The Market

Tomorrow morning we leave for Hanoi. Still not sure when our Embassy appt is.
Hope it is on Monday. There is chance that we could leave a few days earlier than our 3 weeks.
I think I'm ready. Yesterday, I was sad about thinking of leaving. I miss me kids back home, other than that I thought I could stay for awhile yet. Well, surprisingly it hit me today at breakfast; I am sick of fried noddles. It hit me at supper; I'm tired of people constantly telling me how to take care of the babies. I'm still looking forward to seeing Hanoi, but will be ready for that flight home.

Matt and I went to the market in district one today. We had the babysitter come for 3 hours today. I am so glad that we did. It is so hot and crowded. The babies and we would have been miserable.

We saw a lot more of the market today than when we went last week with the group. We finished up our list of things to get. The most interesting part was walking through the meat, fish, and produce section. The fish and many other seafood are alive flopping around in bowls. Then scaled while you wait. The meat is getting hacked and hung on hooks. We saw bowls of bugs, every part of a pig you could imagine, brain and feet and bags of blood. I saw a girl gutting a live eel. It was flipping around while she had half its guts out. She then reached up with one hand and snapped its neck. Soon there were young men one after another rushing by us carrying enormous blocks of ice. The ice was put into a chipper machine and then others would come and get bags of ice for their food stalls.

The produce section is so fresh. All the vegetable look fresh with bright colors. Each piece looks perfect. It'd be so nice to buy fresh veggies and seafood to cook with on a regular basis.

The most beautiful flowers can be found in the floral stalls at the market. Eight roses cost $1. I bought 8 pink to take pictures with the kids. I'm going to find someone tomorrow to give them too. I think I'll give them to the person who has been cleaning our room. We also bought 8 peach colored roses for our babysitter.

We left the market and walked down one of the streets. This was a brief jaunt and after a half block we decided to go back to the market, finish our shopping and then head home. That half block on the street was relentless. People trying so hard to get you to buy stuff. Some hang on to your arm and don't let go, hence how I bought one item. They stuff things in a bag and shove it to you. Kids come up with hands out for money. I bought two things that I didn't plan on buying, a hammock and a small t-shirt. I am glad now that I bought the hammock. It is very "Vietnamese". Everywhere you look you see hammocks especially along side the road as you drive out of Saigon. There are little coffee/ tea shops everywhere along the roadside. It consists of low plastic tables and chairs (looks child size) and hammocks hanging every 6 ft.

We were exhausted and so glad to arrive at our room. The babies get so happy when we walk in the door. They squeal and laugh. Kyna was even reaching for her daddy. It is amazing in less than two weeks how attached they've become. We were at the shopping center hooked onto the hotel early in the week. We were waiting on the strollers to arrive. One of the vendors down a few sections was carrying Kyna around. Well, something scared her and she started wailing. They were all trying hard to get her to stop. Matt walked down and picked her up, bounced her twice. She immediately laid her head on his chest and stopped crying. The Vietnamese store keepers looked shocked. They wanted to know how long we had the babies. Matt told them a week and their eyes widened. It is really amazing how adaptable these babies can be.

After resting awhile in the room, we venture to the hotel's shopping center to search for some material. We had bought some at the market, but realized that we needed more. We couldn't find any and soon ran into the storekeeper that spoke good English. She is the one we bought the strollers from. She told us that a girl would take us to the fabric. We thought she was taking up to a place in the shopping center. Nope. This young girl, who knows zero English, leads us outside. Remember, we were not supposed to go outside. She leads us down an ally and over to the next block, a very short distance from our hotel. Her is another huge shopping area, 2-3 stories high. She leads us over to a group of people selling food and motions us to leave the strollers and babies there! YIKES! She motions up two flights of stairs. I guess she wanted us to let these people watch the babies while we went and bought fabric. NO WAY. I shake my head no and we carrying the strollers up. The rows of fabric "shops" are packed so tightly together you can hardly walk. The girl leads us to her friends store. We did end up buying some silk. They have the most beautiful fabrics for making the traditional Vietnamese dresses.

The rest of today was spent trying to pack. UGH. We had to buy two more suitcases. This was OK as we borrowed my parents. This will give us our own luggage for later use.

I guess we're packed and ready for Hanoi. I think it is a 2 hour flight. We are in business class, so it should be a piece of cake.

Eastin still has his spots, but I think some are fading. Not that is possible to draw more attention to ourselves, but now we get everyone acting out putting cream on him. He never has acted like it bothered him. I still think it was a bite.