Wednesday, July 15th

The lack of sleep is getting to us all. Franca and Alex were kind enough to let me go to bed early last night and catch up. We woke up and decided to take it easy. We hung around the pool and watched Portia & Alex swim around. To be honest, as much as it's been hot and humid, it has been pretty overcast. Not really a problem since it makes touring around a lot more bearable. Around 10am Alex and Loan (our agency rep) took Reuben to get some photos taken. Reuben has gotten so attached to Alex. If Alex so much as leaves the room, his lip begins to quiver and he lets out this baby cry. I've started nicknaming them Dr. Evil and Mini Me. I suggested that they even start wearing the same matching outfits. Franca and I made appts. for massages and get this...for approximately $8.43 Canadian, we had a masseuse come to our hotel room and give a one hour massage. At 11 am sharp, 2 teeny, weeny young Vietnamese women showed up. I think the two of them put together were smaller than my left thigh on a skinny day. Oh yeah, did I mention that Franca and I forgot to mention that we wanted a relaxing massage and not necessarily the ability to join Cirque de Soleil. After one hour, our bodies were put in positions I never knew existed. Franca told me that she was sitting on her bed and was grabbed from behind. The masseuse then rolled her up over the masseuse's body and on to the masseuse's knees. And as she held Franca up in the air, balancing her continually on her knees, Franca was told to relax. Franca said she doesn't think she'll ask for that massage again, but interestingly Alex wants one. Shortly after we headed to the Diamond Plaza (a posh place to shop) and had lunch at Wrap N Roll. Why we would want to pay extra to wrap and roll our own food is beyond me, but hey, it was on the Frommer's recommended list. After lunch we took Reuben to the doctor's office. He officially weight 15 pounds, 4 ounces now! When you're that small, you have to count every ounce. We then went shopping at the Saigon Square. It's like Ben Thanh Market but things are cheaper because they are defective. Infact Franca wanted to buy a pair of shoes for Reuben but thank goodness Alex (who wasn't born yesterday) looked them over. They weren't even the same shoe. Too funny! Alex was looking at a belt and asked the lady "Is this leather?" She said yes. Alex asked "Are you sure?" She said yes. Alex asked "Did you kill the cow yourself?" She said yes. Obviously the only word in english she could say was yes. As much as we laugh, the people here are so friendly towards tourists and I would recommend this country to anyone wanting a change from the normal vacation. And believe it or not, I would even recommend it to families with children. They are so child oriented here, it actually beats Europe in that category hands down.