Toy shopping

Tree with bamboo ladder, Photo by Matt Wise.

Maya's friend Thinh and the breakfast crew at The Hanoi Elegance 3 Hotel.

Matt's breakast: pho bo, fresh fruit, coffee and orange juice. Thinh doesn't even ask him what he wants anymore. He just brings it.

Well, Matt decided his only objective today was to buy Maya a baby doll. Having tried to force dark haired ethnic looking dolls on children of color before, I knew it was a losing battle. So I decided to let her pick out her own doll. She went for the twins. A bald headed boy and a blond little girl with pigtails. They both come with their own bottles in a handy carry case. She loves them! She fed them, kissed them, and carried them all around the lake in their little case.

Maya feeds the twins. Sometimes she sticks the bottles in their eyes!

Don't I look like Angelina Jolie with 30 extra pounds?

Maya woke up with a runny nose today. Although she wasn't that fussy this morning, she decided after going without a nap yesterday that she would try and forego her nap again today. Mom and Dad had a different idea. A heated battle ensued, she cried for 15 minutes instead of the usual 2-5. I thought the hotel staff was going to bang on our door to see what we were doing to the poor child. We won the battle but lost the war. She only napped for about 45 minutes instead of the usual 3 hours. She and Matt and now having some quality time together. The charger on his Palm Pilot died so he can't play Scrabble anyway.

Tonight we are taking the Holt Hanoi Staff out to dinner. They chose a restaurant called The Opera Club, on Hoan Kiem Lake. That is part of the reason we wanted to make sure Maya got her disco nap!

While shopping for souvenirs today, we ran into the Curry family. They were probably seduced by the photos of giant mounds of lettuce and herbs at the bun cha restaurant we ate at yesterday. We opted for a light lunch of salad and fresh spring rolls at Little Hanoi, which I mistakenly called Old Hanoi on our first day in Hanoi. I know I made some comment about it being overpriced and catering to foreigners, but sometimes it's nice to sit on big chairs for a change.