It has been a little time since I last made an entry. In Vietnam most of the population is Buddhist so we did not expect such a large interest in Xmas as we saw. Xmas eve we decided we would go to the church for the mass, what we saw was like a circus. About 300 meters from the church the crowd was amassing in what looked like a carnival atmosphere. There was music, balloons, fluorescent head and wrist bands and people and bikes everywhere. As we moved closer to the church the crowd was dense and made progress with three children difficult. Finally we worked our way through the gates and waited to see what was going to happen. Although the theme was definitely Christian, it was purely a side show with most of the locals looking for a good time. We could not stay, there was no room and both Charlotte and I had to have one child on each of our shoulders to see anything. We decided to leave to have a more subdued Xmas eve. Fortuitously as it turned out, about one hour later the skies opened up again and the rain came down hard.
This was the start of a stint of weather that really typifies what Vietnam can be like. It rains and rains and rains. To escape the monotony of not being able to go out, we decided to head to Danang for the day by local bus. This was a slow but inexpensive one hour ride in a bus that must be at least 50 years old. The price is usually 10,000 Dong ($1Aus ) per adult and children are free, of course they try and make us pay for everyone. Having already been ripped off once I was prepared and ready for the assault again. When asked to pay 50,000 I stood my ground at 20K. Of course there was tooing and frowing but when they realised that I new what I was talking about they capitulated, with the rest of the bus laughing that they were unsuccessful at scamming us.
We needed to get a few things for Charlotte in the markets in Danang. While we were looking around women from all the stalls come around to play with the children and try to sell us there wares. While waiting, one of them undid her top and offered her boob to Oscar saying "milk, milk". It's been quite a while since Oscar has been offered that source of milk and we had to reply "he had a mouth full of teeth and liked to bite things". Charlotte and I looked at each other and laughed, but this scene did not escape the attention of Thomas and Henry, who thought it would be a good idea if there little brother could latch on to this woman's boob.
It did not stop raining and when Glen arrived on the 28th she must have thought she had made a big mistake in coming, apart from seeing her grandchildren she could not see or visit anything. It's been raining and windy for over a week and all the locals say this is very unusual for this time of year. The rain normally stops around early December. This confinement along with very cheap DVD's has allowed our kids with their nana to catch up on many movies together. (all has been not lost).
New Years Eve we were invited to the orphanage for a party with the children, but later discovered is was a lunch for all the staff and we were honoured guests. We did not know this at the time and had come to the orphanage from a big breakfast. Not wanting to look rude we had to force this food and drink down stomachs that were already satiated. Glenys was next to the Director so she had no escape, Charlotte was sitting next to me so she would keep swapping my empty bowl with her full one much to my disgust (and pain). Most of the children were not there however and as we wanted to do something more for them we decided to come back new years day and buy ice-cream for each of them. This was something that they never got and the look on their faces was absolutely delightful.
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