- Confucius
So, as some of you know…because of the location of our hotel, we have to travel by taxi to many places…no big deal…and not very expensive…but, often you need to be careful in choosing a cab and cab company…we have not had any trouble as of yet…although some interesting experiences…Here are two…
Last night we and another family took a taxi from our hotel downtown to meet another family for dinner…As we mentioned traffic is absolutely crazy here…and the roads are 90% filled with motorbikes racing around…with sometimes 1 or sometimes 5 persons on one motorbike…and in many cases cargo…lots of cargo for a motorbike…So, as we were on our way to the restaurant a motor bike carrying a stack of vegetables tries to pass our taxi on the right side…our taxi swerves to miss something on the left and hits the motorbike with his mirror…the motorbike, driver and cargo fall to the ground…we keep driving along and our driver is a little upset...maybe even a lot upset...although the language barrier was a little bit of an issue…now in our cab is 4 adults and two babies, as well as the driver…now we are thinking that my goodness…what is this going to involve, in the US it would involve paperwork, police, lawyers, lawsuits, insurance companies, etc…Would we be witnesses? The thoughts were running through our head…so eventually the driver pulls over about a block later…he gets out of the cab…we look to the rear to see if he was checking on the motorbike driver…, no, where did he go?...he walks to the right side of the car, adjusts the mirror that just struck the motorbike driver…gets back in the car and continues on our journey happy that his mirror was not damaged… No police, no lawsuits, no leaving the scene of an accident!!! OK..When in Rome…
After dinner the three of us decided to do some shopping in the old quarter (great deals by the way!), have some ice cream…great fun…We had some bags of souvenirs…We hailed a taxi to go back to the hotel..no problems…we get back to the room and realize uhh oh! We left our bags of souvenirs in the taxi!!! We thought, how stupid, we were mad…but it was only about 10 dollars of stuff… This afternoon we were returning from touring…and the front desk said we have something for you!!! And guess what??? The taxi driver returned our bags to the hotel!!! Can you believe that an honest taxi driver? We were wondering how often that would happen in the USA???
Today we picked up Anthony’s passport (YEA! Another step down)…We have his visa interview at the US embassy this Friday morning…if all goes well we should be free to leave Vietnam Friday evening…However, at this point the first available flight for us may get us home on Wednesday, June 4…We are working with our airline to see if we can get home earlier…We will keep everyone posted…..
Little Anthony is still doing great!!! He is fun loving, lovable…he is a great kid who is adjusting very well…He is letting mommy do a lot more…we are making great progress!!!
Here are some pictures and video from our recent travels….
St. Joseph's Catholic Cathedral (Built during French Colonial Period)
Stained Glass in Cathedral (They don't they make it like this anymore)
New Friends...
Like my new hat?
Mommy and baby...
'Having lunch...
Eating lunch at Hoan Keim Lake...
Spring rolls anyone?
Eating Ice Cream for the first time!!!
Really enjoying ice cream for the first time!
Video of Little Anthony having a great time on the boat cruise!
Video of evening traffic in downtown Hanoi!
5 comments:
He is so beautiful! I am glad he is beginning to let you be his "Mommy"...Gregg always laughs when we watch major sporting events...the baseball player whose Dad played numerous hours with him, helping him master his hit, catch, or pitch...the football Dad who teaches his son EVERYTHING HE KNOWS....and in the end it all comes down to a HI MOM!!!
I remember in the Phillipines all the cars, jitneys, motorbikes all going the same way in every lane....I'm thinking OK a 1 way road...boy was I wrong...all of a sudden 4 lanes of 1 way traffic all try to huddle into 2 lanes of traffic to allow the traffic coming the other way to get through...many many OH MY I'm going to be sick while driving there! And the trip into the mountains wow I was never the same after that trip lol.
Love the ice cream pictures...lol it reminded me of Chris the first time he had ice cream...at first it was a yum face...then an oh my this is different face, then oh my its COLD face...then the hysterical I HATE IT face...then the ugh ugh ugh ugh I WANT MORE face! followed by a few of the above faces lol kids are awesome. No matter how the day goes it always ends with a smile for them! Luckily we have the wonderful sense of humor needed to be great Moms!
We are so blessed to have you all in our family! And to be included in your amazing journey!
Hello:
Just reading about the taxi accounts and it had me biting on my fingernails like somebody else I know! Congrats on the passport...that is like gold dust! Little Anthony is so cute and his laugh is adorable. Did they have an English Mass there for you or perhaps it was in French? Even if you can't get home until Wednesday, enjoy the last of your extra special bonding time. New Jersey is not going anywhere!!!
Take care. God Bless.
Lisa
The taxi story is insane. I hope the biker is ok. Congratulations for getting the passport. I'm sure you are very happy about that. I know you all are having fun, but I hope you guys are home soon.
Sharif
It sounds like quite an adventure there. Loved the taxi story! Hope you can get a flight out soon and bring that young man home! Blessings- Thomas & Cathy
What great fun! Seems like you're really enjoying your trip. It sure is amazing what you see while in traffic.
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