Sorry for the delay in blog posts. The internet connections have been spotty. I have just a few minutes right now, so we will see if the internet lasts...
Christmas Eve day continued to be exciting. The owner of the hotel that we were staying at invited us to a Christmas Eve Vietnamese buffet that a hotel in town was having. These people mean business! There was lots of food (including dog meat - you will have to ask Doug what he thought about it) and a slight bit of pushing and shoving by the people to get the food. The meal ended with some Vietnamese karaoke. Merry Christmas! =)
Christmas Day was low key. At the hotel, our group sang some Christmas carols and read the Christmas story. The kids swam in the pool, some of us walked around town and we went to a nearby coffee shop to indulge in the best fruit smoothies that I have ever tasted! The person who owns the coffee shop in a mid-twenty year old girl who wanted to practice her English, so she told us her mom was a good cook and invited all 16 of us for dinner the following evening. (I told my kids in no uncertain terms could they just invite 16 strangers for supper some night, in case they got the wrong idea!).
On the 26th, we went on the local "hot tour." It was a 6 hour adventure. We got on a boat (Julia's home province is an island) and toured a brick factory, listened to three women sing traditional music while eating local fruits, stopped for some fresh coconut juice, went to a bonsai garden, saw them making straw mats, 6 of us adults went on a bike ride through rural Ben Tre, ate lunch, then canoed down the river back to our boat.
After that, we went to the coffee shop for the aforementioned dinner. She was right - her mom is a good cook (and a good sport!). She taught us how to make banh xeo- a Vietnamese type pancake that is popular in the south. We ate outside on a beautiful patio and had a great time.
On the 27th we flew up to Hanoi. While in Hanoi we are staying at the hotel where Julia and I staying the last 4 weeks that we were here the last time. Some of the staff still works there and remembers us. It is fun to see them again. We also were able to reconnect with Mr. Hien, the nice gentleman who worked for the adoption agency when we were here. He has been very helpful for this trip and it is so nice to see him again.
I am going to have to stop there. We are on our way to go to a boat tour of Ha Long bay, and then tonight we take the night train to Sapa where we will be the next couple of days. I am not sure how the internet will be, so it might be a few days before you hear from us again. If that is the case, I hope you all have a great New Year. And we will let you know how the view of the States going off the "cliff" is from Asia. =)
Take care,
Barbie
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