Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

The influence of Chinese culture has grown as we've moved north through Vietnam, as we were told it would. Upon arrival, we were told it was an auspicious day: The eighth day of the lunar calendar, the first day of the month of March and a Sunday. As we drove in from the airport, we saw cars - even those traveling on the highway - festooned with flowers. And I mean hundreds of flowers in elaborate patterns! When we went for a walk around the nearby lake (a novelty in the middle of this crowded part of a crowded city), everywhere we saw people dressed as if for prom, or a wedding but really just for the eighth/first; I haven't yet found out why but the dressed up people were almost all wearing black and white. I'm sorry I took no pictures of this but here are some shots from our walk. We passed this about three-quarters of our way through the one mile loop around the lake. Henry was very eager to reach it. Lily's "12 on 6" face was inspired by ...

Luckily, none of us was hit by a motorbike. I guess this counts as a drive thru restaurants. Motorbikes are literally everywhere. The first HCMH story I'd like to tell you is about immigration. It turns out you need a letter from your embassy, which we didn't have until about 24 hours before we arrived. It turns out you need printed photos, which we didn't have until we bought them upon arrival with cash that we didn't have until after arrival. It turns out you need a wad of cash to pay for the "stamping fee," which we also didn't have when we arrived. Fortunately, I was allowed to leave arrivals (to enter the country) without going through customs. It was crazy! And I had to do it twice to gather enough cash to acquire our visas. Shockingly, there is really no blog entry that I can find that breaks this down and explains how to navigate the system. The second HCMH story I'd like to tell you is about signing up for the wrong food tour. I went ...