More Random Photos

View from my hotel window... with Crazy Buffaloe Saigon in the horizon...
Honda Dream parking lot...

VN Zoo

Ashton and I went to the zoo today. We had a great time. This was the zoo that we took Ashton to when he was only three years old. It was pretty cool seeing the same elephant in the same location in the same zoo around the world as was there 8 years ago. And yes, I have the pictures to prove it. We took pictures in front of the Rex Hotel too in the exact same location as before. You can't see the photo in the photo albulm very well, but in real life it is cool to compare the two photos together.

I don't remember the Crocodile Garden from before, but maybe it was there and we just didn't see it:

Oh and there was an unfortunate tragic event that occurred... a dragon ate Molly... such a shame... what a terrible way to go:

Our "free" time has now come to an end. We head off on the bus to Rach Gia shortly. Can't wait to finally get to the whole reason why we are here.

No Sleep Again

It is 7:00 am Saturday morning... and we were up all night again. This means we will be passing out after lunch again today. What can you do?! While we are awake, Ashton and I are off to get in a few adventures (on motorbikes of course). We also have the big VN press conference this afternoon. I have never been to an American press conference much less a Vietnamese one, so I can only imagine the chaos that this will be. 30 television channels and newspapers are going to be there to interview us regarding the Aid Expedition. Anyone that gets the VN news... uhm, could you Tivo/DVR it for me?

Probably won't hear from us again for a bit. We leave Sunday morning at 7:00 am to head on the long bus ride to Rach Gia. And this evening we will probably be in our jet lag induced coma. So, no worries... keep in touch... and talk to you next from Rach Gia.

Peace,

Kristi and Ashton

Random

The Cathedral:

As a side note: Big shout out to Chavigny... we have already had to use all of the medicines you gave us. THANK YOU SO MUCH or we would have been in big trouble. I can almost breathe again!

Ben Thanh Market

As a side note... there aren't really any pictures of me because Ashton is just about as good of a photographer as his daddy and his grandpa!

This was on the walk to Ben Thanh Market:
And the big roundabout... Ashton and I played "Amazing Race":
Then he realized we had to walk THROUGH that traffic to get to the market:

He put his game face on, grabbed my hand... and out into the chaos we went:

Our shopping experience was successfully as we obtained all items on our list... at great prices due to Ashton's fine fine negotiations.

Thursday/Friday

See... just look at Molly! She can't even read which gate/concourse we are supposed to go to catch our next flight... but what does she do? Just smiles that little Pollyanna smile of hers: Flat Stanley more appropriately understood the serious of our situation... that we had a connection to find and that this was no time for being silly:

Ahhhh... English letters. We found our connection... we are good now:

And sure enough, once we got to HCMC, we found pictures of Ho Chi Minh everywhere:

We made a run to the post office and here is Ashton mailing our postcards to everyone. This one task only took at over an hour to accomplish... we are getting good ;-)
And Ashton's shopping spirit is always on the look out for some water puppets for sale:

As a random side note, I went on the hunt for our Crawford - Vietnam office. Guess what?! It really exists! I was so excited to find it. They had security in the building and I showed my Crawford id... and THEY.LET.ME.IN. Can you even believe it? Might want to fire the security firm running the building. Just sayin'...

Ashton loves some Beef Jerky. Well, we found Water Buffaloe Jerky. Now, how can a child pass up Water Buffaloe Jerky?! This is a no brainer:
Last picture for the night since it is taking 5 hundred years to upload. Here Ashton and I are enjoying a little lunch at a street cafe. Crazy Buffaloes... and he got to experience his first VN "Humbuger":

Peace,

Kristi and Ashton

Traveling Thru Japan Pictures

Here we are ready to begin our adventures in ATL. Almost didn't make this flight...

But then ended up scoring Business Class. Ashton thought he was just too cool...and tried to get a Champagne... but then mean mom, made him get plain OJ instead:

Here we are figuring out where to go at Narita:

And Molly... well, she was no help. She just read the sign and smiled that big ol smile of hers:

We are here

We are here... but are having a real diddy with the time change. We made it through Japan and into Ho Chi Minh City without issue... scoring Business Class the whole way... Thanks Delta! Once we made it to the hotel, of course, we were just too excited to sleep. So we went on a pho run and had some of the best food ever. Of course, we were starving, so shoe leather on a stick would have been great at that point.

Long story short, we didn't get back to our room until 3 am (shhhhh don't tell Ashton's daddy that I kept him out that late), and didn't go to bed until 4 am. At 6 am, we were wide awake and ready to hunt down some breakfast. (Catching the theme here? We are all about feeding our bellies). After breakfast this morning, we jumped on motorbikes and headed off to the central post office to mail out postcards to the girls and my wonderful husband that is home with them ;-) After that we went on a run to Ben Thanh market and got us some really cool Smorth... uhm, North Face backpacks. After teaching Ashton the fine art of negotiations, we tried his skills for some Lychees. After getting the price knocked down in half, we took his loot to the park and enjoyed Lychees with the locals.

Ashton is doing great. He is enjoying the motorbikes and shopping, the sun and heat, the sights and sounds and the excitment that is Ho Chi Minh City. We came back to the room at 2 pm to "take a little rest"... well, it is now 1 am Friday night and I just woke up. Apparently a little nap equals a 10 plus hour slump into a coma. And Ashton is STILL sleeping. I don't know whether to wake him up or let him sleep into tomorrow. Either way, our internal clocks are clearly off kilter.

More to come... and perhaps I will even manage to upload a picture or two...

Peace,

Kristi and Ashton

Mot, Hai, Ba...

Mot, Hai, Ba... YO! We are outta here... next time you hear from us, we will literally be on the other side of the world.

Peace,

Kristi and Ashton

Meet Molly

We have a stow-away. Meet Molly. She has joined Flat Stanley (Ashton) and Flat Stella (Kristi) on our journey through Vietnam. I wasn't sure how the other two would get along with this new addition, but as you can see, they were all smiles:

They all have their passports and are ready to go. Looks like Molly is hitting it off just fine... but for the record, she IS a bit tall...

Girl Scout Pictures

I received all of the hand-made pictures completed by the GS to take to the school in Rach Gia, VN. They all did an awesome job and I know the kids at the Catalyst school will just love the pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

The Count Down Begins

We leave in eight...8... eight...8... days! I can't even believe it. So much to do, so little time. Our visas have come in, so that is one less thing to worry about.

Weather in VN

The first day that we arrive in VN... it is going to be 95 and SUNNY... Oh, how I can't wait:

The Official 2010 Vietnam Aid Expedition Blog

The Official 2010 Vietnam Aid Expedition Blog

http://2010vietnamae.blogspot.com/