Exploring Hanoi

Tanje's personality is continuing to emerge. What can we say so far? Happy, laughy, inquisitive, grabby (especially wires and other forbidden fare), curious, and still a bit sad at times. She walks quite well, and almost runs at times. She can turn on a dime while doing so, which tells us she must've been walking well before we met her, likely by her 1st birthday. She's finally eating better, although still not much for her age. The one sure thing: cheerios! Good thing we brought a whole box, as I haven't seen any at grocery stores here.

We spent the last couple of days exploring Hanoi. Its cobbled sidewalks would be nice if they weren't so darned bumpy, and unfinished. There are huge patches of sand, missing or broken or erupting cobblestones, and they constantly switch between different types of stones, making stroller navigation a perilous proposition even when one is lucky enough to have enough sidewalk space uninterrupted by the litter of parked scooters, adding to the hazards of pedestrian locomotion.

Hanoi's old quarter, at the head of Hoan Kiem lake, is interesting. Composed of 36 streets, it was originally settled by guild, that is, each street housed a particular type of merchant. Even today, it's a lot like that. I saw whole streets of stores for: sunglasses (yes, a whole street), paint, shoes, bags, buttons and sewing confections (nothing exciting though), shrines (which you see at the entrance of most stores downtown, with votives and smoking joss sticks), silk (missed the street crossing, and couldn't find my way back - unusual for me, but the streets are very disorienting here, with diagonal cross streets, jillions of alleyways, and a remarkable sameness).  Very different, full of life. We also checked out another lake near the hotel. Not as nice as Hoan Kiem, lots of garbage on the shores, and water kind of odouriforous. Nice necklace of treed pathways though.

We took in a water puppet show. It was amazing, and the music was sooooo moving. One of the singers had a voice as versatile as an erhu, like clear water running gently over and around smooth stones. So controlled, yet silky smooth. All was performed in Vietnamese, a language of many short words with rounded edges. It was a joy to watch Tanje taking it in, clapping and smiling the whole time. And Savannah just loved, it, asking for 'more' every time an act finished, and telling us over and over afterwards that it was fun to see the marionnettes (however, she didn't sleep well at all last night, telling Rick the marionnettes were in her room. Poor dearheart!).

Hope all's well with y'all!