Vietnam

In case you are wondering, yes it has been 3 months since my last entry. Many things have happenend and it has blown by. May has been here since Christmas and it has been fantastic. Many great times as we spent a lot of time with Luke and family. May was luckier than me since she got to be a babysitter for 4 hours every Tuesday. Spending lots of time with Little Haley. What a smiley kid. Awesome to see

Our trip to Vietnam was over 4 days. Chinese New Year is probably one of the biggest holidays in Asia. Prices shoot up and everything is incredibly booked up. We managed a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, which is formerly Saigon. It is the southern part of Vietnam, near Cambodia. May and I went, Luke, Dalia and Haley (on her first family trip in SE Asia), Craig and Lou as well as meeting 3 of Dalia's friends there. Above is a picture of May and I on a little boat on the Mekong River, a major river that enters into Vietnam and continues throughout Cambodia, Laos and Thailand and the rest of Asia.


Since it was Chinese New Year, or TET as it was called in Vietnam, we were invited by our hotel to a TET gala dinner where there was traditional Vietnamese games, customs and many other "touristy" things. It was quite fun actually. May studied this game for about 30 minutes while the rest of us toured around. Basically the people holding the sticks and raise and lower them at a rhythmic beat, spreading them and keeping them narrow at different times. May and I tried it and almost succeeded except for May stumbling at the end. She blamed my big feet of course but as it is when we dance, I am Babaganoosh with smooth feet and she hops around, stepping and pouncing away on people's toes. I'll let you decide who's fault it might have been.

This next pictures is good one. I'm sure you are wondering what the heck it is. They had this at the hotel and a few of the celebrations we went to. It is a "stone-age" version of the piano. They play this at celebrations and it is awesome. Really quite cool. (Side note: I have bet Luke that I will make one in Canada with Canadian stones, typically from the area around our land, and offer it to my father. Much to like hunting deer, this bet is worth a cool grand) Let the searching begin..... if anybody has flat stones that about a foot long, 6 inches wide, stash them away and we can begin our Beethovanish adventure)

With Vietnam still being a communist country, there were red flags abound in the city. Perhaps it was multiplied by the TET celebration, but I still chuckled at it all. (I'm chuckling too at the thought of dad leaning sideways so he can see it...sorry I didn't turn it around for you)

Again, quite the celebration of their country. Honestly a great visit and I want to go back and spend more time touring around to other major cities and even the rural area. Hopefully one of the summers coming up or holidays sessions.

The major streets downtown were shut down to allow people to walk around and one of the streets had this as their major attraction. It is now the Year of the Rat, or Year of the mouse in Vietnam, and May, Lou and Dalia loved these things. Narually, I took into the situation. Funny thing is that to our right is a major roundabout. Now, one thing about Vietnam, that I unfortunately don't have a picture of, is the traffic. Motorcycles probably outnumber cars by at least 5 to 1. Roads don't really have rules, it is essentially give way to bigger cars but then wiggle through with your bike at your will. Naturally since it was a huge holiday, the roads were packed (as you will see on the fireworks picture below). The roundabout was crazy since it was standstill but still somehow moving motorcycle traffic. Anyways, it was a doozy to cross. Lou had her video on her camera rolling and had it at hip level looking into the traffic coming to her. As we crossed the road like Frogger, going up, backing up, side stepping...too funny. Have to travel all together, in one big flat line so that people can still go around you. Such an experience

We stole Haley for a morning as Luke and Dalia were getting together and we played around. This one is cute but the next one is better...

Haley loves her feet and I love mine too. We are just so similar, minus the fact that I can't put my foot in my mouth. (Despite any rumours that go out there...I swear, there isn't a picture of me putting my foot in her mouth and hers in mine...who would do that?)

Best buds for life

Hope you enjoyed the pics and update. Yes, May is gone so I do have a morning of watching tv and doing nothing except catching up on emails, blogs and my ipod. Hope you enjoyed pops and mom. Enjoy - miss you all

And there was no ring giving over the last two months contrary to what people thought...who would want to get engaged and then spends a year or so doing a long distance.....