Touring Vietnam

After last week's stressful surprises and rollercoaster of emotions, this week has been going quite well.  It reminds me of our experience with Li Lin some two and a half years ago.  Gotcha Day was Monday, official adoption day was Tuesday.  The rest of the week through to Friday, we stayed in Wuhan, which was the capital city of Hubei province, in which Li Lin was born.  That week was very emotional and very stressful.  Li Lin did some serious grieving.  We stayed in our hotel room for large parts of that week trying to console this little girl and get to bond with her a little bit.  On Friday evening we flew to Beijing to complete the rest of the paperwork.  While there, we had the opportunity to tour around and see much of the area.  By this time, Li Lin had at least resigned herself to the idea that she was stuck with these people and should make the most of it.

The experience here has been similar.  Last Tuesday was Gotcha Day.   Official adoption day was Wednesday.  That week was chaotic with the medical scare, the newly revealed information that his surgery was palliative and not the complete fix, the finding out that he should be taking medicines (some for his heart) despite originally having been told that he had none.  We were focused on dealing with that and all the required paperwork.  Jadon was also struggling through the last remains of either a cold or bronchitis.  This week, we have have the opportunity to visit some of the tourist attractions in Ho Chi Minh City.

One thing we see around often are people sleeping on their motorbikes/scooters!

Jadon wearing Logan's RayBans

Yesterday we headed out to the Museum of History.  We got there around 12:00 noon just to find out that it was closed over lunch hour until 1:30.

Imposing stone mural on the outside of the museum, depicting the Viet people repelling Mongol invaders

Military men at the entrance of the Museum

We then went next door to the Saigon Zoo and wandered around for about 1 hour.  The plan was to wander, but we had a self-appointed tour guide join our family and insisted on leading us around the zoo and announcing all of the animals.  Her English was quite good.  However our casual family stroll was not quite as relaxed as we would have liked.

Li Lin beside one of the trains that give rides around the zoo

Rykauna holding Li Lin beside a statue of a giraffe 'climbing' a tree?

Li Lin and Hudson with our self-imposed tour guide

Logan enjoyed pushing little bro Jadon around

Imposing towering palm trees

Interesting plant growth over our heads

The weather was quite hot and Jadon got bitten by a couple of bugs and he swelled a fair amount (thought the swelling went down quickly).  We left the zoo and had lunch at a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cafe... sort of a Starbucks type spot but with meal offerings as well.  By now the Museum was open and we walked through.  It was interesting to see the history of the Vietnamese people.  It seems that they have always been trying to repel invaders to maintain their independence.

The general from the North who united Vietnam.  Saigon was renamed in his honour

Impressive sculpture with massive elephant tusks

The Museum had a beautiful courtyard

Jadon was full of smiles with mommy

Loves snuggling in with Mommy

'Enjoys'? and sandwich kiss with mommy and daddy

Four of the five kiddos

After the visit we headed back home for our customary dip in the pool.  After cooking a pasta supper here at home, Sara, Logan, Hudson and I managed to play a game of Scrabble on Logan's tablet while Rykauna was doing some homework and Li Lin and Jadon played around.