Cuc Gach Quan, Saigon, Vietnam

Our 'workacation' continues.....
We enjoy a Vietnamese meal in a funky restaurant with Paige, the director of Global Foundation for Children with Hearing Loss.

I like this start to our "work week" in Saigon! It is HOT down here, but we are ready for the heat.

Saturday February 25, 2012 BYE to Hanoi

Slow Saturday morning as we sleep in until 6 am. Time adjustment can be challenging. Buffet breakfast at the Silk Path Hotel does not disappoint. Jim has an omelet made to his liking - vegetables. lea has roasted carrots and potatoes and fruit with passion fruit yogurt ( the yogurt here is delicious). Coffee is great - rich chocolatey nutty flavor, we love it.

It's fun to catch up with e-mail and FB. Thanks to maverick eyes.com we can circumvent the FB ban. Also, our guide who is happy he lives in a Socialist Republic knows how to type in an IPO address to get around the gov's block and shares it with us!

Jim needs a new watch. He finally finds a watch shop that examines his watch and battery. The report is that the battery is ok. Okay, time to go shopping!

Vinn who we thought was Van greets us i the hotel lobby. He brings his wife with him today, Thuy joins us for the ride to the airport. Good thing she does! She helps us shop along the streets and at the big market while Vinn waits in the Van. She also suggest that we stop at a flower market for photos!

We arrive at Hanoi Airport in time to have lunch on the 4th floor. Judy orders sautéed mixed vegetables and gets bok choy mixed with bok choy. Lea is orders vegetable soup and is served broth with bitter leaf and more bitter leaf. Jim tries the Pho Ga - chicken soup! Lea orders a coconut milkshake and wow - gets a coconut shell with a straw to drink a shaken up coconut - really good! We laugh and laugh.

Waiting in line after line; tickets, baggage, security, boarding, we learn to be tough and not let people push us around and sneak by us which seems to be the way here.

Babies crying aboard the plane make us happy we have ear phones and a good book! Jim is reading The Orphan's Master's Son by Adam Johnson, Lea is reading Cutting for Stone, and Judy is writing postcards! Fun and easy ride down to Saigon for us!

Finally together with Paige Stringer