No shrimps here...

Passport & immigration visa arrived this morning!! Great news for us. We went to Cathay to try to change our flights to Friday, but no luck, so we are arriving Saturday night. Still haven't been able to get a bassinet or exit row seating, but at least we have flights!

Spent the morning at the Ben Thanh market while Brett went to Cathay Pacific. It's a huge indoor market with everything from flowers to food to Vietnamese souvenirs to designer "Gucci" bags & watches (for cheap of course!). Thought dad would like the size of the shrimp in this picture! Maiya is modeling her new cone hat and seems to like it - we'll see if it makes it back in one piece though! We got a beautiful instrument with mother-of-pearl inlay - it's too big for our suitcase though, so may have to juggle it as a carry-on! It will be a nice addition to my instrument collection from my travels (and now Brett's & Maiya's travels too of course!). Still have a few things to pick up tomorrow as well as a bit of sightseeing perhaps, then the joy of trying to pack everything up!

Maiya continues to do well. Gave us a full night's sleep last night which was great! Brett was in a much better mood after sleeping without any late night interruptions! She's taking longer naps in the day too, which is also good. Hopefully she'll sleep for a good part of the flight, especially if we're in a tight space, as she usually likes to move around & be entertained a lot! She's been enjoying the music on American Idol, as we get a couple of English channels on the TV. She seems to like music (or maybe it's the flashing lights....)!

Not much else today - hung out by the pool and cooled off as it was especially hot & humid here today. Hope the weather's good back home too!

More sightseeing...

Things continue to progress here, with the passports on their way back from Singapore. We're hoping they arrive tomorrow (Wednesday). We're currently booked on flights for Saturday, but no bassinet or exit row seating, so could be a tough flight. We may try to see if we can get a flight Thursday or Friday, but the single mother traveling with us spent the day at the clinic with her little guy in an oxygen tent for his newly diagnosed asthma, and they don't want her to fly before Saturday. So, we'll play it by ear the next couple days - seems like flights are booked solid anyway. A little frustrated with the fact they didn't tell us this would be a problem before we left home, but it's one of those "unknowns" in this process that you just have to go with! And hey, at least we don't have to swim!

Maiya's been doing well. Slept from about 8 pm until 4:30, had a bottle, then back to sleep until 7:30 am, so not too bad. It appears that my usual late night schedule has come to a screeching halt, as we are both having a hard time keeping our eyes open past 8:30 pm! As you can see from the picture, she has quite the sense of humour and loves kicking up a mess in the bathtub. She has now upped the ante with Brett, and has gone from peeing on him while he changes her diaper (3 times so far) to pooping in the tub for him! I'm sure she will love us for sharing that once she's older!

Went to the Reunification Palace today for a tour. Maiya was again a big attraction, but no big school groups to swarm us this time thankfully. The picture is of the front gates where the tanks crashed through when the North took over at the end of the Vietnam War. There are some absolutely beautiful grounds in various places around Ho Chi Minh, and it makes it an interesting city to tour. We haven't been able to see as much as we'd have liked, given the heavy, sweating baby we have to carry! But we've seen enough to know we'll definitely be back when Maiya's older to enjoy it more thoroughly.

Tonight we went out to a German restaurant in the silk area. My stomach has been pretty rough for about 3 days, so thought maybe some potatoes would at least sit okay. Made it through the meal, although didn't eat much. Brett loved his though. After, we wandered around the little shops. It's so lively at night and not quite as sweltering, so made for a nice evening. We stopped in this little alley filled with art work, and bought 3 little pictures with silhouettes of a girl in a white ao dai. They were just over a dollar each, and I was too tired to try "bargaining". When I went to pay, the lady and an older woman whom I assume was her mother, had made quite a fuss over Maiya and were so happy we had adopted her. So when I gave her the 60 000 dong, she got out her money and said - "I want to give you 5000 dong back because you get the baby and it is good." Now the 5000 really only translates to a few cents, but for her, and for the gesture, it was a big deal. So now we have a great memory to attach to the pictures as well.

That's about it for tonight. Brett's upstairs likely getting a bottle ready for Maiya so I'd better head up and do my part!

confirmed return date...sort of

Well, some good news. We finally have a confirmed return date of the 26th. We are still waiting for the paperwork to come back from Singapore, so if it arrives by the 23rd, I may see if we can move the date up to the 24th or 25th, but if the paperwork does not come until the 24th we will likely leave it as is.

Not much new, Janice bought herself a traditional Vietnamese outfit today. I would name it, but since everybody likes to critique my spelling and grammar, you can look up the name yourself.

Nervous about the flight home. Maiya gets fussy if she is sitting for too long, so it may be a long flight. The only good news is, the long flight will be when she has normally been going to bed. We will keep you posted.

Brett

War Ruminants....???

Well, contrary to Brett's last blog, we weren't visiting a farm museum about the history of 4-stomached Vietnamese animals....the War Remnants Museum was, however, very interesting! What stood out the most was regardless of whose side was being depicted, the horrors suffered by both soldiers and civilians were beyond words. It was especially difficult looking at the pictures of young children as we stood there holding Maiya, and being so thankful she was born in 2006 in relative peace. The infamous picture of Kim Phuc, running down the road with napalm burns, stood out, not only because of its fame, but because Mom & Dad had the privilege of hearing her story just a couple weeks ago when she came to speak in Listowel. While it was difficult to look at the exhibits, we felt it was an important part of Vietnamese history to familiarize ourselves with.

Today we ventured out on a more pleasant task - visiting a quilt shop. We had looked at their website before leaving, and finally made it there today. It's a not-for-profit organization that trains women in poor, rural areas to quilt, thus allowing them to develop skills in a trade that allows them to support their families. The detail in the quilts is amazing, and we bought a gorgeous wall hanging, that is almost the size of a twin bed. It will be a great keepsake for Maiya down the road.

Other than that, not a lot of news today. I've been feeling kind of rough for the last 24 hours, so Brett has been on Daddy duty a lot today. He seems to have the effect of a calm, soothing stream on Maiya, since she peed on him again today! We had her to the clinic again yesterday, and saw a different doctor since all the pediatricians are out in rural areas doing community work. We also had a great Canadian nurse helping which was nice. Maiya has already gained weight and is over 6 kg now! She discovered her toes finally today, and has been playing with them a lot. She loves having her feet rubbed, so my Dad will be quite happy to hear that, since anyone who knows him knows the first thing he does is get those socks off the babies' feet! She also loves getting kissed, and is now blessing us with lovely, slobbery, tongue-hanging-out kisses. She is generally quite happy, but once in a while gives us a lovely little screaming fit which we think may be due to teething. It seems to happen more when she looks at Brett though, so who knows....

Well, that's it for tonight. Keep the emails & comments coming (we added a place for you to post comments at the bottom of the blog if you're interested)! Our connection is a bit slow so we can't always reply to everyone, but we love hearing from you!

j

Taking in the Sites

Sorry for the lack of blogging this past week. seems like the days go so quickly, yet our departure isn't getting any closer. we are trying to set things up to leave on the 25th, which would have us arriving...on the 25th. but still have to get Maiya's visa back from Singapore in a timely manner first.

In the last couple days we visited a couple museums. the military museum. mostly in Vietnamese so we couldn't really understand anything, and there were a couple of schools visiting. Maiya seemed to be the main attraction. It's cute at first but its so freaking hot, it gets tiring very quickly.

Next we saw the War Ruminants Museum. No air conditioning here either, and it was extremely busy, but mostly with westerners, who I have realized are not as into babies as the locals. Which was fine with us. For anybody who comes to Ho Chi Minh this is a must see. There are a couple different sections, the first is about the truths. So told really from both sides and how they saw it. Then it goes on to tell it more from the North's side but told as if it was on behalf of all Vietnamese. Anyway something to experience. Very graphic.

Will post some pictures later tonight (mid-morning). Providing everybody is up to it, we are going to try and get to the silk and quilt stores today. We also want to check out Reunification Palace in the next couple of days.

C ya.
Brett

Message from Brett

thanks to all those who have posted supporting comments. now I will let you laugh at my expense.

1st. yes, we were having coffee in downtown Ho Chi Minh City when I had rumblings in my tummy. Diarrhea, but when I got to the washroom, no toilet paper, to paper towels to dry hands and no toilet seat. Anyway, had to go so you can use your imagination.

2nd. Changing Maiya, and she decided to go pee after I got the diaper off. Now it was bound to happen to sooner than later because I do most of the hard stuff, Janice seems to have gag reflexes when it comes to changing diapers, how convenient.

3rd, Janice was down at the pool so I was trying to look after a fussy Maiya, so as I started to hold her with one arm and prepare the bottle with the other, I thought I was a hot shot and doing great. But just as I was putting the lid on the bottle, Maiya squirmed and leaned back, so my reflex took over and my other hand with the bottle made a quick jerk there was more milk on the floor and the cupboards than in the bottle.

Enough for now. Just touring the town and enjoying the sites. Might risk a haircut on the street and a ride by a cyclo taxi next.

Wanted to do a video, it won't let me. more pics tomorrow.

Brett

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!