Hanoi Hillybillies

We have been doing our own laundry in the hotel room because we were losing clothes and getting other peoples through the laundry service. I lost a t shirt but got a really comfy mu mu, not a bad deal. We are coming into the home stretch and taking things a day, minute and second at a time. We are all imploding in our own special ways. Anna seems to be the most creative. We are shamelessly bribing, cajoling and filling her with all the junk food we can purchase. The locals love to see our lame attempts at parenting while Anna throws tantrums on the streets/restaurants/museums, etc. We should be wearing costumes to make it more intesting. Maybe next time we will put out a tip hat for some extra cash.

We did go to the Hanoi "zoo" the other day. I think it was 111 degrees with no breeze. The animals are in filthy concrete and steel cages and look miserable. There are really creepy and old carnival rides made for nightmares and severe head injuries. Anna decides to throw a world class fit, tyler is crying, laura and I are dripping sweat and being eaten by mosquitos and the locals (we were the only foreigners) decide that we are way more interesting than the animals. They all gathered round and stared, laughed, touched the children and other really helpful things. I decided it was not the time for a life lesson and saved the situation with 2 lolly pops, an ice cream cone and a pepsi. Amazing what a buck fifty can do. We continued throught the zoo and I saw a woman feeding wrapped taffey to the monkeys (see photo). I walked onto this scene and instinctively said "NO". The group poisoning this particular primate stopped, looked at me like a freak show and continued. I decided that I couldn't change the situation so I just documented it with photos and everyone was happy. Apparently the monkeys were accustomed to this as their cage was covered with empty wrappers.

A couple of closing thoughts/observations: cuban cigars really are the best, king size beds are perfect for a family of four, well done meat is not always a bad thing, exchanging $100 in US dollars for 1,670,000 Vietnamese is very cool, and baby poo should be considered a weapon of mass destruction. Hopefully we will be home on tuesday night.