The Great Adventure!

Ella woke up quite early this morning.  She watched TV quietly (Disney chanel in 

English!) and I went back to sleep.   We got up and headed down for breakfast!  Ella was excited to have Beef Pho and I had eggs and bacon. 

We went back upstairs to finish getting ready to go shopping and we looked out and it was pouring down rain.  We exchanged some money (I always feel rich changing my money to Dong.  $50 is 1 million Dong.  We bought tickets for the water puppet show and decided to get a taxi to get to the Ben Thanh Market.  As we got to the market, we started off in the meat section and I forget that Ella has no memories of any of this.  Hannah went with me when she was 5 to adopt Ella and so when we returned when she was 11, she had some memories of it all.  Ella was shocked to see the raw meat being cut in the market.

We did a little shopping and then wanted to head to the Tax Center (shopping center by the Rex Hotel), and were disappointed that it was closed!  We tried to venture around hunting for a place to eat lunch and got a little lost.  We ended up getting a taxi to get us back to the Rex Hotel.  The Rex was where we stayed with Dillon Adoption when I adopted both of the girls.  It still surprises me how much it has changed since then.

And Dillion friends...the round about at the corner of the Rex is gone.  They have closed the entire street from the park in front of the Rex all the way down the street to make it a walk way. ( I'll post pictures on the Vietnam camp FB page.  Anyway, we found a place to eat lunch and then found a new shopping place, called the Lucky Plaza where we did a little more shopping.  Ella has been impressed with my bargaining abilities.

We then found our way back to the hotel (because we had wifi at the restaurant...thank goodness...didn't realize how lost I could be with our my phone service!)  Fortunately, it had stopped raining after we left the Ben Thanh market and it didn't rain the rest of the day.  We laid out on the bed and rested and cooled off!  We cleaned up and headed back out with a little better plan and directions.  We walked back down to the Rex Hotel and took some pictures in front of the Rex Hotel park and the "People Committee Hall" adjacent to the Rex.

We then headed back to Ben Thanh to pick up a couple things we had seen and ate dinner close by.  Our time for the Water Puppet Show was at 6:30pm.  We made it just in time.  The show was great and such a unique learning experience with the language, instruments and puppets.  But as the lights got darker and Ella got more still, her eyes got a bit heavy.  I kept her awake, but she was ready to head to sleep.  

As we left the show, I realized that I had gone the way trying to find a sports store for Ella to look at.  I had gotten my bearings and we headed back the way I had gone before and we found the stores.  Ella loved them!  She found just what she wanted and we headed through the night market of the Ben Thanh market.  Fun time to explore.  We then stopped for some delicious ice cream before heading back to our hotel.  We love the Spring Hotel...nice location...very reasonably priced and the people have been so helpful and friendly.  When we stopped by this morning, the lady at the desk remembered me (from 4 years ago!)...of course, it might be the fact that I lost my purse and she had to help me call and cancel my credit cards :)  Anyways...it was a good day...ready to get some sleep and get up to meet Thomas from Dillon in the morning.  We're riding together to Ninh Thuan...Ella's first home!