After shopping, Tuesday night, Adam, Pam and Lilly went for a nice dinner out to Restaurant Bobby Chinn. Bobby Chin is Western educated, he is half-Chinese and half-Egyptian, and he brings California fusion cooking to Hanoi. The tables are covered in Lotus leaves, and the restaurant has a cosmopolitan air that would fit Manhattan. The menu is in English-- and the prices are American dollars. We shared a Prawn lotus salad. Adam had Salmon with wasabi mashed potatoes, while Pam had the "symphony of flavors" -- a tasting plate of various bites and appetizers. Pam deemed the meal worthy of the television show, Top Chef.
Wednesday morning, it was time to see some of historic Hanoi. Pam and Adam took Lilly to the Temple of Literature -- Hanoi's Confuscian University founded in 1070. It was a very peaceful setting, and Pam determined it had one of the best souvenier shop in Hanoi.
Across the street from the Temple of Literature, we had lunch at KOTO (Know One, Teach One), a restaurant that serves as a hospitality training school for disadvantaged Hanoi youth. American rock and roll played while we were served western sandwiches, but we had a tasting plate of Vietnamese appetizers as well.
Wednesday evening brought a very traditional form of Vietnamese entertainment-- The Water Puppet Show. Water Puppets are a unique Vietnamese artform, originating as entertainment in the rice paddies. Short stories of farm life are played out on a water stage. We went with a several of the adoptive families. 40,000 Dong ($2.50) bought front row seats, and the babies were transfixed by the show. Eli was very excited by the band that accompanied the show-- when he spotted a guitar. The show itself scared him for a moment, but then he got into it and enjoyed watching it. We went with some of the other families that adopted through our group which was very nice.
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