Silk Village today, Changing tickets & Halong Bay tomorrow

We are still not sure if our tickets can be changed. We discovered China Airlines is closed today and tomorrow and had trouble finding their number at the airport (but I guess we could've just gone to the airport and asked someone at their office there). They gave us an itinerary for leaving Monday, but said it is not confirmed and when it is they will contact us at our hotel. Well, we have not heard. But Sean did some Internet searching and with a code that connects to our name and itineraries, he found that the Taipei to L.A. flight is the one not confirmed, which is not a surprise, we knew that was the tricky one. We also found that the itinerary (should it become confirmed) is the same one as we have for Friday, which is much nicer than the first one they gave us for Monday which had us in L.A. with a nine hour layover.

Because we are not sure if we are leaving Monday, we made plans to go to Halong Bay tomorrow (families with our agency were going tomorrow but decided to go Monday instead). It is probably the one place I really NEEDED to see before we leave. It is a long day (some do an overnight trip), leave at 8 am, drive there, take a boat ride with lunch through the bay, and drive back, arriving at the hotel at 7 pm. Halong Bay is incredibly beautiful with amazing rock formations. I am really glad we are going to get to see it. Our hotel is arranging it, which is great.

We have discovered that Ian is quite the trooper! We take him out in the front pack and he never complains. In fact we have to make sure he gets enough water, etc. This morning we went to the Silk Village with other families from our agency, PLAN. There are silk factories there and lots of shops. Among other things we got some silk fabric for Ian's quilt ($7/meter). It is really pretty. I was going to take a picture of it but I forgot. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow. The Silk Village was great, but it was very hot there and we had a return cab planned for three hours later. We called for him to return earlier because we were all so hot and tired (the heat is not as unbearable as I had thought it would be, but we try not to be out in it for very long at a time - the humidity is the worst part). When we came out of the shop where we got the fabric, we found everyone was in the van waiting for us!

This afternoon I hung out in the room while Ian napped and Sean was online and at the front desk trying to reach China Airlines. Because Ian was well rested, we decided to do some shopping in the evening. We walked around (we are trying to find a kite shop we keep driving by, but forget the exact location of) and happened across a nightime street market. It was great, like Maxwell Street Days or something, but almost carnival- like. Because it was nighttime, it was much cooler and there was not the pressure or people following you like the regular shops have. There were mostly locals there which is a good sign I think (as far as shopping goes).

Sean and I talked today about our mixed feelings about leaving early. One important reason we have for returning early is we want Zach to be one of the first, not one of the last, to meet his little brother (he is going on vacation on Wednesday with his dad). We are enjoying this experience a lot (parts of it anyway), but it is getting pretty old having to take care of Ian in a hotel room. Washing bottles and making formula with bottled water, making up zillions of little games to keep him active and occupied (today it was drumming on a formula can with chopsticks - he is so intrigued with rhythm), and not having a washer & dryer at my disposal, it just gets old (actually making up games for Ian is really fun, but he even seems to need to come home). But there is so much more to see, and who knows when we'll get back here (Maybe the next adoption? We'd have to win the lottery I think). So we are ready to come home definitely and also wish to see more.

Well, we have to be up really early to go to Halong Bay (I am so excited) so I will post some pics of Silk Village and maybe the market at night. We will be home soon!