The Zoo
Thanks to everyone who has written me. I haven’t been able to respond, but I do appreciate your comments and well wishes!
Today (Saturday the 19th), we went to the zoo. It’s about a mile or so from the hotel, a nice walk past many shops, street merchants, and construction.
The zoo itself is pretty nice and very cheap…50 cents US. There were many families, several school children, and a few tourists. I got a few pictures and some video of the zoo. Parker enjoyed the elephants, which is cool because elephants are my absolute favorite animal. Unlike US zoos, and not a good practice generally, you can feed the elephants. People were handing them pieces of sugar cane and fruit. Then, Parker had a bottle at the zoo, which practically brought an audience. At times it almost felt as if we were one of the exhibits. As many have noted before, everyone here dotes over babies….but a large white man with a Vietnamese baby is a complete oddity apparently.
On the way back I broke down and stopped at the first Pizza Hut I’ve seen here. I got a personal pan pizza and a diet pepsi and went back to the hotel. It was a little different than the US version; less cheese, very little sauce and slightly less buttery/fluffy crust. But, it tasted very good. For condiments they put ketchup and hot sauce in the bag! Odd, indeed.
After we got back from the zoo we played on the bed for about an hour, and now Parker is napping. We may run to the shopping center across the street, otherwise we’re spending the night in.
Saigon is a wonderful place, and I hope to return for vacation or another child sometime in the next 3-5 years…but, for now I’m ready to head to Hanoi and explore there.