Goodbye to Hanoi

Tucker and I sadly had to say goodbye to Lisa and the kids and travel back to Wellesley. We feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to share this amazing experience with the Sharples clan. Many thanks go to Wescott, Otto and Yve for their tours of all the hot spots in Hanoi - they very graciously went to see every site that they had seen many times before. Praise to Lisa and Cliff for always creating new ways to have family adventures. And finally, a warm welcome to two of the most special boys, Tuck and Jones.

Ha Long Bay Adventure

For the past three days we have been on a "venture" as Govie says. The whole gang plus a driver and two babysitters traveled from Hanoi by van to Ha Long Bay. It took about 4 hours but seemed like a lot longer with "double trouble", Tuck and Jones, diving from the front to the very rear of the van. The whole idea of car seats, seat belts, etc. does not exist here. As we left the city, we very quickly were in the middle of rice fields, small towns and a little less traffic.

We had requested a private boat so the twins would not bother any other guests. We discovered on arrival in Ha Long Bay that we not only had a private boat but we had a new 20 room vessel with a staff of 12. We all chose our rooms - Tucker and I had two adjoining rooms with two full baths so we could put our clothes in one and sleep in the other. The rooms were appointed with hand carved furniture and silk curtains and pillows. Lisa and the children had about 4 rooms together but we only had one crib. This resulted in Tuck sleeping on a mattress on the floor. Since he rolls around alot, one night Lisa found him completely under the bed. It did not make for alot of sleep.

After settling in we had our first meal. The dishes kept coming, presentation was amazing and the fresh fish, vegetable and fruit the best we have had in Vietnam.

We feel so lucky to have been able to share this experience with Lisa and the kids - we wish that all of you had been with us also.

Dinner as a Contact Sport

Every now and then we decide that it really shouldn't be that bad to take the twins to a restaurant with us. Will we never learn? They are both at that active, wiggley, antsy stage so the concept of sitting down to eat does not exist. While they were in the orphanage, they sat in a circle on the floor and ate. Now they crawl all over us - we are only saved by an order of french fries!

Non-Profit Discoveries

Yesterday was a day to discover two of the non-profit organizations formed to help the Vietnamese people.

Our first stop was the Vietnam Quilts Community Development Organization Shop. This program trains women in rural communities to develop skills so they can be self sufficient in supporting their families. Any extra profit goes to educate the children in the village. Check out their web site WWW.Vietnam-quilts.org. You can custom order quilts choosing your own colors and designs. The cotton and fabrics come from the fabric market in Saigon.

The young woman who managed the shop spoke very good English which is unusual to find in Hanoi. I tried to tell her about the Amish women in the US who also quilted as a community and sold their quilts. She could not believe that they chose to live without electricity or anything with a motor.

Otto feel in love with a quilt similar to the one in the photo only in blues. Now the Sharples family will proudly be able to display a new quilt on each of the kids beds!!

In the evening Cliff, Steff and I escaped to go to cooking school. Koto International was founded in the late 1990's by a Vietnamese Australian who met some street kids and asked them what they wanted in life. They needed skills. Look at www.koto.com.au From a small sandwich shop the organization has grown to an 24 month resturant program giving 18 young men and women life skill lessons and hospitality-based English language classes. At the end of the program students have been successfully placed in restaurants throughout Hanoi.

The Koto restaurant has excellent food and offers cooking classes on Tuesday nights in their teaching center. It was fun to learn about some of the amazing produce we has seen in the street markets. After preparing five dishes, we sat down to a meal served in the garden by candlelight. Most of the 16 people that evening were living in Hanoi - we were the only Americans.

The Drummers

I have been telling Cliff that one of the great things about being in Hanoi is how different all the shops, restaurants, and buildings are. Then we went to an upscale mall!! It was five stories with two sets of elevators. All the shops could have been found at most US malls. On the top floor was a video arcade. We loved watching all the young girls dancing on the electronic dance floor.