Water Puppets and Emotionally Exhausted

We started the morning with a Skype call to Gabriel. My dad has set up a video camera, so, we were able to see our sweet boy's face for the first time since he was at my sister's house last Saturday. It was wonderful to see him, but, we just miss him so much. It is hard to be away from him so long.

After our video call, we had breakfast and went to the market. We bought two children's dvds in Vietnamese - we are hoping they will play on our dvd player back home, but, we're not sure if they will (Christina or anyone else who has been to Vietnam and back, did the dvds you bought here play at home?).

Lana wanted some more shrimp flavored chips, and when we got back to the apartment she was insistent upon sharing them with Dave and I. (We are happy that she wants to share, but, MAN!! Those chips are NASTY!!!) She also ate some instant noodles for lunch that were either crab or crawfish flavored. David fed them to her because the fishy smell was not something I could deal with. I am very happy to report that Lan is all about her daddy today. (I even got to take a whole bath with only two short visits from her (I guess to make sure I didn't slip out the window or something.) (Lan is odd about bathing. She refuses to sit in the tub. She stands passively and allows me to pour water over her body, and helps with the soaping up, but, she steadfastly refuses to sit in tub. I was hoping when she saw me sitting in the tub she would do so herself, but, no such luck. Maybe when she sees what fun Gabe has in a bubble bath...)

In the afternoon we took the hotel shuttle in to town and saw the temple that is in the center of Hoan Kiem Lake. We got some good photos outside the temple - I will try to post those tonight. Then we went to a boulangerie for some pastries (pain au chocolate!!) and Vietnamese coffee (which is, hands down, the best coffee that either of us have ever had.)

Then, we went to the Water Puppets. Lan was entranced by the Water Puppets until the last 5 minutes, when she started to fuss a little. I'm not sure how exactly to describe water puppetry, it's puppets...in water. It was very interesting, even though it was all in Vietnamese so we couldn't follow the story. HOWEVER, the ladies room at the Water Puppet Theater is ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING. The ladies room was overflowing with people, while the men's room was quiet. Also, in the men's room was a perfectly clean western style toilet. (I could see it from the hallway and David confirmed it's existence.) But, what did Lana and I find in the Ladies after waiting for 10 minutes with my child clutching her crotch and hopping up and down and pitifully saying "pee pee pee pee" in Vietnamese?? A FILTHY, NASTY UNFLUSHABLE squatty potty. I.e. a porcelain HOLE IN THE FLOOR. Lana had clearly never used one of these before, and it has been 10 years since I used one in Japan, where at least they flushed well.

This is the third time we have encountered deplorable conditions (like,for example, no toilet seats and no toilet paper) in the ladies when David has reported clean and pleasant conditions in the men's room. I don't know why I find this so infuriating - it would be merely a cultural thing to deal with if both the men's and ladies' rooms were in poor condition, but, to know that the men's is clean and not lacking in toilet seats or paper just makes me crazy.

After the water puppets and the heinous bathroom, we walked to St. Joseph's Cathedral. It was huge and quiet inside which was a relief after the insanity that is traffic in Hanoi. From there we went to dinner at Pho 24, which is a restaurant serving Pho (obviously.) The Pho was delicious, but, I had a pounding headache.

We finally found a cab to bring us back to the hotel. I feel utterly emotionally exhausted right now, although my headache has stopped pounding quite so much. I think we are going to eat some yogurt and head to bed.

More later,
Gretchen