Ho Chi Minh City

Well, we arrived safe and sound in Ho Chi Minh city. Both flights were great and it really was a breeze getting here. Sure, we prepared alot in advance, but I was thinking yesterday, I could do this again, no problem. The flight home with baby might be a little more exhausting though. And we HAVE to have a bulkhead seat or an extra seat for baby. There is just no room between the seats and it would be way too cramped for 12 hours. The only glitch in our travels was that a representative from our hotel wasn't there to meet us. Fortunately, a cab driver lent us his cell phone to call the hotel. Apparently, they thought we were coming in at 10pm. After checking our hotel confirmation, sure enough, it said arrival time 2200. Darn, can't believe we didn't catch that. So, we paid him $2 U.S. for the use of his phone. Probably too much, right?! Well, it was a lifesaver for us so it was worth it. The outcome was we had to hire a taxi to take us to the hotel. Fortunately, we asked the hotel what this should cost and then said no more than $10. Well, no one wanted to take us for that amount. They all showed us a card that said downtown was $25-30 U.S. finally, we found someone to agree to take us for $15 U.S. but then the wierdest thing happened. We started heading towards the cab and then he passed us off to another driver. We then confirmed the amount with him, carried on a bit further and then got passed off again! This driver was a smoker and I told him I am allergic (Carla you can testify to that, right?!). Right away he threw his cigarette on the ground and we were off. Thankfully, this driver did take us to our hotel. Our 5 year old son commented on all the safety infractions along the way though, lol. In the cab we didn't have seat belts, the people on motorcycles were carry young children and even sleeping babies, no helmets on the kids, two men we saw had tooth picks in their mouths and one was talking on a cell phone. Honestly, I was paying more attention to the road signs and wishing I had mapped out the route to the hotel so I could see if we were on track. I realized part way to the hotel that we didn't ask for the cab drivers ID and we were in an unmarked car (ie no taxi signs on the car and no meter). However, as I said, we made it safe and sound. After checking in, we had a look around at the pool, indoor and outdoor play area, restaurant by the pool and mini grocery store. We met up with a representative from our adoption agency for a few minutes, found out when we leave in the morning (it's early!) bought some groceries. Yikes, I think we paid too much, and then headed out in the heat to sit by the pool and enjoy the sunshine. As soon as we got into the pool - torrential downpour and wind! So, we stayed in the pool until we heard the thunder and then figured it was time to head back inside. I didn't realize how tired my son was. He was being good and seemed full of energy but we sat down on the couch for a drink and some snacks and within 5 minutes, I realized he had fallen asleep on me. So, as much as I wanted to push through until after dinner, I thought ok, let's have a nap and we can have room service when we wake up. Right! 7 hours later!!! It's midnight now, I have been awake for the past hour. Thankfully, everyone else is asleep. For how long though? I'm not sure. Well, time for another decongestant. I forgot to mention my cold to they adoption rep. I sooooo want to meet our baby tomorrow, but not sure if we will be able to with my cold. And I certainly don't want to pass it on to him. We will have to see what the rep says in the morning. Well, another 8 hours and we will be on the move again. Oh, and something really cool, the son of a former neighbour of ours is traveling in Vietnam right now, and we hope to meet up with him and his girlfriend in another week or so. It will be nice to see a familiar face in a foreign country! So far, true to what we have read and heard, the Vietnamese people are lovely. Looking forward to our travels today and to seeing more of the country.