Batteries Included

Today has been another eventful day. Thuoc arrived this morning 5 minutes early to pick us up at the Movenpick Hotel in HCMC. He had a van with a driver(Tom) to take us to Can Tho. We had a very nice ride through the many towns and Provinces. Tom (Our Driver) darted in and out very quickly through the hundreds of scooters. Sometimes missing other cars, scooters and people by inches. He does this at a great rate of speed I mind you. There are businesses and homes all along the way through the towns.

Since we have been here, we have come to realize that PHO is a very important dish here in Vietnam. Pho is a kinda soup with noodles, vegetables and a meat of some sort. There are many restaurants along the way to partake in this feast. It is funny to see little pastic tables and chairs (child size)set up with hammicks right beside the tables in these restaurants. People pull up their scooters right beside the table in the open air restaurant eat and then can rest in their hammock.

Well I survived my first squatter restroom today. That was a real concerned that I had before we came on this trip. The worry was that I would be the one to have to go to the restroom too many times along the way to Can tho. Thuoc said that he had planned to take a 15 minute break half way to Can tho where they had american style bathrooms. Well NORMAN was the one not making it half way. We had to stop at a regular restroom along the way. You will be happy to note that we lived to tell about it. After a four hour ride, we arrived a ferry that would take us across the river into Can Tho. As you wait in a line of cars for the ferry, there are venders there with food to purchase. Fruits galore lined the streets. These fruits were so colorful and we have not ever seen some of these varieties. Along with the hassle and bussle of the street venders, you also have beggars with their hands out for money. It was heart breaking to see the blind. old and homeless people there coming up to the windows of our van begging. Thuoc bought us this kind of roasted corn that was delcious for a snack as we waited about 30 minutes to board the ferry. Thuoc is a gentle quiet man that doesn't say a lot of words but is very kind and gracious and has taken very good care of us so far.

We arrived around 1pm and rested for the rest of the afternoon. ( A much needed rest I might add) The people in the hotel are precious. I would say about 7 people escorted us to our room and made sure everything was in order. Thuoc picked us up at the Hotel at 6a;30pm and we walked to a small local Cafe and had supper. The night air was nice but the humidity was high. Norman and I wanted to eat very little. We have been doing nothing but eating new dishes and just wanted a chicken noodle soup. Thuoc and Tom chowed down some pretty weird looking stuff and we had a quiet dinner.

After dinner, Norman informed Thuoc that we wanted to go to a store to get a phone to be able to call the US. We also needed some supplies for a birthday party for Hau 's(Jayden). We were the main attraction at the Mall Store. Here, in Can Tho, they have a three story building that has everything in it you would ever want to buy. Norman and I were so tickled at how the Vietnamese people would walk right up to the counter where we were and just listen to our converstaion as we bought this phone. It was so comical as people would come up and say Hello and just giggle. It was so precious to watch their reaction. Norman said he felt like we must have looked like some kind of Aliens to them. After we bought the phone we headed upstair to the toy department. It was so great to see Thuoc smile for one of the few times as we bought toys for Hau (Jayden) You can tell he has a love for the babies. He knew exactly what he thought Jayden would like and offered his opinion as we shopped. We didn't have enough Vietnamese dollars with us to pay for everything and Thuoc had to explain to the staff that we had US dollar. It was a comical situation as we tried to purchase these items. One of the neat things we keep noticing is the amazing attention to customer service here. We purchased Jayden a toy truck which needs batteries. When we asked about the batteries, they replied, "we give you batteries if you buy."
Not only did they give us the batteries, but they put them in and made sure everything worked.
So maybe not in America, but in Vietnam we learned, batteries are included.

We finished up at the store and Thuoc had us sit in front of the store to wait on the Tom and the van. He set up the little chairs right in front of the store LOL. We really were the center of attention then. There was a beautiful little boy about the age of 9 that was facinated with us. He set up his chair right in front of ours and kept the most beautiful smile on his face as we sat there and studied each other. Tom arrived with the van, and we thought we were headed back to the Hotel when thuoc had Tom stop the van in front of a bakery. We went in and Thuoc helped us select a beautiful belated birthday cake for Jayden. Jayden turned two years old September 14th. The cakes here in Vietnam are so beautiful and colorful. If it taste as good as it looks we are in for a treat. Tom and Thuoc dropped us off at the Hotel and said to be ready to go at 7am tomorrow. We will go to the Floating market and then off to the baby home. Please pray that Friday we will have him and head back to HCMC. We will blog when we have internet again. Until then keep us in your Thoughts and prayers.