First Day in Hanoi

I'm almost caught up...it is Friday night and I'm writing about Friday.

Today was much better. Troy and I both slept 10 hour, with only a few bouts of crying during the night (not me). Troy woke up pretty happy (he does have a period of grumpiness whenever he wakes up), and we had our breakfast at the hotel. Troy ate a bowl of rice porridge, half a container of yogurt, and some bread. I'm giving Troy solid food whenever possible and he likes these items (in addition to crackers, noodles, rice, and bananas).

Back in the room, Troy seemed to be a bit moody so I decided to take him to the doctor - just to get a good look at his ears. The medical clinic got me in right away and the doctor did a thorough exam. No fever, no abdominal issues, and great looking ears. The conclusion is that Troy is suffering some pain from teething and/or may be exhibiting some attention seeking behaviors. On that point, it was already obvious to me that the nannies would pick up Troy as soon as he whined, and he tries to get me to do the same. It's to the point that if he is trying to pull up on something or follow me, he seems to have learned to sit and whine and whinge rather than just do what's completely within his ability. The challenge is to not encourage this behavior while still being sensitive to the fact that some of it is indeed due to teething and the fact that Troy is going through a pretty big transition right now. In any case, the medical visit was a success, if for nothing but my own peace of mind.

After that, the day was pretty much smooth sailing.

Troy took a decent nap and then we headed into to town. I told the taxi to take me to Fannie's ice cream parlor, by the lake, but told the driver to stop when it became clear that he intended to drive me all the way around the lake rather than taking the direct route. It was a perfect day to walk by the lake anyway.

I did get ice cream of course, and then wandered my old haunts in the Old Town (my hotel was there when I was here two years ago to bring Evan home). I found most but not all of the places I remembered, and of course, Troy fell asleep. There is no problem getting a foot massage with a baby sleeping on your chest, so that's what I did.

I continued my wanderings and ended up by the market hall, where I stopped for a "Bia Hoi". I had gotten some rusk biscuits and bananas for Troy so while I had my two beers (35 cents a piece), Troy had his dinner (and bottle). I was right across the street from dog restaurant and I could smell the meat cooking from where I sat (it actually smelled pretty good). Don't get the idea that this kind of food is all that common in Vietnam - it isn't - I just must be hanging out in the wrong places or something. Here's a view of the place:



The ladies at the beer place were fascinated with Troy and they were quite nice. I eventually became annoyed when one would not stop telling me how I should be dressing Troy. Given that it was a nippy 70 degrees, she was insistent he should be in long sleeves and a scarf.

Dinner was at a street restaurant I had been to two years ago - fresh clams cooked in lemongrass broth with chilies and lime chili salt. It was crazy good and that's not just because it was $1.80. The clams were perfectly fresh and sweet and clean tasting:



The ladies at the restaurant were a huge help with Troy, bringing him rice and chicken soup and holding him while I ate.

The taxi back to the hotel was interesting. I noticed the meter clicking rather quickly and called the driver on it. He reached under the dashboard and fiddled with something and suddenly the meter slowed down dramatically. One has to be careful with taxis, it seems.

We had success with the bath tonight. After reading up on bath fears, I put Troy's bath basin on the floor in the bathroom rather in the deep and intimidating "big tub". Troy was still anxious but I showed him the merits of splashing water. Soon I had a good bit of mopping up to do but at least there was progress.

I'll close out this post with a video clip of Troy playing by the mirror. Hopefully, you can get a sense of his intense but happy personality and also see a brief example of his whining and whinging too.