Now where was I?

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to finish our Vietnam travel tale; this jet lag thing is not to be taken lightly--it has taken me a full week to feel normal again.

So at last report, we were on our way back to Hanoi from our weekend trip to Halong Bay. We got back to our hotel around 5pm Sunday evening, and this was Lauren's last night in VN (as she was returning home by herself a couple of days before the rest of us to get back to her classes) and her 20th birthday was on Mar. 20th, so we went out to dinner at Bobby Chinn's to celebrate her golden birthday. This is a pricey restaurant by Vietnamese standards, entrees ranging from about $15 - $22, but in the US this place would easily charge double what we paid here. We didn't have a reservation, and this is a popular restaurant, so we were seated in the lounge area for dinner. It worked out well, since we had a nice sectional sofa-type thing to sit on, and we spread out a blanket and let baby (we hadn't named her yet at this point) play there. It reminded me of what an opium den must look like, all surrounded with silk drapes over and around the seating area, rose petals on the table.

Ok, on to the obligatory foodie pictures. Don had the salmon and wasabi mashed potatoes:

Lauren had the filet, still mooing, just the way she likes it. This was the most expensive item on the menu at around $22 if I remember correctly.

I had the prawns. With a couple of unnecessary heads still attached. Still delicious though:

Anna had the bbq ribs:

Baby had the crayon box. It was a little tough:

The boys all had burgers, and those don't rate a photo. The waitstaff must have heard us mention Lauren's birthday, because after our meal they surprised her with a complimentery birthday dessert and "Happy Birthday" song, which of course she just loves having sung to her:

So I give 2 thumbs up to Bobby Chinn's. Not the cheapest place in town though. After dinner, Don and the boys and baby took a taxi back to the hotel while Lauren, Anna, & I went to the old quarter to do a little shopping. We got out of the taxi at the end of the lake by Highlands Coffee, and who do we run smack into? The former North Vietnam army colonel bud of Don's! He called out to us and we had little chat. Can you imagine running into someone you know in this huge city packed full of people? I'm still amazed. We shopped for a couple of hours and then everything started closing--it was around 10pm or so by then--so we grabbed a taxi and went home.

Next morning we had to get up early to get ready to take Lauren to the airport. Lauren had a hard time saying goodbye to baby. She had grown very attached to her, and I know they'll miss each other alot.

I can see the resemblence:

Don and the kids stayed at the hotel and Lauren and I went to the airport by taxi. It took about an hour and 15 minutes to get to the airport that morning; luckily the airport was not crowded that day and we didn't have much of a line to wait in to get her checked in for her flights. I said goodbye at the security checkpoint and returned to my waiting taxi for the trip back into Hanoi. Shortly after we left the airport, we went thru a tollbooth, and the tollbooth guy and my taxi driver had a few stern Vietnamese words at each other, and then the driver pulled ahead and off to the side of the road and parked. The only thing he could manage to say to me in English as he got out of the car was "sorry", and then off he trotted back to the toll booth and out of sight. I just sat there in the taxi on the side of the road and wondered if he would be coming back anytime soon, or if I might be about to be arrested and thrown in a VN prison for associating with a criminal, but my fears were for naught. He came back in about 5 minutes, muttered "sorry" again, and off we went. I have no idea what that was all about!

When I got back to the hotel, it was lunchtime, so guess what we did? Yep, off to eat again! This time we decided to go to an Italian place, Mediterraneo, and we decided to walk since it was a nice day. So, map in hand, off we went. A guy selling VN travel books kept following us practically all the way there, begging us to buy a book. Don finally gave him a couple bucks just to get rid of him. Otherwise, it was a nice walk, and the restaurant was easy to find. Richard didn't like the pizza, so he traded dad for his "bacon & eggs spaghetti", which got his approval.

William wasn't too fond of the pizza either:

After lunch, we went shopping in the old quarter for some gifts and souvenirs. I wish we would have had more time for shopping. I could have done some serious damage. The walking is difficult though, especially with kids, because of the obstacles blocking the sidewalks wherever you go. We ended up walking in the street more than on the sidewalks, and those scooters are everywhere. We bought several things, including the required cone hats for the kids. I found a red velvet coat and a knit hat and booties for sweetie to wear when we get back to the airport in Moline and have to deal with the cold. It was a pretty warm day and we were getting tired, so we stopped for a cold beverage at a corner cafe. She just hauled out a plastic table and a plastic chair for each of us and plopped them down on the sidewalk for us, thus creating one of those obstacles I spoke of.

The kids all had chocolate milk:

We had a nice cold brew:

As we sat there drinking our beverages, the cyclo drivers began circling us, eyeing their prey. We had planned on walking back to the hotel, but we relented to the high-pressure sales tactics of the cyclo drivers and employed 3 of them to drive us back to the hotel. What the heck, we wanted to try them out anyway:

The scooters just kept driving around us. Note all the helmets--Kim had told us that the VN government decided to require helmets for scooters a few months ago, and from what we saw, compliance was darn close to 100%. (On adults anyway; most child passengers we saw were not wearing them. I guess their heads are less likely to break.) Pretty amazing to have such obedient citizens. I can't imagine Americans being so compliant.

We got back to the hotel and since it was warmer than it had been since we'd been in Hanoi, we told the kids we could try out the Somerset's nice pool. Turns out it felt alot warmer on the streets of Hanoi than it did at the pool on the 4th floor of the hotel. The water was cold, but the kids got in for a while anyway. Even the "spa" was cold. It had bubbles though!

All that shopping wore her out. Such an angel~

No more pictures for this day; Richard wasn't feeling well after his dip in the frigid pool, so we just ordered room service from Jaspa's instead of going out for dinner.

Night or day, day or night?

I'm a little confused, as is our baby, Lily. (Middle name Minh, part of her Vietnamese name.) Yes, we finally settled on her name the day before we left Vietnam. We had a gruelling trip home; 76 hours from the time we left our hotel in Hanoi until we walked in the door at home. Spent some unexpected extra time in LA and Chicago due to flight cancellations and delays. We got home around midnight Friday night and we've all been trying to adjust to the time changes and jet lag all weekend.

Lily caught a cold somewhere on the long trek home, but other than that, and her desire to party all...night...long, she's adjusting really well. She was such a good sport in all the airports, hotels, and planes we dragged her through. All the kids were good, considering how tired they all were.

I still intend to post about our last couple of days in Vietnam--maybe this evening after Don gets home from work if I can stay awake--but this quickie update will have to do for now.

Goodbye, Vietnam

We are leaving for the airport very soon this morning, so I just have time for a quick post. I'll have to update with pictures and stories of our last couple of days once we're home. Thanks for all the comments!

Halong Bay/ Cat Ba Island

Saturday morning a tour bus/van picked us up at our hotel at 8:00 am to go on a 2 day/1 night trip to Halong Bay, a beautiful natural wonder off the coast of northern Vietnam. It was a 3 1/2 hour drive, but they stopped 1/2 way there for a short break at a place where handicapped people work and make crafts to sell to tourists. In less than 30 minutes at this joint, Lauren managed to snag two new boyfriends, and one gave her a ring and a bracelet. Nicely done, Lauren!

Workers doing hand-embroidery:

Getting closer to Halong Bay, beautiful scenery fortells of things to come.

There were 2 young women from Korea on our tour van. They spoke very little English, and my Korean is a little rusty, but they made friends with sweetie-pie while we waited to board our boat. In addition to the American Family (us) and the Korean girls, there were people from England, Taiwan, Colorado, and Japan on our tour van.

Boarding our boat:

We were immediatly seated at tables inside the boat and served a (so-so) seafood lunch.

The squid was pretty good:

I told Anna I'd give her a dollar if she'd eat one squid tentacle; she contemplated and tasted a tiny bite:

The scenery was gorgeous, but unfortutnately, the weather was hazy and cloudy, so it wasn't as beautiful as it would have been on a clear, sunny day. We cruised on the bay during our lunch and for an hour or so after.

We stopped at one of the islands and climbed alot of stairs up to the opening of a huge cave and were given a tour of the cave with it's many stalagtites and stalagmites. The pictures didn't turn out very good, so I'll spare you. We got back on the boat, but because there were many other tour boats at the dock, we had to do a little boat-hopping to get across to ours. Not as easy as it sounds, especially with young kids and carrying a baby. But none of us fell into the water, and we felt a little like pirates. Here's a floating village on the bay; people actually live and work (fishing industry) here.

We had the option of sleeping in cabins on the boat, or at a hotel on Cat Ba Island; they recommended the hotel for us because of all the kids and baby. We got off the boat on one side of the island and boarded a jam-packed ancient bus for a slightly frightening, but with gorgeous views, 20 minute or so trip up the mountain and over to the other side of the island where Cat Ba town and the hotels were. They got us 2 rooms at this hotel, which was a little on the dumpy side. Ok, a LOT on the dumpy side.

We checked into our rooms, and then we had a couple of hours to kill before we were to meet in the hotel restaurant for the dinner included with our tour. Our tour guide, Hoi, told us where to go to find a beach. Here's the view down the street from in front of our hotel.

Walking to the beach. Cat Ba town is pretty much just a tourist town for the thousands of vistors to Halong Bay. Plenty of hotels, restaurants, and bars. Not much else that I could see.

Over the hill, and there was the beach. Actually it was one of two or three beaches nearby. I think they are all man-made beaches though, with the sand brought in. I don't think there are naturally occurring beaches on these islands, just muddy/rocky coasts. But tourists want beaches, so there you go.

The water was pretty cold, and we only had a short time before we needed to go back to the hotel for dinner, so we just waded a little.

We were instructed by Hoi to meet in the hotel restaurant for dinner at 6:30. The hotel was pretty scary, but the food was fantastic. Very similar to the meal we were served on the boat for lunch, but much better. The squid were the most tender I've ever had.

We were still eating and this dog comes sauntering in and makes himself comfortable on the floor beneath our table. I guess he lives here; never mind that this is a restaurant! The kids didn't mind though. I'm just glad he wasn't dinner.

After dinner, Hoi taught the kids some Vietnamese phrases and songs. Then Don and the boys and baby stayed in the hotel room because they were all tired, while Lauren, Anna, and I walked down to the waterfront to check out the Cat Ba nightlife. We stopped for a drink (chocolate milk and cocoa for the girls, a B-52 for me) at an outdoor cafe and watched the people go by. Lots of European tourists. Walked around for a little while and went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Next morning we had to be back in the restaurant for breakfast at 7:30am, then back on the Flintstones bus for another hair-raising, bone-jarring bus ride over the mountain and back to the boat docks. We were doing ok until about 5 minutes before we reached the other side, when all that bouncing around caused punkin to get sick and puke all over Don's lap, my back, the diaper bag and a little on the man in front of me. Fun to clean up while packed in like sardines with strangers all around. After that mess, we boarded the boat again for some more cruising on the bay. Hoi was such a nice and personable guy--he really helped us out alot with the kids and Thomas and Richard especially adored him.

Anna and Lauren enjoying the ride.

Hoi took Thomas and down to the pilot house to meet the captain. He even got to 'drive' the boat for a bit. He was ecstatic!

William and Richard got to go in to see the captain too.

We finally ended up back on the mainland and disembarked, then were led to a restaurant for our included lunch. This huge jar with all manner of snakes, lizards, and a few birds was fermenting in some kind of alcohol on the counter. You are supposed to drink it--good for what ails ya. I didn't have any ails, so I passed.

The dishes we were served were much the same in content as our previous 2 meals, but this meal was severely lacking in quality. Squid was very tough, and the spring rolls were just mush inside. Yuck. We didn't eat much here. Good think there's white rice.

There were several other tour groups at this restaurant as well, and Don met this guy and became buds. He was a colonel in the North Vietnamese army during the Vietnam-American war. No hard feelings though! Friendly guy, and Don was sufficiently impressed with his military credentials.

On the van ride back to Hanoi. I'm not sure what kind of face this is. Thomas sat on Hoi's lap almost the entire trip back. He kept asking if we could bring Hoi to live at our house. Hey! He'd make a great manny! I was amazed at the way Thomas took to him though; usually he's so shy around strangers. He totally loved Hoi though. Hoi gave us his email address so I can send him some pictures of the kids. Awesome tour guide.

It was a long two days, but I'm glad we did the trip. If I had it to do over, I think I'd book one of the more pricey tours and get a better place to stay; this trip only cost $236.00 US and that was for all 7 of us and the baby. It included everything--transportation, hotel, boat tour, cave tour, all meals. Only thing we paid for were beverages.

**Edited to add: By the way, although it seems from the photos that my 11 yr old daughter, Anna, has a neck-full of hickies, rest assured she does not. Those are bruises courtesy of Pinchy Patty.