last days

home again! we are all happy to be home, welcoming the incoming snow storm. perfect timing, as long as the heat stays on, for us to recoup and get over jet lag. as i write it is 4:21 am and we have been up for 2 hours already. back to sleep soon, i hope!

vietnam
USA
hong kong

yesterday was walker's 1st birthday! he spent it on an airplane...or 2 or 3. but we got a pic of him in 3 different countries: vietnam, china, and the USA! happy birthday, walker!

our last few days were spent eating, hanging out, and traveling. we had some excellent food at the street cafe in hoi an.
the cooks, a long row, each had their own kitchen. this is outside, under a tented roof.

we also had some good conversations with a vietnamese lady there who told us that vietnamese babies basically eat the same food as american babies, that they start spicy food when they are 5 or 6. they also wear disposable diapers, but boys only wear them when not at home. boys do not wear them all the time, because if they do, they will be unable to have children when they grow up. i told her this is NOT true, but she just laughed at me.


spring rolls, yum!
a dish with udon, peanuts, quail egg, pork, veggies. the quail egg tasted just like a regular egg, just smaller and more condensed. i think those chips are fried pork skins, couldn't tell from the taste.


this appetiser came free, so we don't know what it was, but it seemed like some kind of breaded and deep fried vegetable or plaintain-like thing. the breading was especially delicious & the sauce was sweet and sour with some spice. served on a good-looking banana leaf.


here is a pic of the cafe, when everyone was admiring walker.

upon our return to HCMC from hoi an, we found preparations for Tet, the vietnamese new year were under way. these are a bunch of huge plastic flowers they are putting up over the streets. they are assembling these with a glue gun on the side of the road! we also saw large glittered piers being set up. it made me think of my uncle victor who passed away this summer, and how much he would have loved to see this process. i miss him tons.

on our way from hoi an to HCMC, we found that the airline had taken us off the list for our flight. it was an accident, but the lady who messed up wouldn't fess up, so after some angry discussion, we had to pay an extra $100 to get back on the flight. which means we paid 2ce for the flight and then a fee for them to accidentally cancel it. i was MAD! but we made it back to HCMC on time and safely...

THEN, when we were leaving HCMC for the US, we overheard that our flight from hong kong to San fran was delayed...by SIX hours. and when we got to the front of the line, the lady switched us to a different flight, by passing the delay, so we actually arrived in the US 5 hours EARLIER! we were delighted and figured that evened out the extra we had to pay for our last flight. i love it when things work out like that! my anger at the mean lady at Vietnam Air just disappeared.

so the flight went like this: 2 hours form HCMC to Hong Kong, 15 hours from hong kong to Chicago, 1 hour form chicago to Asheville. the 15 hour flight was very, very long. walker did so great! at times he wiggled so much it almost made me crack, but he slept a bunch and also hung out in our laps a bunch too. he cried some, but never intolerably. jamie walked with him up and down the aisles a bit, and all in all it was just a matter of being tortured by the slow passing of time.

our bags have not yet arrived, but i feel good that they will because we saw them at customs in chicago. when they get here i will take some pics of the goodies i bought so you can see!

i think i will be continuing to blog some about other travels, jewelry, and just plain old whatnot, so if you are interested, keep checking in! thanks for keeping up with us, it is comforting to know people are reading the blog! i leave you with a couple of images that i think are simply pretty...now that i have photoshop to help me a little! more images sometime soon.