Quite the Reception

After a very long trip and next to no sleep, we arrived at Pearson Airport. We were met by Aidan and his Grandpa and my sister and mother. Aidan was so excited to see us and his new sister! I was a little surprised that he was SO excited. He had brought some of his stuffed animals for her. My sister, Pam, had Canadian flags for the family and took some photos of everyone - I'll post when I get the photos from Pam.

Aidan thrilled with his new sister!

With my two special kids - Aidan and Maya!

Aidan gives Maya a big hug!

The family reunited in Canada

Mike's Dad, Jim, and my mom, Verna, happy to meet their new granddaughter

Officially Canadian!

After numerous calls to the Canadian Consulate Monday morning we finally got word that Maya's passport was ready. She is now officially Canadian! And we can depart tomorrow on schedule. Here we are outside the consulate office....

One American and Two Canadians!

I spent the rest of the day doing a little more shopping. In general, I'm not a shopper but it's easy to get carried away here - I got a beautiful silk dress for $35, including alterations and I bought another lovely purse for $9 and silk scarves for $5-7.

We took another dip in the pool and then went to another water puppet show at the Golden Water Puppet Theatre. This production was much better than the one at the museum - complete with live musicians, dry ice, and a few sparklers at the end. Maya loved it- especially the music! She is dancing now (more on that later).

Tomorrow, it's back to home sweet home. It's bitter sweet - we are sad to be leaving Vietnam but looking forward to seeing our big boy soon!

A Day of Rest

Sunday was a day of rest. We were tired from our day-long trip to the Mekong Delta. All we did was go to the Fine Art Museum - and I have to say the art was not very fine. There was some nicer art for sale in the courtyard, but the prices were high. We returned to the hotel for a quick swim and then went to dinner at Ngon. We had a fantastic meal - lemongrass clams, tamarind shrimp, pork dumplings, and very tender spicy beef, with coconut ice cream for dessert.

Down to the Mekong Delta

Saturday, we took a day long trip to Cai Be in the Mekong Delta. We booked the trip through Sinh Cafe and it was only $10 pp including lunch. We travelled to the Mekong Delta by bus and then boarded a motor boat to see the floating market, where farmers were transporting and selling their produce (pineapples, bananas, coconuts, squash etc.). We stopped along the way to see how they made honey, rice paper (for spring rolls), coconut taffy, and puffed rice. We got to sample the various goods along the way. Then we travelled about 1 hour by boat to an island for lunch. The best part was listening to traditional Vietnamese music after lunch. Here are a few photos from the day...

Making coconut taffy

Floating market, Cai Be

Loading and unloading produce for market

Making rice paper for spring rolls

Coconut tea cosyMike and Maya

Making Rice Puffs

Traditional Vietnamese Musicians

Mike thought this guy looked like a Vietnamese Lyle Lovett!

Local Market

A Little Bump in the Road

Friday, we were supposed to pick up Maya's Vietnamese and Canadian passports. However, only the Vietnamese passport was ready. The Canadian consulate is optimistic that Maya's passport will be ready Monday - sure hope so as we are scheduled to fly out Tuesday morning!

Here is a photo of me and Maya at the Vietnamese passport office. We need the Vietnamese passport to leave the country and the Canadian passport to re-enter Canada.

After the passport office, we went to the tailors to pick up my au dai. Off the rack silk au dais were about $25 US while made to measure were $30-50 US depending on the fabric and tailor. I also bought au dais for Aidan and Maya in a few different sizes ($7-10 US).

Friday afternoon, we went to the War Remnants Museum, which I recommend -very disturbing and moving images of the atrocities of Vietnam war. It puts a human face on war like no other war museum I have visited.

After the museum, we went for an early dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant called Ngon. It was really lovely - with high ceilings, a courtyard, and an open kitchen around the perimeter of the restaurant. My favourite dish there was the coconut ice cream served in a coconut - yum!

More About Maya

Maya has adapted very well! We feel very lucky. She is such a delight and she loves to play games with us. She has the cutest giggle. Here are a few photos from the last week.

Maya is an imp! - Can you tell?!

And she travels well without fussing - even in 34oC heat

The girl also likes her food!



Especially sticky rice!

Back To Vung Tau

Wednesday, we took the hydrofoil back to Vung Tau to deliver three gifts to sponsored children at the Vung Tau 1 and 2 orphanages. We also travelled with Loan and Fannie, Bruneau and Noah from Montreal who were travelling to visit their new daughter, Lou, in Vung Tau 1. Here are a few snaps from our trip...

View of the Saigon River from the Hydrofoil

At the port in Vung Tau

Delicious seafood lunch with waterfront view

Visit to Vung Tau 1 - A 5 Star Orphanage

Classroom

Kitchen

Bright Murals Everywhere

Sewing Lesson Room

Meeting our Sponsored Child, NhiVisit to Vung Tau 2 to Deliver 2 more Gifts

The Austrins' sponsored child, Khai, was at school; so we left his gift with this woman.

The Kashinos' sponsored child receivng her gift

Maya thinks the book is interesting too!

History Museum and Water Puppets

Tuesday, we visited the History Museum, located adjacent to the Botanical Gardens. It had quite an interesting collection of artifacts. The most interesting was a mummy of an aristocratic women from the late 1800's. We also took in the water puppet show. Puppeteers stand behind a curtain in hipwaders in the water and manipulate puppets on long poles. Maya really enjoyed the show - lots of action to keep her attention. The museum also was connected to a number of nice shops with reasonable prices. We particularly enjoyed a musical instrument shop where they displayed traditional Vietnamese instruments and played DVDs. Here's a link to some traditional Vietnamese music.

Traditional Musical Instruments

Mummy of Vietnamese Woman - circa 1869, found in Ho Chi Minh City

A Sample of the Water Puppet Show

Puppeteers Take A Bow

Cu Chi and Crafts

So a few days ago, we took a bus tour to see the Cu Chi Tunnels. We chose this tour because it was one of the few day trips from HCMC. Although I'm glad we went, I wouldn't recommend the tour for a baby that didn't travel well or is easily frightened.

The most interesting part of the trip was actually a stop on the way to the tunnels where we saw how lacquerware is made. It was a government factory staffed by Agent Orange victims. The following photos show a craftsperson and the adjacent shop.

Then we continued to the tunnels. Silly me - I thought maybe we would go down in the tunnels and it would be cool! Instead we mostly walked around in the heat and viewed the openings of the tunnels and booby traps from above. In total there are 250 km (yes km) of tunnels.

Example of Traps Used by Viet Cong

Our guide, "John Wayne" was hilarious and also provided a lot of information on Vietnamese culture in general

Entrance to one of the tunnels - we were afraid this lady would not get back out!