100% for sure...almost definitely...maybe tomorrow

A few things to catch up on so this one may be long!

The next step in the paperwork trail is applying for the passport. Brett went Tuesday to apply for Maiya's passport. With the expediting fee we paid, we were supposed to have the passport in hand today (Wednesday), and have it on the way to Singapore to the Canadian Consulate via Fed Ex. However, our representative called this morning and said - "Oh, there's new rules....now you will have to wait a bit longer." Apparently "new rules" appear with no warning!! Unfortunately our hands are tied, but hopefully they will be ready Thursday, maybe Friday at the latest. This means things will have to move extremely smooth in Singapore if we are to have any chance of leaving on the 25th.

Next little glitch - the other families tried to get their tickets changed to their new departure date - and apparently Cathay Pacific is completely booked until September...so we may have to swim home at this rate! A little frustration setting in among all the families right now, but we keep getting told - "Don't worry!" So, we're taking it one day at a time!

Maiya is doing okay. We were going to take her back to the clinic again for Round 3 with the doctor, but all of the international pediatricians have left for remote areas to do medical visits this week and the clinic is not taking any appointments. We have been pouring Benadryl and now some Motrin into her, and have stopped the oral antibiotics, so hope this passes soon. Most of the concerns are with her skin, which makes her somewhat miserable at times. She's developed a cough too which seems to hurt - but it's funny because every once in a while she gives us these little fake coughs to garner sympathy I guess!

Unfortunately, most of the babies from this orphanage seem to have had many more medical concerns than those from other places (although I'm sure there are others worse off). Compared to the other Vung Tau orphanage our agency works with, Maiya's was much smaller and in a much poorer condition, so the babies' health has not been as good. They will all be fine eventually, but all the parents have had several trips to the clinic with their babies too.

Anyway, there's the negatives! But on to more interesting things. We went out to dinner with a family from Toronto last night. It was their last night in Vietnam, as they have been here almost 4 weeks already. We headed to the Mandarin, as recommended in the Lonely Planet travel guide. With address & babies in hand, we piled into a taxi and managed to avoid hitting or being hit by any scooters/mopeds/taxis/cyclists or any combination thereof.

The taxi pulls into this little alley about a car's width across. After squeezing by several mopeds and pedestrians, the driver stops at a door and points. Although we expected some differences from the Canadian experience at the Mandarin, we were a little worried at the fact that we appeared to be at the entrance to a funeral parlour, rather than a restaurant! Although the address matched, we were pretty sure the menu inside would be limited, so we asked the driver to pull up a bit. A few doors down, we did indeed find the real Mandarin. The entrance was beautiful, with huge trees dripping in white lights, just inside the entrance. The interior was all dark, carved wood and had beautiful silk cushions and seat covers.

We had about 6 people hovering around our table waiting to take our order. After quite a few questions about the menu, we finally placed our order. We got the distinct impression we were coming across as very uncivilized Westerners by the time the food came, as it seemed we were not ordering meals that made sense, judging by their reactions!

The food was exquisite though - and yes, even I, being the adventurous eater that I am, loved the food. After clarifying "no mushrooms" on every dish I tried, I have to say the fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, with aromatic herbs, were absolutely amazing.

What was even more impressive, however, were the carrot creations. Each dish that was served came out with enormous carrot sculptures on them! I'm not sure where they got carrots that big, but the designs are really beyond words (and since I was juggling chopsticks and Maiya, didn't get a picture!). Our favourite was the 7-tiered pagoda(about 8" tall, and 3" across), followed by the carved falcon, and the cart with moving carrot wheels. I think they must have had someone carving them full time, they had so much detail! Our friend's 6 year old son decided he wanted to eat his carrot flower - and the poor waiter almost cried out in horror at the sight!

Today we made a visit to the Tax Centre, which is an indoor market/mall type of place. They had many beautiful Vietnamese items, and we picked up Maiya's first Ao Dai, which is the traditional Vietnamese outfit of a long silk top over silk pants. We stopped to have a cold drink and give Maiya her bottle, but unfortunately Brett was having some stomach issues. Needless to say, after an unpleasant visit to the washroom (realizing too late it was one of the typical, toilet-paper free kind), he made an early return to the hotel with Maiya while I did a little more shopping & picked up some groceries. I'll leave out the details, but I'm sure you can imagine...

Then it was back to enjoy some pool time. We've had 2 days of sunshine, which has been a nice break from the steamy, sauna-like rainy days we've had otherwise. Hopefully it holds! Enjoy the pics - I think Maiya's grown already in the one week we've had her!