flew to Nha Trang. Apparently, the airport was built by the Americans during the war and there was a US military base here.

Just as a side note, when you bring a 2 year old overseas, even in the summer, make sure to bring Tylonol with you! During the 1 1/2 hour plane ride, Holly started running a temperature and started crying terribly. She was so, so tired and also burning up; there wasn't much I could do...

When we got to Nha Trang, we went directly to the pharmacy and got some Tylonol. I gave it to her once we got to the hotel. She is still pretty warm, but her fever is coming down and she is feeling better already. Poor baby girl! Hopefully she will be back to her old self tomorrow, but if not, we will just hang out here at the hotel and let Van & Hai go do whatever they want to.

Here is the view from our room at our new hotel (facing north) . The beach is directly across the street from the hotel (to the east), so we can go swimming at the drop of a hat! Hai keeps saying we need to go in the morning at sunrise.

Day 6 - Ho Chi Minh & Confucious

Today was a busy day. We got up and went to see Ho Chi Minh in the mausoleum that he is in. This is THE national monument of Vietnam and the lines are incredibly long. But they do go fast. You can't take pictures inside, so you don't get to see dead Ho Chi Minh, sorry. Actually, what I thought when I saw him was if Madame Tousseau had come to Vietnam because he looks like he's a wax figure, not an embalmed, well preserved real body. I don't know. That all sounds disgusting and morbid, I know, but I'm just making an observation...

Then we went to the first university in Vietnam, which was set up in the 10th century for people to study Confucionism. Anyone who passed all the exams was able to get a job with the government as a provincial leader, or work with the national government. It was actually used until 1919. This is the entrance.
Each year that exams were given, a list of the people who earned doctors of philosophy were inscribed onto tablets that stand inside the university. This was to keep a record of who passed the exams and to inspire others to seek higher learning. Students still come here to rub the turtles' heads for good luck before taking important exams or to leave money on the turtles' backs. There are like 87 tablets or something.

Here is a crane & turtle inside the temple. The turtle represents earth and the crane represents heaven.

Here is the main building where students learned. These buildings were destroyed somehow and were later rebuilt in the same style as the originals. The lady in the blue shirt was our guide who told me all about the university.

Here are some actual artifacts that were found and dug up from between the 10th and 19th centuries. Hai said the one on the top left looks like Illinois.

Confucious.

In the afternoon, we took a drive around Hanoi and looked at all the sights, including the Hanoi Opera House and other cool buildings. A lot of the architecture is French, since they occupied Vietnam for so long.

There is a lake smack dab in the middle of Hanoi and there is a temple right next to it that we went to.

The entrance to the temple. Pretty, huh?

Every temple seems to have an outer and inner entrance. I don't know why, but I love them.

Van & Holly making faces as we sat and rested by the water.

This is a famous turtle that was taken out of the lake. It is so huge!

Inside the temple itself.

Lots of people burn incense and fake money in little things like this.

Holly was very good today considering that she was sweating like a little pig. We even got some smiles out of her!

After our driving tour and looking at the temple, we went to eat dinner and then went to the night market. Every time I looked at something with even mild interest, Van's dad would ask if I wanted it. Sometimes he would even buy it after I had walked away and give it to me. I think its a good thing that Van had to borrow Pop's suitcase to bring back here...I might be glad that I have that one AND the extra one that I brought! Hai, Van & Van's dad are so in love with Holly that they buy her the craziest things, both little and big. Getting though the airport with my bags by myself in Seattle is going to be problematic, I think!

We stayed up very, very late and Holly was completely wiped out when we got back to the hotel. She has rolled over since this picture, but she is still sleeping soundly. I think (hope) we get to sleep in tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon we will fly to the town where Van's dad works. I can't remember the name of it. We will go to an amusement park while we are there and I don't know what else. I may also remember that Van said we would go to the factory that her dad manages or something.

Day 5 - Ha Long Bay

I remembered to take a picture of the outside of our hotel in Ha Long this morning. See the 3 windows at the top that have the shades pulled open? Those were our rooms! Mine is the one with the window shades wide open to let me see everything while we were in our rooms.

This is a famous bridge in this area of Vietnam. I think it was the first major bridge in the province that Vietnam was able to afford to build for themselves instead of getting a loan from another country or something.

Hai & Holly again! I'm telling ya, this girl LOVES Van's brother! She always wants him to hold her, play with her, carry her, etc. He is a great sport about it. Actually, he will make a great dad one day, but I haven't mentioned this to him! LOL!

We went out on one of these boats today for a tour of Ha Long Bay and the surrounding islands. Most of the time, tourists just pile in to a boat, about a kazillion of them per boat. We had one to ourselves which blew my mind. It was really nice not to have to share our space, though.

Everyone in Vietnam wears stylish hats. :-) We all had them to wear today to keep the sun off our faces and to drench our heads in sweat as much as the rest of our bodies were. I'm sure that's why they really wear hats here...

These were just some really cool buildings that we passed by on the way out into the ocean. The zoom on my camera works phenomemally well because these buildings were way far away.
If you are lost, you can always just follow the other boats.

Ha Long Bay from afar. Some things are just too beautiful for words!

The guys who drive these boats are just as crazy as the drivers on the road. You wouldn't believe how much yelling and bumping into each other there is just to get a "good parking spot" in this tourist trap. And they park 2-4 boats deep so you just walk through all the boats to get to yours if it is toward the back.

Ha Long Bay has a series of caves that the Vietnamese army hid weapons in when they were fighting the Chinese (I think) and also used them to hide in themselves. They would go out in boats, attack the Chinese ships, then "disappear" when they went back into these caves. From the bay you can't even tell that there are caves in the sides of the mountain. There are 100 steps straight up just to get into the first cave. Totally worth it, though! Here are some photos from inside the caves.

This is a famous lion in the second cave that we went through. You'd think after trudging through the first one I would have learned my lesson, but nope, I said yes to going through another one. I thought I would die because its far more humid in the north than the south of the country.

I would never have made it even up the first 100 steps if it hadn't been for Huang offering to carry Holly the entire way! What a Godsend he was! Holly fell asleep halfway through the second cave, so she wasn't just heavy anymore, she was complete deadweight. Hai carried her down once we got out of the caves.

Here he is again back aboard the boat. I tried to talk him into lying Holly behind him on the bench, but he insisted on holding her. One crazy thing I have noticed is that she get a LOT of stares here, even when she is being held by someone who is Vietnamese, like Huang or Lunh. I don't know why exactly.

More beautiful scenery.

After visiting the caves in the bay, we went to a fish farm that is like this one, except bigger. They catch all kinds of fish in the ocean, put them in diffent pens and then the tourists come by and buy fresh fish. We got crab, big shrimp, and a couple of weird, disgusting looking fish. Once we were back on the boat, the crew cooked everything up for us to eat right there on the boat! It was delicious.

There is a little cave in the side of this mountain. Its kind of like the ones we went through, but this one is tiny comparatively speaking.

The whole area is breathtaking. Its got to be one of the 7 natural wonders of the world!

A traditional Vietnamese boat. I saw lots of these today.

We stopped at a beach that is another tourist trap here. While Hai & Van went swimming, we sat and had something to drink. Holly drank nearly the entire can of Diet Coke by herself. She was parched! She has had almost nothing but juice and soda since we have been here. She refuses to drink water unless it is icy cold, which just doesn't happen here. I don't know if I'll be able to get her back to drinking water once we get home. I'm sure that she is no longer convinced that water is juice, either...

We went in a little boat through a cave that is over the water. I'm not quite sure I'm explaining that right, but here it is so maybe you can just figure out what I'm trying to say.

The view on the other side.

I don't know if this is some kind of lighthouse or temple or what, but it was sure pretty.

These two rocks are very famous here. They are supposed to represent two roosters in a cock fight. We also saw rocks that represent the Tiger of Singapore (why here I don't know) and a couple other things I forgot already.

This is pretty much the only thing we did today, but it was so great! We were out on the boat for about 5-6 hours, I think. Afterward, we got cleaned up and packed, then headed back to Hanoi, where we are now. We will be here until Sunday and then will go to the town where Van's dad manages the garment factory. I can't remember the name of it. We will be there until Friday, then go back to Ho Chi Minh City for a few days. Tomorrow we will go to Ho Chi Minh's tomb.

Day 4

We got up early (much earlier than planned thanks to Holly - 4 am again!) and went to the airport in Ho Chi Minh City to catch a plane to Hanoi. Holly took a nap in the airport and also on the plane, so that was good. We had breakfast bright & early at 6:15. I remembered to take the camera up to the restaurant with us. Here is a picture of the view from there. Its so pretty in the morning with the sun shining on the city and the Saigon River. The green roof at the bottom of the picture is a parking area for scooters. It is completely jam packed with them.
Speaking of scooters, this looks very similar to Taipei, except these guys have no idea how to drive and have no organization whatsoever!

While we waited in the airport, Holly "read" to Hai from his book. It was apparently very interesting because he did such a great job paying attention.

Then they played together to get some energy out before Holly konked out for a nap.

After we got to Hanoi, it was a long 3 hour drive to Ha Long Bay where we are now. If I thought city driving was crazy, this was "take your life in the hands of the driver and pray you don't get killed" kind of driving. I did a lot of cringing, Van did a lot of laughing at me. We drove through the very traditional part of Vietnam where everything is done by hand. I should have maybe taken a nap, but it was so fascinating watching everything go by that I couldn't make myself do that.

There are some super cool mountains that come up out of the water here. If you click on the link to Ha Long Bay above, you can read about the story of the mountains. We are going to go on a boat tour of the mountains tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting some better pictures. This one's not too shabby, though.

We are staying in the most fabulous hotel here! I can't believe how nice it is. It is right across the street from the beach and we are on the 11th floor, so we have a great view. The picture below is the view from our room. Isn't it amazing?

Pretty much as soon as we got here late this afternoon, we went down to the beach and got in the water. At first, Holly didn't want anything to do with the water. I had to carry her in and every time her toes would get wet, she would ooch up on me higher and higher so she wouldn't get wet. A far cry from her feelings about water last summer! For a bit, she was content to play in the sand.

And she talked Van into playing with her, too.

But finally, I talked her into getting wet and she even got down to play on her own. She kept telling me "I do it myself, Mama." She had a great time and didn't want to leave by the time we got done. Van took a couple of cute pictures of Holly & I together, but there's no way I'm putting a picture of pasty white me in a bathing suit on my blog!

I guess we have to be at the boat at 7:00 am tomorrow, so I've got to go to bed and hope that I can get some decent sleep tonight! I'm also hoping I don't get sea sick...I've never been on a boat in the ocean before like that.

Day 3 - The Zoo

Van, Hai, Holly & I went to the zoo this morning. The weather was a bit cooler early on so it was pretty nice at the zoo. There was this great building just inside the gates and we were going to take a look at it on our way out, but didn't really get a chance to. I love the way it looks!

Holly loves the zoo! It doesn't seem to matter where or when, but she loves to look at all the animals and is totally focused on what they are doing.

She let Hai carry her for quite a while today. She has taken a liking to all of Van's family and I am so happy about that! She and Hai had fun looking at all the different kinds of birds here.

She was especially fascinated with the otter eating a fish. It smelled HORRIBLE (think dead fish in 85 degree heat...) but the otters were fun to watch. They are like little troublesome children.

Holly liked petting the goats through the broken fence that they had eaten through.

This bear was so funny! He just sat up like that forever scratching at his chest. I don't know if he had an itch that wouldn't go away or that was his way of getting attention, but it made us all laugh!

The monkeys were out on an island in the middle of a pond. Here, the guy had taken his boat over to feed them. The monkeys came right down to him just after I took this picture. He handed them something and they took off back up to the top of the monkey structure.

Holly was thrilled that she got to ride the train around the zoo. She would have gone again if we had let her! This girl loves trains.

We looked at the elephants first thing when we came in, but she liked them better from the train the second time we saw them.

I took this picture just for you, Pops! Dopey is hanging out in Vietnam these days.

Van & Hai took Holly on this kiddie roller coaster. Bigger & faster than the one at Silverwood. She wasn't quite sure whether she liked it or not. She didn't scream or cry though, so I guess it was ok.

She liked riding this little peacock ride kind of like the ones you see in front of grocery stores. She wanted to go on a different kind after this one and we put her on it. But it went around in circles up and down, and the bucket she sat in swayed side to side. It scared the ever lovin' crap out of her and I had to grab her out of it really fast! I felt horrible with the sheer look of terror on her face! She clung to me for quite a while after that.

But she did cheer up after that when she got to drive the cars - twice!

Afterward, we went to a seafood restaurant and ate a couple of shrimp dishes and some deep fried crab. The crab would have been good if you didn't eat it shell and all. It was just gross thinking about it...

Then it was back to the hotel for a nap. Holly gets really wiped out in this humidity and she usually takes a 3-4 hour nap in the afternoons. I only get in about 2 hours. :-) This is actually a picture of her in the morning before she woke up. Do you see why I hate sharing a bed with her? She's a bed hog and has not taken to sleeping sideways.

After naptime, Van & Lunh, Van's mom, came to pick us up to do a little shopping for some things she knew I wanted to get. I got a purse for me (big shock) and a couple of A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!!! dresses for Holly. I won't tell you what else I got because some of it is a surprise! Its great to be able to go into a store, pick out what I want, then have them haggle over the price of things for me. I know I'm getting a decent deal, but Van isn't very good at telling me specifically how much money I'm spending. She just says "its really cheap." After shopping, we went to the mall for dinner at KFC - yeah, I know, in a foreign country and eating American food, go figure! We also found some squeeky sandels for Holly. Here is Holly with Lunh at the end of our shopping trip as we were leaving the mall.

Once we got back to the hotel, I pretty much got everything packed up again since we are leaving early for Hanoi tomorrow morning. I think that they will be here to check me out of the hotel at about 7:00 am. This hotel is nice, but they don't speak very much English, so it has been really great to have Van or Hai to be able to ask about something if I need it.

When we get to Hanoi, we will meet up with Van's dad, who works in another town during the week. We will go to the American War Museum (Vietnam War to us) and I don't know what else. I'll keep you posted, of course! At least AM & J, since they might be the only ones reading this that I know of!

PS - If there are misspellings in my posts, its because the spell check doesn't work here for some reason. I double check them all first, but I might not be catching all the mistakes.

Day 2

Today we went to the Independence Palace. I don't know if that's what Americans call it; I'll have to look it up when we get home and see. Its where the Americans were airlifted out of Saigon when the palace was attacked. Holly was very good and walked the entire time instead of insisting on being carried (thank goodness!) This was a fascinating place & my favorite of the day. In case you don't know, the helicopter that got the Americans out landed on the top center part of the palace right behind where the red flag in the ctop enter of the building is.
Here we are in front of a replica of the tanks that were used to attack the palace.

This is a great view looking out from the 3rd floor of the palace.

This is the bedroom where the Vietnamese President slept during the attack on Saigon by the North Vietnamese. It was so plain & bare, but it was in the basement right next to where the war planning room was.

This is a replica of the helicopter that the Vietnamese President used to check out different parts of the city & country before 1975. It sits on the helipad on the roof of the Palace.

Holly, Van, and Hai having a drink and resting. The helicopter landed on the roof of this part of the building.

While this is a horrible photograph, it is very funny. Hai had Holly climb up into the chair behind the desk with the sign that says "Don't touch the objects." The pictures of her in the chair are so blurry that I couldn't post them, but we were all giggling.

Here is the palace from the back. You can see the corner of the roof where the helicopter landed in the center between all the trees.

Outside, they were putting a new roof on a building. It was so interesting to watch them weaving the palm fronds or whatever they were and putting them into place.

The entire Independence Palace was just amazing. There are rooms that are still used by government officials when they meet dignitaries from overseas. There is a shooting range in one room of the basement. It was so, so small! I can't even imagine that it would have been safe to shoot there. There were a group of Russians touring the palace at the same time as us, so we followed them around a little so that we could hear some of what the tour group leader was saying about the palace (which was then translated into Russian by a lady who understood English).

Then we went to the Ho Chi Minh City History Museum. It had everything from technological advances & industries, to tribal history, to archeological & military histories. Here is Hai holding Holly up to pet a stuffed tiger. She also got down on her hands & knees to talk to a stuffed alligator up close and personal.

This is a boat made out of a tree. Don't know what kind of tree. Don't know how old, but very old!

There were handcarved animals of the zodiac made from wood. All 12 animals were represented, but this is the pig (since Holly was born in the Year of the Pig, I took a picture of this one). These were carved by some of the native tribes that lived in the area before the city was built.

Van and Holly beating on an elephant skin drum. I kept trying to keep Holly from touching things and Van or Hai would say "There's no sign saying not to touch it." I would think it was implied, but I guess things are different here in Vietnam!

Holly particularly liked these lions and instructed me to take a picture of them. She was more than willing to go stand by them and "say cheese!"

After these two museums, we went to eat lunch. I had a beef fried rice dish and Holly ate most of Hai's french fries and KFC chicken. Enough that they had to go get more so he would have something to eat!

After lunch, we came back to the hotel for Holly to take a nap. Hai came to pick us up about 5:00 and we went to their house to meet Van's cousin. She measured me for the shirts she will make from the fabric I got yesterday and I picked out a couple of shirt designs in a magazine she had. I also got some fabric for a dress for Holly. Van said I didn't get enough for Holly and her cousin was going to pick out another fabric and make a second dress. She told me this later, so its not even like I could protest and say that was unnecessary for her to do. She is already being so generous by making the shirts for me in the first place. I'm sure they will turn out great!

We went to a Russian beer place for dinner. We had all kinds of food, some of which Van & her family picked out for me to try, and some that they wanted me to choose. It was very good! Van's other cousins came to meet us & Holly got to meet Van's youngest cousin, who is 3 years old. I wanted to take a picture of them together, but Holly was getting tired (cranky). We will see them again, so hopefully I can get pictures of them together then.

I did get pictures of Van's house, which I love, but I'll have to post those in the morning or something. I'm tired now. Tomorrow if it is not raining we will go to the zoo and then get ready to leave for Hanoi on Thursday morning.

Ready for Day 2

Here are some pics of Holly in the airport watching the plane get loaded up. We read the book Airport by Byron Barton before we left and it really helped to prepare her for what was going to happen.
She especially liked the "train" that takes the luggage from the building to the plane to load it up.

Jen, this is what Holly did for 11 hours on a plane where she didn't sleep! As luck would have it, she hated the headphones and took them off after a few minutes. So she watched like 4 movies without sound, which I think is weird, but I'm not 2 so what do I know?

Here's Holly getting ready to put her shoes on for the day yesterday.

We both slept a little better last night. Holly did wake up for a couple of hours but I kept the light off and made her stay in bed, so she finally went back to sleep and we got up about 6:00 for the day. Here is the smiling girl at breakfast this morning.

And looking out onto the street from our balcony while the cleaning ladies worked in our room.

A view from our room looking down on the street. Can you see Nana's hat? Holly spotted it in a second. She's like "Where's Waldo?" in a huge way!

Here's the view directly out from our room. I love the mix of old and new all right next to each other.

Here's the view from the restaurant, but not the best picture. The corner that has the best view was full when we went to eat, so we had to sit across the room. Maybe tomorrow I can get some better pictures.

Van & Hai should be here soon to take us out for the day. Pictures today, I proimise!

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.

We have arrived!

We landed in Ho Chi Minh City at about 10:00 pm Sunday evening, got through customs (which is a breeze; they don't do anything except put your luggage through a security scanner again), and met Van's parents & brother out front of the airport. It kinda felt like walking the gauntlet because people have to wait outside and there are barriers set up, so you have to thread your way through these walkways with wall to wall people on each side. Everyone was making comments about Holly. I don't know if it was because I was pulling her behind me in her carseat attached to the GoGoBabyz or what, but I know they were talking about her.

I've just gotten settled into the hotel and its 11:50 pm (9:50 am on Sunday @ home). Holly slept a lot of the last flight, so she apparently isn't tired. Sucks for me! Let's hope she at least sleeps some tonight, because I really need some.

The flight from Seattle to Seoul was great until about 15 minutes before we landed. Holly hadn't slept at all the entire 11 hours, so she was beyond exhausted. She had a meltdown and just cried, cried, cried. The nice flight attendents kept coming over to see if they could do anything, but Holly just kept screaming "Go away!" and "Don't look at me!" to them, so they were basically no help whatsoever - not their fault, of course. We got through that flight, made our connection to Ho Chi Minh City and that one was fabulous. Every time I fly an international airline, I always walk away flabbergasted at how phenomenal the flight attendents & crew are. They are so helpful & customer oriented.

Tomorrow we will go to the fabric market (!!!!!) and do some other shopping and sightseeing around Ho Chi Minh City. Thursday we will go up to Hanoi, then to some other great places in the north.

Ok, gotta go see if I can get Holly to sleep. Van's family is great and it will be so fun to spend some time with them & get to know them. If you have questions, POST A COMMENT!!!

In Seattle!

Well, we've made the easy part of the trip! The only bad part was that
Holly & I were in row 3 of a prop plane, so we were right at the
propeller and it hurt Holly's ears. She fell asleep 10 minutes before
we landed. I had to wake her up of course and she is still awake.
Hopefully she will take a nap when we get settled on the flight to
Seoul. Too much to hope that she would sleep the entire 11 hours,
isn't it? We still have 2 more hours in the airport here.

A Few Pics

Thought I'd leave you with a few pictures that I have taken in the last week on my iPhone.

Holly blowing bubbles, one of her favorite activities!


Entertainment for everyone at J's softball game on Wednesday evening.

Oh, she thought she was so funny!

So, she just kept making more faces because we were all laughing at her, of course!

And finally, tonight's fashion statement. Good thing I'm picking out her clothes to wear on the airplane tomorrow!

2 Days & Counting

Last weekend was graduation at our high school. Van was registered as a Senior, so she got to walk in graduation even though she did not graduate. She did get an honorary diploma, though. She thought taking this picture was dumb, but at least she smiled for me.

Here she is with the rest of the family. Like how I'm not in the picture, since I'm behind the camera? Gotta love that part!

And with her best bud, J. This is one of three people that Van got really close to throughout they year, and I know she will miss J a lot. At least there's always MySpace...

In case you are completely oblivious to anything that is happening in my life, its a mere two days before we leave for Vietnam! Van will be returning home, and Holly & I will be going with her to meet her family and spend two and a half weeks with them. Van has shown me on the computer lots of the things we will be doing, seeing, and places we will visit. Of course I am very excited! Well, about everything except being on a 13 hour flight with a 2 year old!

We are leaving Saturday morning and I told Van today that she needed to have her suitcases packed and in my car Friday afternoon before going to the car derby. She said "Oh, yeah, I'm almost done packing. I'm just waiting for my laundry to dry."

Now lets be clear, there is NO WAY she is going to get ALL of her stuff into her two suitcases, so I was pretty curious about her packing progress. When she went to the pool with J, I popped my head into her room to see what all she had gotten accomplished. This is what I found:

Does that look like "almost done" to you?! Because this doesn't look any different than her room does most of the time, except that you can see more floor space!

Its her packing and her problem to get it all into her suitcases, so I'm not worrying too much about it. Except I am going to be seriously grouchy if she thinks I'm going to try to get the car packed up to go to the airport at 6:30am on Saturday!!!

I went in to my room with the camera and Holly said "Mommy, take MY picture. Say cheese!" So, I did what I was told...
Now, for a Type A, this is what "almost packed" looks like: carry on stuff,

airplane clothes (with extra shirts in the carry ons, of course),

and ONE suitcase for both Holly and I. I even have an extra bag in there so that when I make all those fabulous purchases, I have another bag I can check on the way home! How is that for planning? Even at this point, I still keep thinking that I have over packed, but we are going to be there for 18 days, so I had to cut myself a little slack.

And just in case you are wondering, Holly's backpack weighs 4.6b lbs, which is well within the 10-20% weight limit that the Academy of American Pediatricians recommends for backpack weights. I know you probably want to know what weighs so much in there, but healthy snacks are a HUGE part of packing for such a long trip! I tried to include as many games, toys, and activities as was practically possible, but only those with one piece!

I think we are ready! I can't wait! I will be blogging throughout our trip, so you can see what all we are doing while we are there.