Great news!!!...We now have Thai Duong living with us, so we can now be a real family...he is so happy
that he never has to say goodbye to Le and go back to his Grandparents...they love him...but it is not the same as being
with Mum...and he never has to be without her again...So tonight is truly the first day of the rest of OUR lives...now
all we have to do is get the Visas and then we will be coming to New Zealand...
Ha Noi is very beautiful at night...at the moment and until after Tet there are millions of extra
lights all around the city...turning Ha Noi into a giant Christmas tree...
Well here we are the end of the first month and all is well, I have had a really great time so far...the
other day a very special event happened, as Nhan and I were riding past Hoan Kiem lake, a great crowd of people were gathering...so
we stopped and had a look...the turtle had just surfaced and that is a very rare and special event...it signals good luck
for the Hanoin's and according to Nhan is only the third time in thirty years that he remembers it happening...maybe some
of the good luck will happen next week when we go for the visa applications...
We met Le's good friend Lan Anh and her husband San and son Vu and new baby Vi for lunch...also with
us were Nhan and his son Minh...
The restaurant that we went to was kept a secret from me by Le, she told me it was very special and
was not wrong...it is a really lovely place...it is built on a private park about 20 acres in size...given the price of land
in Ha Noi it must have cost a bomb...anyway the food was absolutely delicious...the fish was brought live to the table for
our inspection...you cannot get fresher than that...there is a playpark for kids so we hardly saw them the whole time...and
the meal came to 575,000VND which is about $55.00NZ...
Well it has been a very special time so far and I think that the next month will be better...
