We're in Hanoi!

Hi! I have no pictures now but I will try to come down later and post them. Not sure if this computer will be able to do it or not. =) I can't believe we're here. This is just not the sort of thing we usually do. Usually we're watching movies at home, eating at On the Border

Wow is the main thing I've been saying since we got here! Everything is so amazing and different and chaotic and interesting. We just discovered our hotel has free computers to use so I can post on the blog and check email a lot (though maybe not for the next few days when we're getting the baby). Let me see if I can start at the beginning....

I guess I'll start with my last post from Taiwan! I don't know what happened....everything was fine and then it started typing in Chinese characters....then back to English and not sure how those boxes got there....but basically what I was saying is that the "People's Committee" (of the Communist Party of the district where the baby lives) has important meetings and is moving back our adoption day to Wednesday or Thursday. We will still leave tomorrow for Da Nang (at 4:15 AM). We should be able to visit with the baby every day at the orphanage until we get to adopt him. I hate that it's been pushed back, but it will allow us to stay on the beach for a few days longer so that will be really fun!

I think I am so overwhlemed and so much is happening that this entry will probably be really rambling.

On Thursday at about 5:20, my cousin Emily and her fiance Guarav picked us up and took us to the hotel. As we were checking in, Eddie realized he had forgotten his wallet! We were freaking out.....thank goodness for Mom who raced to the airport and brought it to us. We made it in plenty of time. The American flight from DFW to LAX was the worst one! We were squished in those seats next to other people. The LAX airport was really amazing to me! The American Airlines terminal was really pretty and had lots of restaurants and lovely air conditioning. Then we walked over to the international terminal and it was totally different. The line for EVA airlines (the Taiwan based airline we flew to Taiwan and Hanoi) was hundreds of people long....stretched through a giant maze and then outside for about a block. I think we heard at lesat 5 or 6 different langauges spoken. My carryon weighed more than 7 kilos, so we had to check it! We put lots of stuff in my giant purse (thanks mom). I know it weighed more than 7 kilos but they didn't weigh it....strange! Finally we got through to our gate.....with minimal AC, restaurants, etc. Strangely different. The flight from LAX to Tawain was actually pretty nice. The seats were bigger, and there was no one sitting beside us so we could stretch out. There was a big entertainment system in front of every chair--you could watch movies, several different TV shows, play games (I played sudoku and a strange version of pong), listen to music, etc. The flight was about 13 hours and had two interesting meals (there were usually two choices....one western and one asian--fish with rice or chicken and pasta, for example)....I really couldn't sleep much but it was pretty comfortable. Then we got to Taiwan....had a four hour layover there. We found the airport interesting....it had about 15 shops and 1 restaurant. I figured in the US we'd have about 15 restaurants and 15 shops....maybe that's why they're so skinny and we're not.....

When we were waiting in Taiwan, we had to eat Chinese food, of course, at the one restaurant. We ate "Chinese noodle in spicy beef stew" with chopsticks and a spoon. Apparently the thing to do is eat the noodles with chopsticks and then follow with a spoonful of broth. It was really pretty good....very spicy! Eddie also had a "Taiwan Beer" that was only 80 cents!

Then we flew to Hanoi....the flight was about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Flying into the city was amazing.....we flew over the delta (I think) where there was really as much or more water than land. Everything is crisscrossed with dozens of rivers and ponds and rice patties....it was so green and beautiful.

When we got to the Hanoi airport, (as in Taiwan), everything seemed very controlled---I guess you can really tell it is a communist country. People don't just walk everywhere like they do in our airports--we all had to get in an orderly line and go through security and then go through imigration--lots of uniformed military everywhere. I got nervous as we went through immigration.....I suddenly realized they could deny us entry if they wanted to. They looked very stern and took my picture (but not Eddie's....why?) But obviously they didn't. Someone from our hotel came and got us in a very nice car....I was so glad to see them! We were so tired and overwhelmed and they just whisked us away to our hotel....about a 40 minute drive.

The traffic in Hanoi is insane! I read about it in a travel book, so I knew it would be, but it was really much worse than I could have imagined! I think we almost got in about 10 wrecks on the way to the hotel. Lanes are optional--people just honk and then go! They drive within inches of motorcycles and people walking and on bikes. I let out one little scream and the driver laughed so I tried to be quiet after that!

Our hotel is interesting. Most people in our group are staying at expensive westernized hotels. We didn't want to pay over $150 a night for 20 nights so we chose to stay in a more inexpensive but "real Vietnamese" hotel right in the middle of everything. It's neat because everything is so close by....restaurants, sight-seeing, etc. But it's also really loud! The honking outside our window is constant! But the hotel gave us a fan and it really helps block out the noise. The room is really small, the beds are hard, and there are no drawers for all our stuff! But is really pretty....lots of hardwood floors, crown mouldings, a tiny balcony....At first I was a little freaked out and thought about moving to the other hotel with our group but then figured it would cost about $200o more so....no go! I felt better this morning....the entire restaurant at our hotel (interesting free breakfast--eggs, noodles, strange lemon chicken, something green, toast, watermelon juice) was filled with adopted babies and families.....they were soooo cute.

This morning we woke up early (mostly because we went to bed so early) at about 5:00 AM. We came down to the hotel lobby and the clerk was sleeping all covered up on a cot. I thought it was a dead body in a bodybag on a guerney! It scared me to death. I thought someone had died in our hotel overnight or something! We looked at the map in our hotel book and walked down to a lake that is just a couple of blocks away. There are hundreds of tiny shops selling everything you can imagine. I will try to post pictures soon. At this lake were hundreds of people doing their morning exercise. Some walking, some running, some doing tai chi alone or with a class, some playing badminton, some stretching....everything you can imagine! After that we came back to the hotel for breakfast. It was nice to meet the other families.. ...they filled us in on where to go shopping for baby formula and good restaurants, etc. We even found a few places that deliver (including KFC= Gai Ron Kentucky).

On our walk we met another couple from the US.....Ed and Karen. They were from NY and had visited Cambodia and Thailand already.....very interesting. They were having coffee so Eddie had some, too. It was really good.....hot with condensed milk. They brought it to us on a motorbike (not sure why!).

Now we're off to go shopping....and then in the morning leaving for DaNang at 4:15! It really hit me this morning when we saw all the babies that we're actually going to get ours, too!

I may have to come back and edit this rambling thing later! We miss you all....