Hanoi

Well, we are here now. The flight was pretty good, apart from Jonas crying his head off for ages due to lack of sleep. After two or so hours of intermittent screams, I just gritted my teeth and did my best to soothe him. When we arrived in HCMC the passport control officer gave us a reason to finally add some humour back into the journey with the most bizarre facial hair. And I mean hair- as in singular. He had a regular size mole on his neck, but what made it so special was the 8 inch hair growing out of it and curling along his offical white shirt. It was all I could look at. It was made even more terrific by the fact that he was completely, COMPLETELY clean-shaven apart from this hair. Once we went through customs we were greeted by a lady holding a sign "Mrs Kythera" and taken to our hotel. As it was late, all the lights were on and provided a wonderful show for the kids on the way to the hotel. Jaymz and I enjoyed watching the young Vietnamese sitting on their scooters around a park and making out. It seems like this park was "Make Out Creek" for people!

Jaymz and Ophelia took the elevator up to our room- which literally had room for Jaymz and Ophelia and nothing else. Once there, the kids proceeded to jump on the bed until they got really tired, when they both cuddled up together and fell asleep while Jaymz and I sat on the balcony taking in the atmosphere. During the night Jonas feel out of bed with a scream and before we knew it all four of us were sharing the king size bed. It was lovely to be woken up by Jonas playing with my hand and Ophelia snuggled up next to me at 4:30.

We went back to the airport and flew to Hanoi arriving at around 9:30am.

Upon arriving at our hotel we walked the 3 floors with backpacks and kids to our room. We spent the afternoon wandering around the lake.

We had been told that the Vietnamese love kids but we didn't expect what we have experienced. At the airport I had several women run up to us and touch the kids, kissing, hugging, stroking and so forth. But the best thing was when a lady grabbed her little child (maybe 2?) and forced her to kiss Jonas on the lips for a good 5 secs. I had to forceably remove Ophelia from one lady's arms. This afternoon we were treated like royalty, people stop us and touch the kids, take photos of us and just stare. It is kinda fun. Jaymz reckons it's how Heavenly Hirani Tiger Lily was treated.

We have just arranged for a trip to North Vietnam (Sa Pa) in a couple of days (including a homestay with a Vietnamese family) and are meeting the Hanoi Kids tomorrow. These kids are volunteers who guide tourists around for free just to practice their English. Should be fun.

I'd like to say we're missing you all but it ain't true!

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