Sightseeing in Vietnam

Today we did some sightseeing with another Holt family. We started at the Saigon Zoo, then continued on to the Rex Hotel as well as the Cathedral of Notre Dome, the Central Post Office, a museum within the zoo and the Ho Chi Minh City Hall.

The Saigon Zoo was nothing like any other zoo I have visited. There were not many animals that we saw and the conditions are much different than the United States. There were vendors within in the zoo selling food to feed the animals. There were people feeding the elephants sugar cane sticks. The people on the sidewalk were only about 5 feet away from the elephant exhibit. The elephants were able to take the sugar cane out of people's hands. It is the closest I have ever been to an elephant .

There was an area of the zoo that was designated just for children. It reminded me of kiddie land at Waldameer. The girls got to ride two rides that cost 5,000 Dong which comes out to be less than .50 cents a ride. They also had little battery operated motorcycles where the children were riding around the track. They had little fishing games set up in plastic blow up boats.

We then went to the Rex Hotel where the did all of the press conferences during the Vietnam War. We than walked to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We wanted to go in but it was closed on Sunday. Not sure why a church was closed on a Sunday. We then went to the post office and the family we were with had the great idea of mailing a letter back to our sons so we sent them a post card - we are all curios to see if which one gets home first us or the post card.

Then we returned for a nap. After our naps we meet up with our travel buddies and decided to try the market again. Apparently the trick is to go at a more busy time. Tonight they had tons of vendors out on the streets and they were not as pushy as they were yesterday morning. We bought Emily and Jacob Saigon shirts and Emily picked out an lavender Au Doi which is an Vietnamese dress. After shopping we walked to a restaurant that is close to our hotel. We ordered pizza and Dave told me I needed to tell everyone that I liked it and thought it was very good. For those of those that don't really know me I am picky about my pizza!

We are now settling in for the night. We have everything packed and ready to go. We will be picked up at the hotel at 7:00 am and be taken to the Bien Hoa child center where we will meet Jacob and his foster parents. Please pray that little Jacob will somehow know that we are his forever family and just want to love and take care of him and that we want to do what is best for him not just taking him away from all he has ever known. The next time I post Jacob will be ours!