More Vung Tau

It has been a crazy couple of days so we are a little behind in recording everything. It's been tough trying to first of all put into words the emotion of just being in Maiya's province again, let alone going back to the orphanage. There were 7 families adopting children from her orphanage when we travelled the first time, and literally got off the plane and drove to the orphanage and had her in our arms. We didn't have much of a chance to look around or absorb anything, and very little opportunity to ask questions. We stayed one night in Vung Tau, the first night we were in Vietnam, and then did a day trip back for the ceremony, and both days are a blur. It poured rain the day of the ceremony so that plus the fact we had 3 crying babies in our vehicle didn't lend itself to wanting to do much sightseeing.

This time things were so different. We did have rain right when we left the orphanage, but other than that it was hot and sunny, so we really had a better chance to enjoy the area. Our hotel was nice, but it definitely made us miss the amazing service we have had at our place in HMC. The one perk - the pool water was much warmer in Vung Tau!! While we were right on the water, the beach itself isn't the greatest and with the hassle of monitoring contact lenses and minimizing sun intake for Lucas, we didn't do any actual beach time.

The first day was getting there by boat, having lunch, then visiting the orphanage, followed by a couple of hours in the pool. We planned to go to a place that was highy recommended to have dinner, but I unfortunately entrusted Brett with attaining the directions and we ended up in a small local place instead. It was quite neat inside (well, it was mostly open-air rather than being ïnside"), with a little pond and a little footbridge you walked over to get to the tables. The food was traditional Vietnamese and Brett really liked it. Maiya, mom and myself had mostly steamed rice and a few bites of the chicken. There were a number of other "guests"present, including a fairly large ghecko and a giant snail at least the size of my hand!

The next day we started out in the pool after breakfast, then took a taxi to visit the famous Jesus statue that stands on top of one of the small mountains in the area. We hopped in a taxi with a very smiley, somewhat toothless older man and headed off - for about 30 seconds, at which point the driver did a u-turn on the road and pulled over. We were a little confused until he leaned over and pointed up - at which point we realized the statue was up above us. I think he got quite a kick out of the fact that we had taken a cab from our hotel to go a few hundred metres! We had thought we could drive at least part way up, but again we were slightly off - about 1000 steps off! The only way to the top is to climb the 1000 stairs leading up from the road. (that being said, we saw a truck parked half way up and would have liked to hitch a ride by then!) We decided we would get out and walk around a bit, even if we didn't attemp the hike. As the driver rode off laughing at his 50 cent fare, we started heading up the mountain. In the end, the breathtaking views at each lookout kept us going, and we did eventually make it to the top. We were soaked in sweat and mind-boggled at the seemingly "sweat-free"ladies in their high heels, long pants and sweaters who had ascended before us. The views really were beautiful looking out over the water. After purchasing a couple of cold drinks at the top, we made our way back down. Our legs were a little shaky by the time we got back to the road, and we ended up having to walk almost back to the hotel before we caught a cab.

We went for lunch at the place we had tried to find the night before (after I looked up the directions this time!) and found it to be a cute little place called Nine Cafe and Restaurant, owned by a French man. The food was great, awesome bread and big servings. We managed to cool off a bit with the fans blowing warm air around on the patio, but were more than ready for the pool when we got back to the hotel. My mom offered to watch the kids so Brett and I headed back out a dinner to David's Pizzeria for some very yummy Italian food and a cappucino. We were so full we decided to walk back to the hotel - that and the fact that the drivers go alot faster in the taxis in Vung Tau, with more open road and less traffic - we had at least 3 games of chicken with our taxi and a bus throughout the day - mostly entailing us driving on the wrong side of the road on a solid line going around curves!

We talked with mom for a bit then went to bed. I had trouble connecting with the wifi so didn't manage to post more than a picture and finally gave up - only to be awoken shortly after by Brett being horribly sick. Unfortunately it was a very long night and the poor guy could barely stand or speak by morning. We ended up just eating granola bars in the room for breakfast then visited the pool for an hour before packing up. We had met a Vietnamese-born Canadian/American girl the day before who was there with her son, and since she is fluent in Vietnamese asked her for some help with Gatorade or something to help balance out Brett's electrolytes after being so sick. She got the hotel staff to make some warm salted lemon water with ground ginger to help, and he managed to drink about half of it. We weren't sure how we were going to get him on the hydrofoil by noon and back to the hotel in HMC, especially when the boat was rocking from side to side so much you could hardlly walk when we actually boarded. However, with a lot of prayers from mom sitting beside him, he managed to hold everything in. The taxi ride to the hotel was likely the worst we've had with start and stop jerking, which didn't help him any, but he once again managed to hold on and we were able to get checked back in and get our stored luggage fairly quickly. He slept the rest of the day and we ended up just staying in and ordering room service since we were all tired from being awake most of last night with him. He is better than he was but still rough. I am pretty sure it was likely something he ate at the first place in Vung Tau, since it's really the only spot where we had significantly different food from each other.

We are hoping he is back on his feet tomorrow, but we have no major plans from now until we leave so he has lots of time to recuperate. The family from Quebec were able to pick up Lucas's Vietnamese and Canadian passports today so we will post a picture of our latest Canadian tomorrow! We weren't able to change our flights since everything is booked solid, so it looks like Sept. 6th will be the date we leave.

Lucas is doing well and is starting to seem more attached. He definitely knows daddy and is saying dada and almost saying daddy alot (not always directly for Brett but seems to be starting to make the connection). He is saying mama or mom-mom-mom more now, although it is just babbling, not to get my attention per say. He continues to LOVE Maiya and she is able to get him to laugh the easiest. It was pretty neat to sit at the table tonight and watch him standing by the couch, reaching for, grabbing and feeding himself Cheerios!! He couldn't even chew a Cheerio 2 weeks ago, let alone pick one up and move it to his mouth.

He loves the iPad so I am definitely going to have to go shopping for a drool resistant cover when we get home. He likes having it very close to his eyes so he can focus so we will need to get one of those rough & tough styles I think! He is still sleeping great at night and has been pretty easy going with all the changes to routine the last few days. I think he has grown and gotten even chubbier the last 2 weeks as well - won't be in the 12 month stuff for too long it would seem!

Anyway, off to bed but will try to post more tomorrow.

Vung Tau - Wednesday

We left HMC Wednesday morning, packing up as much as possible and storing it at the hotel. We took a taxi to the waterfront and met Loan to board the express boat to Vung Tau. When we were here last time, the weather was too bad and we had to drive, since the boat can't go in big waves. It is similar to the hydrofoil I sometimes took to the island I lived on in Japan. Since Vung Tau is on a penninsula, the boat is able to go down the river and cut across the bay, which makes for a 90 minute boat ride rather than a 5 hour drive in slow traffic! It was really interesting to see the tanker ships alongside small fishing boats and to view the city from the river too.

As we got off at the ferry terminal in Vung Tau to hot sun, blue skies and palm trees, Maiya sighed and said "Ahhh, it's good to be back where I was born." It was the start of an emotional day!

We had lunch at the hotel we are staying at - the Lan Rung Resort - and then checked into our room. It was then time for the big event - visiting Maiya's orphanage. When we went to Vung Tau to adopt Maiya everything was a bit of a blur. Driving through the streets yesterday brought back alot of those memories, but we were amazed at how much things had been developed in the last 5 years. The street in front of the orphanage was just a rutted dirt road then, and is now paved and has sidewalks. We took a picture of a photo that shows it then and took a picture of it now to show the contrast.

The vice director now is a former nanny and she was there to meet us and give us a tour. The infants are no longer cared for there as it has merged with another site, and this site has older children now. The room where Maiya was is now a classroom, but we were able to go in and see it, and also saw where they bathed the babies, which we didn't see last time. Standing there in the same spot we were in 5 years ago was really emotional for me, especially watching Maiya process it all. The toughest but best part came near the end of the visit. The vice director checked the registry and let us see the record of Maiya entering the orphanage and of our adoption of her. We got to see her file, which included a picture taken of the 3 of us the day we met her, as well as some other pictures that we had not seen before. I won't go into detail as the details are Maiya's story to share if she chooses when she is older, but needless to say I couldn't stop crying from the emotions of it all. Although she doesn't really understand right now, having even a few more photos and seeing the registry are very important parts of her history, and having that opportunity was beyond priceless.

After our visit we were ready for some emotional unwinding so we headed back to the hotel and hit the beautiful pool. Vung Tau's waterfront is beautiful but also filled with shipping tankers and oil rigs on the horizon so a bit of a unique contrast! We had our next adventure when we headed out for supper and ended up not where we had planned! We managed to eat some good food although Brett liked it more than the rest of us! Lost one of Lucas's contacts when we got back and had another miracle finding it with a flashlight on the bed after!

Will post more about our Vung Tau adventures tomorrow!

Welcome to Vung Tau

Apparently I've been spelling Brett's name wrong the last ten years!

Visit to the opthalmologist

We were up bright and early today to visit Dr. Pham, Lucas's opthalmologist. Maiya and Grandma stayed at the hotel and did crafts and Loan met us and went with us to the appointment. Dr. Pham has a new office in an area of HMC that is just being developed. It feels a bit surreal since the whole area is filling up with huge, shiny (and expensive!) stores and buildings but it is very quiet because there are relatively few people around - a big difference from the hectic pace of District 1 and the downtown core. Also a big contrast from the shipyards and area we passed through on the way there - crowded, dirty, run-down.

The office was very modern and it was nice to meet Dr. Pham. We are going to have her email a summary report to us with all the information from his vision history. She answered some of our questions too, but really we will need a specialist back home asap for more details on next steps.

Stopped for a coffee at a beautiful new mall near the office before heading home - another expensive set of stores and no customers! Baffled by how these places keep going - all high end stores like Gucci.

Mom and Brett went to the Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum (referred to as War Ruminants by Brett 5 years ago - still no cows there!). Mom found the museum very difficult - the photos of the horrors of war are very graphic, and it is even more difficult I think knowing that many children are still born today suffering from deformities due to the lingering affects of Agent Orange in the ecosystem.

I stayed at the hotel with the kids and then we met up at the Vincom Centre where there is a ton of restaurants. We had some Fanny ice cream for dessert then back to the hotel to pack. Checking out and storing most of our luggage tomorrow and spending until Friday in Vung Tau. Will be visiting Maiya's orphanage in the afternoon so a big day for her.

Posting some pics of the appointment and the area around the office.

Happy 1st Birthday!

It's been a long and busy day so will let the pictures speak for themselves! Off to see the ophthalmologist tomorrow and have to leave by 8am so better get some sleep. Found the quilt store this morning with mom and got a few things, and made our way back to pick up the ao dai this evening which was another adventure!

But the best part of the day was getting to celebrate our baby boy's first birthday. Loan and Thuy joined us at our hotel and brought a cake (and they came by motorcycle in 40 degree heat with the cake intact!) - they work with our adoption agency and are a big part of bringing Lucas into our family. Our new friends from Quebec joined us later on.

We had some fantastic snacks from the hotel restaurant, opened a few presents, ate cake and did the Toi Noi. This is a tradition where objects are placed around the child that represent future characteristics for the child, depending on which ones they pick. On Maiya's first birthday she picked money for wealth, a pen for being a writer, a textbook for being a scholar or teacher, a calculator for business, and a map for being a traveller. Lucas wouldn't touch the money but he did pick the pen, the book, a ball for being athletic, markers for being artistic and the map for travel, so he should be well rounded, even if he is not rich!

The pictures start with some of the first photos we ever received of Lucas to shots from early this morning and the party. It is incredible to think of the challenges our little warrior has overcome in his first year of life. But look at how far he has come in one week. So our birthday message to you, our "warrior and bringer of light" comes from one of my favourite books...."Oh the places you'll go" - and we can't wait to see them with you!

Grandma's Big Adventure

Another full night of sleep for Lucas and Maiya both! I think the crazy amount of visual stimulation Lucas is getting the last week makes him very sleepy! He goes to bed with only a minute of fussing usually and sleeps from about 8pm to 6-7 am. He wakes up happy and likes cuddling in bed for a few minutes. He is LOVING pat-a-cake and starts laughing as soon as you start the words. He loves Maiya and she can usually get him laughing by jumping around and being silly. He tries to use his left eye more so it's kind of funny when he stops and tries to focus out of the left eye - the look is so intent! He still throws up a lot after eating (usually on Brett - 2 kids in and he still hasn't figured out he should close his mouth when he's holding them up like an airplane after they eat!). If you followed Maiya's blog you might recognize the toy sea turtle that appeared in alot of her pics when we were here adopting her!

Mom was feeling better today so we decided to have a girls outing and visit the Vietnamese quilt store that we went to with Maiya. It was founded by an NGO to help local women in rural areas learn a handicraft and the money from sales goes back to the women and their villages.

The hotel has a shuttle and they suggested taking it to the Ben Thanh Market and then walking to the quilt store and an ao dai store we wanted to check out to get something made for mom. The staff here have been great and the driver was no exception. When he dropped us off he gave us directions for where to walk and we headed off. We decided to brave the market first since we were there anyway. It makes a summer Saturday crowd at the St. Jacob's Market seem sparse in comparison!

Not too far inside we stopped at a silk store and checked out the material. The temperature is high enough outside but is even steamier inside. After some debate and attempted bargaining, and a brief walk away, mom settled on some very pretty silk and purchased it. We are pretty sure the price went up at some point but by that point we were hot and Maiya was losing patience! We got a pretty pale purple ao dai for Maiya in size 7 and will get some other sizes later.

Anyway - the fun was just starting as we then followed a lady from the material stall through the market, across a busy street and into a small side street. We stopped at a tiny shop with an open store front and a small cluttered counter - the tailor! Some measurements and a few dollars later we had a receipt and hopefully an ao dai to pick up tomorrow! (hopefully we can find it again!!).

We braved the crowded stalls one more time and made a couple more purchases. By this point Maiya was done in so we crossed the street to a Highland Coffee shop for a cold drink and a break from the heat. With a chance to orient ourselves we ventured out towards the quilt store. We passed by lots of local food markets and on our last turn found ourselves in front of the Bitexco Tower, a new building with a floor called the Saigon Skydeck on the 49th floor. We decided to buy tickets and head up. It was a bit pricey but definitely worth it! The building is very futuristic looking and our ears were popping on the ride up! The view was amazing - totally different perspective to see just how far the city goes. We could see buildings near where we are staying - if you look closely in the picture you can see the tip of the steeple on the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is about a 5-10 minute walk from our hotel.

As we were about to leave we noticed the wall of rain heading our way - and by the time we got back to the main floor the downpour had found us! When we asked the girl at the desk to confirm the direction we had to go for the quilt store, she was quite concerned about us going in the rain. She told us to follow her and took us through a section that looked like something from a spaceship with its digital lighting and security and escorted us to a different entrance, almost directly across from the store! We got our rain ponchos on and splashed across the street....only to find the sign for the store - and an empty room! So that ended our quilt search! We will try a different site tomorrow I guess!

So we got a taxi and headed back to the hotel for a swim and popcorn and ice cream by the pool.

Tomorrow our post will be more about Lucas since we will be busy celebrating his 1st birthday!

Zoo Day!

Started the day with sleeping in and a nice Skype visit with my brother, Craig, and his family. After breakfast we decided to head to the zoo for a bit. Mom was still not feeling 100% so she kept Lucas since it was his nap time anyway. We didn't get to the zoo last time and Maiya really wanted to go. We ended up arranging to meet our friends there and toured around for a couple hours.

Brett managed to find himself a new friend. A nice young girl handed me her camera when we stopped to see the giraffes. I thought she just wanted a shot of herself by the giraffes, but as I looked through the viewfinder, I was a little surprised to see her drape herself around Brett as she gave the peace sign and said "cheese "! It didn't end there as she told me to wait as she pulled a pair of large red sunglasses from her bag, put them on, re-draped herself around Brett and said "cheese " again. She then followed us for a few minutes longer. It is not really clear as to whether she really thought Brett was hot and wanted his photo, or if she was trying to pick his pocket, or if she thought she had simply found a rare and unusual albino creature roaming free in the zoo, but I guess we will never know for sure.

It was definitely interesting seeing the animal enclosures. Not too sure they would really hold if any of the animals really wanted out! Since my Uncle Eldon just retired from the Toronto Zoo, it would be interesting to have had him along with us! With the controversy over the elephants and their enclosure in Toronto, I can't imagine what people would say about this enclosure!

We headed to the food court at the Diamond Plaza with our friends for lunch and to cool off from the sauna-like weather! We ended up going to Pizza Hut again since Maiya was having a tough time with some of the food court smells. Our hotel has popcorn and ice cream (and fruit and cold tea) by the pool from 2-4 on weekends so our friends came back to our hotel for the afternoon which was fun. Mom was feeling better so she joined us for a swim too.

Lucas had a good day today. He was able to feed himself an Arrowroot cookie which was a big step and he loves to sit on the floor by grandma while she folds laundry and does dishes (I'm sure the room cleaners must love us - can't keep mom from doing her usual busy work!). He was definitely a daddy's boy today - he likes to imitate daddy blowing raspberries. He is still a bit afraid of the little walker we got him but he loved watching our friend's little guy running around with it.

No pics of Lucas today, just some from the zoo. None of Brett's little ladyfriend, but he was definitely drawing attention with some of his other poses. The John Deere "zoomobile" pic is for my dad. The creepy eyelids holding up 2 weighted buckets attached to chains was part of a show at the zoo and was very freaky. Almost as weird as the albino and the sunglasses lady.

And so ends another day of adventure in Vietnam!

oh - by the way, even though we can't view our posts we can still read comments so feel free to say hi if you are following along!