Hanoi Day Three

Today was our third full day in Hanoi. Last night Barbie slept in her sister’s room and the kids and I sacked out together. Thomas and Helen slept well and Julia did her usual up 3 or so times during the night. At least mom was finally well rested to start a day.

We started the day by bathing the kids (which doesn’t seem to last as long as a bath back home.) After that we went to the Dong Xuan market in the Old Quarter of Hanoi to see what there was to see. The three story market was packed with clothes and other textiles. The place was crowded and there were only small aisles between the goods. We wandered around awhile and played the part of the zoo animals (people watching us). People tickled Helen and picked her up as they were so excited to see a little blonde girl. When they saw Julia they always say (or are the asking?) Vietnam baby!

We had enough of that after a while and took a short taxi ride to a street market. The meter wasn’t running, so I asked the cabby what the deal was. He said, “you decide.” I said, “one dollar”, and he seemed content with that. On this street we were looking at t-shirts when our 2^nd youngest decided that she needed a water closet break. We worked with the lady at the t-shirt shop to communicate that we needed a WC, and she let us (Helen and I) through her store to a dark, dank, concrete hallway. We went past a kitchen and a dark room with 2 kids watching TV and then came to a very dark, wet, smelly bathroom with a squatting-style potty. The lady held our child as she did her business and the helped her re-robe. After we made our way back to daylight, we felt obliged to buy a t-shirt. $4 wasn’t bad (although the t-shirt looks like it might make it through 3 washes). On this street we also met a woman selling t-shirts. She wouldn’t leave me alone, but her t-shirts weren’t very good and weren’t very cheap, so I refused to buy.

Later in the day, we all went for a cyclo tour. Cyclos are like bicycle-driven rickshaws. The driver is on back and you sit on the front of the cyclo. One adult went in each cyclo and a child joined some of us. We went around for about one hour around the Old Quarter. It was great fun! We were in with all the other traffic (bikes, motor scooters, taxis, delivery trucks, large buses, pedestrians, etc.) It would have been totally unnerving earlier in our trip, but by this time the ride was strangely relaxing. I asked the group how many times that their cyclo was within 2 inches of something else (scooter, another cyclo, taxi, etc.) Everyone seemed to think that they couldn’t count that high. Julia rode with me on my cyclo. We had a grand time. She enjoyed the ride and we did a lot of clapping, smiling, and giving five. Also, during the cyclo ride, the same woman that tried to sell me t-shirts earlier came up to me again and walked next to me for 5 minutes trying to sell me t-shirts again. Boy is she persistent. If she comes up to me one more time I might have to buy something from her.

After the ride, we went to an Italian restaurant nearby. The place was probably the nicest, cleanest place we have been so far. We enjoyed the food, but it was priced American-style. It wasn’t so expensive by American standards, but this was the first time that I ever paid half a million Dong (approximately $31 including tip) for our family to eat here.

We are back at the hotel room now and the kids are sleeping. Evenings before bed have become pretty fun as Julia is ready to play full-bore at this time. She is silly and wild. Then she gets a bit out of control. The she is ready to crash. This evening as she went to sleep she spent her time sucking on every part of the pacifier (you know, the one that I found at night in Saigon) except for the business end. I can’t tell if this girl is creative or stubborn.

We are biding our time and it is going quicker than I thought it might (tomorrow is already Thursday). We get Julia’s passport on Monday and then her Visa medical exam and then we just wait to hear from the US consulate about Julia’s visa preapproval. There is no new update on how that is going or how long we think it will take. It is possible that we could get an email tomorrow saying it is all done and it is possible that we might not hear anything until January. Probably next week we will be making contact with the consulate to see if there is an update on our status.

That’s all for now. Pictures to the blog are simply not working. Tonight I will send out a group of new pictures to Barbie’s “Julia Update” email list. If you aren’t on that list (which would be evidenced by not getting any pictures), just email me at douglasatkins@gmail.com and I’ll make sure you get copied.

Take care all,

Doug