Thursday, July 19th

After another morning of lounging around the apartment, we did something pretty fun. At 1:00 we all went over to Sandy and Paul's place where they had arranged a Cyclo (pronounced SEE-klo) tour of the city for us. A cyclo is sort of a bicycle with a carrier in the front for one person. I will post a picture later. Each cyclo holds just one person (or one person and a baby). Scott and Dallas each had good cyclo drivers - very courteous and respectful. When it started to rain, there was a roof that they pulled over our heads and a sort-of curtain that hung over our feet and legs. We were each almost totally protected from the rain. Mary Beth wasn't so lucky. Her driver did pull up the cover but she and Max got wet because their lower half was sticking out.

Anyway, we rode through HCMC traffic on these open-air cyclos; pretty amazing but we felt pretty safe. Cars and scooters just drive around you. Some of the bigger members of our group felt bad for the small Vietnamese drivers having to haul them around but none complained. We rode for about 45 minutes and then arrived at the oldest pagoda in HCMC. It's around 300 years old. We went inside (just before the afternoon monsoon hit - perfect timing) and were able to witness a service that I believe was Buddhist. They let us take pictures which I wasn't all together comfortable doing but they really didn't seem to mind. Logan really liked riding in they cyclo but he got a little bit hot in the Baby Bjorn. When we got into the pagoda, we discovered that he needed changing so Dallas and I took him out into the vestibule area where we changed him on the blessed table. It wasn't really "blessed," we just thought that sounded funnier than saying the "table by the door." Just as we got the diaper off, Logan christened the blessed table with a little holy water of his own! OK, that's enough sacrilegious humor, promise. It really was a beautiful temple and we were very much welcomed by the people there.

The rain stopped and we left to return to the cyclos. On the way back to the apartments, we stopped at a lacquer shop. Vietnam is famous for its lacquerware and this shop made some very beautiful pieces. Of course, everything was for sale but Dallas and I didn't buy anything. We found most of the same things at the Ben Thanh market for MUCH less money (hey, we're on vacation but we're not stupid). This was the end of the line for the cyclos so we said goodbye and taxi'ed it back to the apartments.

We all went up to Jeff and Karen's apartment on the 17th floor for wine and cheese before dinner. It was nice to just sit around and talk in an informal environment. The group of families is really getting along great. We're really enjoying spending time with them. We've heard stories of other adoption groups in the past not getting along and we just can't imagine that. It's so nice to be able to share these experiences with others. We can't say enough nice things about these folks.

We all went and had Vietnamese food for dinner at a place downtown (I say "downtown" but really, the whole city seems like it's "downtown" - it's endless!). I had Pineapple Fried Rice and it was, indeed, fried rice served inside a pineapple. Very original and also very good. Dallas and Mary Beth both had some sort of cauliflower dish they enjoyed though we all struggled a bit with the chop sticks. Logan fell asleep at the restaurant and has been asleep pretty much ever since. We're back now and calling it a day. Not sure what's on the schedule for tomorrow but we'll post whatever we end up doing.

Good night.