Trip to the Museum

Well, the weather dictated that instead of traveling to Ha Long Bay today, we stayed out of the rain in the morning, and planned on going with Martin and Kenny, and the Mausts to the Museum of Ethnology. We have been very interested in seeing this Museum which shows the demographics Vietnam and the history of its ethnic groups.

Martin on the left in the background, Kate with Molly, Cindy with Lydia or Lindsey outside the Museum

There are more than 50 ethnic minorities comprising 13% of the population, the remainder being the 87%, the Viet (or Kinh) majority. We don't know whether any of the babies being adopted belong to the ethnic minorities who have a significant presence in the northern provinces. Some of the ethnic minorities in the highlands, the mountanous regions extending up towards the Chinese border live very isolated and different lifestyles, with fascinating cultures. This was an opportunity to become somewhat familiar with these peoples. Also interesting were the exhibits describing what life was like in Vietnam around and after the time of reunification in 1975 when the entire country became Communist and how goods were distributed during those years up until around 1990 when the economic system underwent change. Surprisingly, it wasn't sugar-coated, and you saw how the people did not thrive under that system.

Emma, Howie with Molly, Kenny, Jerry with Lydia or Lyndsey

Kate with Molly, Jerry with Lindsey or Lydia, Cindy with Lydia or Lyndsey

Anyway, enough of the educational segment of our blog. More importantly, getting back to this morning.... Thanks to the magic of the internet AND the 11 hour time difference, I was able to, JUST BEFORE breakfast, listen to the Mets BEAT the Yankees on the WFAN webcast. How cool is that to start your day with a pre-breakfast Met WIN??!!!! I remember as a teenager traveling to Europe with my family in the summer, checking up on the Mets through the sports section of the Herald Tribune, where I could see line scores from 2 days before. Now, on the other side of the world, you can listen as if you're still at home, not missing a beat. Thank you, Mr. Gore for inventing this internet for me!!!!! You ROCK!! And to think I didn't vote for you?

So it rained heavily late last night (thunder/lightning too)... so we hung out as the rain lightened up this morning, I dropped the laundry off at the corner, and even with the rain, the motorbikes continued as usual, with people just donning ponchos and some even using umbrellas as they rode. We ventured out as the rain stopped, back to the SOS clinic to pick up some more anti-fungal cream for Molly, and to the Trang-Tien Plaza Mall up to the 4th floor to the "Walmart" as Jerry calls it, to restock on snacks, diapers, wipes, etc. Then back to the hotel to meet Martin and Kenny to take us to the Museum. Once again the rides there and back are great sport.... I'm attaching some photos and a clip to try to get an inkling of what it's like maneuvering through that traffic. Kind of like a ride at Great Adventure.... lots of thrills, near misses and just plain disbelief at what you're seeing.

view from the "death seat" in a taxi. Notice bicycle, motorbike and cars all going in different directions right in front of us. By the way, we were NOT standing still at this point. Moving and honking, Moving and honking....

The TRULY amazing part, that completely differentiates the traffic here from home is not the quantity of vehicles, not the number of motorbikes, not the total disregard for red lights (we decided the lights are more like suggestion, not absolutes), or lane markers (even the line in a two-lane road). The TRULY amazing thing to us is that with all of the CONSTANT horn-honking, the merging, swerving, passing, tailgating, or just flat out going through the light at an intersection and weaving through the chaos, we have seen NO anger, NO road-rage, NO bullying that you would see in the States.... you know, "no way I'm letting HIM in!!!!".... that kind of attitude. It's just "go with the flow... BE the traffic..." It'd be interesting to see how these drivers would fair coming to the US.



So we truly enjoyed the museum... they even had a water puppet show going on outside, along with some primitive houses set up showing how some of the ethnics lived and some still live today. We returned to the hotel and ventured out to Al Fresco's for another non-Vietnamese food meal. Amazingly, it was the Maust's first time TO the restaurant after ordering food delivery from there almost nightly!! Then back to the hotel with big plans for tomorrow and Monday. Tomorrow early morning we are being picked up in a van to go to Ha Long Bay. It's about a 3 hour ride there, then some time on a boat on the bay,then back to the hotel by about 8-9pm. Hopefully the weather will be ok, and we'll have some great pictures to share with you.
Then Monday, we pick up Molly's passport in the early morning, get her Visa physical exam in the afternoon, and hopefully hear from the US Embassy regarding a second visa interview. If that could be Monday afternoon, we COULD have our visa by Tuesday afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!! That could mean flying out Tuedsay night if we can get a flight!!!! We'll keep you all posted. Emma's still predicting Wednesday night, if that means anything. Tuesday is pushing it, but you never know. It's just a matter of waiting for the call. We're getting pretty good at that by now!

By the way, tomorrow is election day in Vietnam. Everyone HAS to vote. Even if you leave the ballot blank, you HAVE TO VOTE. Once every 4 years.... electing representative for congress. One party system.

Our vote is for Jordin Sparks!!! Enjoy the pics.

SOME MORE IMAGES:

Kate took this picture of the gang in front of a ship at the Museum of Ethnology



Common roadside or streetside sight... haircut al fresco

Only 3 on this motorcycle.... we have seen cycles with 4 people riding !!!!

Howie, Emma, and Molly having fun in the hotel lobby:





Cindy in the Taxi with Lindsey: