Ivy was laid up in our Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel room for three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) after arriving late Monday, June 21st. Her fever and high temperatures resolved after visiting the International SOS clinic and starting Cefixime antibiotics on the night of Wednesday, June 23rd. Unfortunately, her GI symptoms worsened after starting the antibiotics. I called the International SOS clinic to express my concern about her GI symptoms, thinking that they may switch her to a different antibiotic. I was surprised when the doctor recommended that I stop giving her the antibiotics that she had only been taking for 24 hours. He encouraged me to call back any time if I had additional concerns and took my call again at 1:30 am in the morning when her fever returned slightly. He even called the hotel the next day to see how she was doing!. After the early morning call, her temperature remained normal. She stopped vomiting after discontinuing the antibiotic. Her other GI symptoms improved over the next several days.
While Ivy was ill, we tried to take turns getting Olivia out to see the sights (and eat!) while keeping the hotel room dark and quiet for Ivy. In addition to the ceramic handicraft village tour, we walked and cycloed around Hoan Kiem Lake. We did a little shopping and a lot of playing cards.
One curious site that I came upon while walking around Hoan Kiem Lake was a woman covered from head to toe with labels. She started "The Label Project" for a college assignment and is trying to 'liberate people from the labels that are placed on them by society, each other, and themselves.' I didn't have my camera, but maybe she will put up some photos from Hanoi on her facebook page or her website:
http://www.thelabelproject.net/
Professional photography shoots were another common site on the streets of Hanoi. We saw shoots for both weddings and fashions.
There were five or six families from Spain with newly adopted babies from Bac Ninh staying at the Hilton Hanoi while we were staying there. I believe that I saw a sign that we were passing through Bac Ninh on our trip to and from Halong Bay from Hanoi.
While Ivy was ill, we tried to take turns getting Olivia out to see the sights (and eat!) while keeping the hotel room dark and quiet for Ivy. In addition to the ceramic handicraft village tour, we walked and cycloed around Hoan Kiem Lake. We did a little shopping and a lot of playing cards.
One curious site that I came upon while walking around Hoan Kiem Lake was a woman covered from head to toe with labels. She started "The Label Project" for a college assignment and is trying to 'liberate people from the labels that are placed on them by society, each other, and themselves.' I didn't have my camera, but maybe she will put up some photos from Hanoi on her facebook page or her website:
http://www.thelabelproject.net/
Professional photography shoots were another common site on the streets of Hanoi. We saw shoots for both weddings and fashions.
There were five or six families from Spain with newly adopted babies from Bac Ninh staying at the Hilton Hanoi while we were staying there. I believe that I saw a sign that we were passing through Bac Ninh on our trip to and from Halong Bay from Hanoi.
On Friday morning, we did a trial outing with Ivy to a local air-conditioned shopping mall. Since that went well, I purchased water puppet tickets for the Friday night show. The water puppet show was fun and relaxing. The water puppets are used to present the traditions and history of Vietnam. The description and photos on Wikipedia match our experience:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/water_puppetry
We had a freaky experience after the water puppet show. We walked several blocks making our way toward a restaurant for dinner after leaving the theater in a crowd. The street vendors in Hanoi were more aggressive than any others during our stay in Vietnam. A man started pushing something into my chest as if to try to sell it to me. I can't even remember what it was, but something that I was not at all interested in buying. It took me a minute before I realized that this was just a distraction while his fingers started searching my waist pack. Another man, an elderly man whom I guess to also be a local resident, whacked him over the head with a large plastic bottle just as I realized that the man's fingers were in my waist pack. The attempted 'pick pocket' then attacked the elderly man and a fight broke out between him and the companions of the elderly gentleman. I held the kids' hands tighter and pulled them away from the fracas. Sandy discouraged me from returning to thank the man for his help which I regretted, but later wondered if it might have been part of the ruse. It didn't seem like it at the time. I mean, he really WHACKED him. Thankfully, the only consequence for us was to remind us to take care of our belongings. I had just foolishly put all of our cash, both Vietnam dong and US dollars, in my waist pack in anticipation of our leaving early the next morning for the Halong Bay tour. Fortunately, my waist pack was stuffed including a top layer of less significant items such as Hoi An whistle, puppet show programs, glasses case, etc.
It may be useful to mention that our only other experiences with deceit were in the form of being overcharged (usually in even hundred thousands) or not receiving complete change. I imagine that it occurs in any country, taking advantage of tourists that are unfamiliar with the local currency and conversions. At first I thought that they were simple mistakes, but the frequency changed my mind. We started noticing this in Hoi An and continuing north with the greatest frequency in Hanoi (and never to my knowledge did this happen in HCMC or Mui Ne). I don't wish to dwell on the topic, but the intentions were quite obvious most times I noticed it. I haven't been working as an engineer for a while, but I still have the annoying habit of making calculations in my head. These discrepancies were quickly corrected when I brought attention to them.
One Hanoi site that I regret missing is the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. I am oddly curious about this memorial. It is possible to view the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh and military honor guard at the mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square where Ho read the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays and Fridays. Friday was the only day that we were in town and not distracted by Ivy's health. Maybe it is for the best as I don't think that Ivy or Olivia would have appreciated such a site. The gardens there sound beautiful and it is also possible to witness the changing of the guard.
We decided to continue on with our plan to take an overnight tour of Halong Bay the next day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/water_puppetry
We had a freaky experience after the water puppet show. We walked several blocks making our way toward a restaurant for dinner after leaving the theater in a crowd. The street vendors in Hanoi were more aggressive than any others during our stay in Vietnam. A man started pushing something into my chest as if to try to sell it to me. I can't even remember what it was, but something that I was not at all interested in buying. It took me a minute before I realized that this was just a distraction while his fingers started searching my waist pack. Another man, an elderly man whom I guess to also be a local resident, whacked him over the head with a large plastic bottle just as I realized that the man's fingers were in my waist pack. The attempted 'pick pocket' then attacked the elderly man and a fight broke out between him and the companions of the elderly gentleman. I held the kids' hands tighter and pulled them away from the fracas. Sandy discouraged me from returning to thank the man for his help which I regretted, but later wondered if it might have been part of the ruse. It didn't seem like it at the time. I mean, he really WHACKED him. Thankfully, the only consequence for us was to remind us to take care of our belongings. I had just foolishly put all of our cash, both Vietnam dong and US dollars, in my waist pack in anticipation of our leaving early the next morning for the Halong Bay tour. Fortunately, my waist pack was stuffed including a top layer of less significant items such as Hoi An whistle, puppet show programs, glasses case, etc.
It may be useful to mention that our only other experiences with deceit were in the form of being overcharged (usually in even hundred thousands) or not receiving complete change. I imagine that it occurs in any country, taking advantage of tourists that are unfamiliar with the local currency and conversions. At first I thought that they were simple mistakes, but the frequency changed my mind. We started noticing this in Hoi An and continuing north with the greatest frequency in Hanoi (and never to my knowledge did this happen in HCMC or Mui Ne). I don't wish to dwell on the topic, but the intentions were quite obvious most times I noticed it. I haven't been working as an engineer for a while, but I still have the annoying habit of making calculations in my head. These discrepancies were quickly corrected when I brought attention to them.
One Hanoi site that I regret missing is the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. I am oddly curious about this memorial. It is possible to view the preserved body of Ho Chi Minh and military honor guard at the mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square where Ho read the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. Unfortunately, it is closed on Mondays and Fridays. Friday was the only day that we were in town and not distracted by Ivy's health. Maybe it is for the best as I don't think that Ivy or Olivia would have appreciated such a site. The gardens there sound beautiful and it is also possible to witness the changing of the guard.
We decided to continue on with our plan to take an overnight tour of Halong Bay the next day.
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