Chúc mừng Giáng Sinh!

Merry Christmas from Hanoi!
Christmas lights on our village trees.

Zoo friends

We visited Saigon zoo while down in the south. Here are some of the friends we met...
The little deer calf was born that day so was still struggling to find his feet. Can you see him in the mud?It's much easier here to separate the sheep and the goats!

Wedding - vietnamese style

We had the great pleasure of attending a Vietnamese wedding. A private ceremony occurred at the family home then the families and guests came to a large banquet hall. Once all the guests were seated, the parents of the bride and groom walked in (2 mothers then 2 fathers) to the wedding march music of Wagner (an interesting choice?). Then the couple came in with a page boy and flowergirl (to Vietnamese music). On the stage there was a brief moment where all the "western wedding" things were done - an exchange of rings, cake cutting, speeches by fathers, and pouring champagne into a tower of wine glasses - along with some definitely Vietnamese traditions of fireworks and popping of balloons (which we should definitely consider incorporating into our weddings!).
A veritable feast of food was then quickly eaten andeveryone departed in a rush at the end. We were 2 of the 3 western faces in the entire guest list of about 1000 people!

Our friends from the hospital! They were related to the couple, whom Greg had met once before.

Phu Quoc Island holiday

We recently had a fabulous weekend with Dennis and Joy on Phu Quoc Island. It is a small island off the bottom of Vietnam, closer to the coast of Cambodia actually and has been contested between the two countries in the past. It was a great time of relaxing, reading books, swimming, tennis and eating in the street markets.

Cultural highlight

We went to a fascinating concert this week featuring a cellist and an accordian/bandoneon player. The music, all self-composed, was a mixture of jazz, world music, with hints of Argentinian tango, Italian piazza and Irish folk music. For those not in the know (including us before the concert) a bandoneon is an instrument similar to the accordian, in that it is played in the same way, but was often used in small churches in Germany in place of a pipe organ. You can see it sitting on a chair in the slightly blurry photo (it was difficult to get a good shot from the balcony).