Going to the Market

Sunday brought a hazy day to start out. But by mid afternoon the sun was shining bright and the muggy warm air was back in force.

Let's start with the BIG news. First of all, Kristi and I are getting to experience parenting starting at the sixth month. What does that mean, Katelin is already pulling herself into a standing position and crawling. Check out the video by clicking the image. I guess we will need to get those gates up quick when we get home. Katelin is also waving goodbye. It is so cute to see those little fingers waving. So she is moving along rather quickly, hoepfully our remaining schedule will stick and we can get her home to see all of you before she is driving. :-)

Otherwise, today Katelin and mommy were having a rough morning, so they stayed behind to get a few extra winks, while Lilli and I went to the Ben Thanh Market. An frantic colorful place of...you name it. Lilli and I went looking for some souvenigrs, but also take in the unique aspects of an open market. We did the sight seeing first, passing by the plentiful vendors. Fresh fish and seafood next to fresh vegys around the corner from fresh chicken and fowl, sharing space with fresh fruit, across from the fresh beef, surrounded by the fresh flowers. Lets just say that we saw it all. Chickens being plucked, frog being skinned, beef heart, liver and intestines prepped for cooking. As a former restaurant guy, I am amazed and thrilled with how stringent our health code procedures are in the U.S. There is still nothing like it, especially the color of the fruit and vegys and flowers.

Then we headed to the cramped aisles of the wares portion of the market. Like I said..you name it. Clothes, shoes, appliances, crafts, linens, candy, and more clothes. It was amazing as more than one vendor would try to get me to stop with "wat'chyou lookin' for Mista. I have just your size, you want shirt for baby (referring to 6 year old Lilli??). We finally found a few pieces of art, and a couple tea sets for the girls. Then we stopped at the flowers on the way out to get a picture, and several others began taking pictures of Lilli, then were surprised when she came up and gave her daddy a hug.

After an afternoon at the pool we got dressed and headed to the famous Rex Hotel for dinner on their fifth floor garden terrace. It was a deligtfull meal and quite eye catching, as the entire terrace was decked out in Christmas lights and the sounds of Christmas music echoed through the palm trees. So peaceful, so tasty, then a few feet away you looked over the railing to the street below and saw the insanity that is Saigons streets. Hundreds of thousands of people and their motor bikes and cars crammed into a couple square blocks. This was sort of an "unofficial" Christmas Celebration, with vendors selling snacks, drinks and he all the glow in the dark junk you could want. We are told this is nothing, on Christmas Eve the place looks like Times Square. Glad we went to the Rex tonight.

From there it was back to the hotel and a bath/shower for all, so that we can get up early tomorrow morning and head to our G&R ceremony at the Ministry of Justice. Check back tomorrow for the latest.