playing the tourist

The last few days we've spent seeing the typical tourist spots: the Hanoi Hilton/Hao Lo prison, the Ho Chi Minh Museum and President's Palace, the ancient house at 87 Ma May and St. Joseph's Cathedral. I definitely need to do some studying about the importance of these places. Too often, the brochures have limited translations to English, so the amount that I can learn from them is very limited. (I think researching the history may be a good homeschooling project for the kids, too!) I'm still hoping to make it to the Temple of Literature, though we did get to see it from the outside, I would like to tour it. It's difficult with the kids though because they don't have enough information to gather up much interest in the sights and I can only help in a very limited way. So their attention is quickly lost and then misbehavior ensues.

Did I mention the traffic? If not, every other Westerner has already, so I will suffice it to say it is scary to cross. I'm okay with it, but dragging a child into oncoming traffic is not the easiest thing to do. It goes against much of what the job of a parent is...keep the kid out of harm's way. Instead, I drag mine right into it. I'm sure the Mom-of-the-year award is waiting for me.

The weather has turned a bit chilly today and I didn't bring a warm enough jacket, not that I had any room for it in the luggage anyway. The kids have some warm clothes, but not much. We may end up heading toward the clothing area and do some shopping there. I'm sure I will be overcharged and have absolutely no idea, but that's the way it goes, it seems.

We'll be having dinner with Keith's friend and family this evening, then back to the hotel to sleep in the new year. If I can possibly sleep that is. Even with the sleep medicine, I only managed to get just under 5 hours of sleep. -sigh- What I wouldn't do to wake up with the sun, instead of hours before it.