Swimming in Hanoi

After a night of heavy rain, this was the scene outside my apartment building!



For some reason I thought I could still get to work, since it is only about 5 minutes away...

So I got in a taxi and off we went... Ooops, so many streets are flooded... We turned around

and tried a different route... Uh oh! The water was getting deeper and deeper... so deep that it

came right into the car!! The taxi driver tried to drive on the sidewalk but it was no use, the

car was flooded and we were stuck!!



After waiting for about 2 hours to be rescued, I gave up and walked back in water that was

up to my waist! Everyone was laughing and stopping to talk to me, I guess they don't see too

many foreigners walking through the water











The black car in this picture was abandoned... I hope it is water-proof!!











A nice picture that I call "Hanoi When It Rains"













The view of the street from the 12th floor. This street wasn't so bad, just up to your knees!











As the water level gets higher and higher, it starts to go up onto the sidewalk and into the

buildings















I guess the motorbike repair shop was happy! Plenty of customers today with motorbikes that

wouldn't start...



Still raining so hard now... where will all the water go??

Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

This is the card that my nephew Logan sent us from Canada :)











OMG!! A ghost came out on halloween??!!!











Ohhhh.... Just Thao with her "cure for the common cold".



These branches have a nice smell when boiled, and you have to stay under the blanket until

you can't take the heat anymore. I have been sick for the past week and it didn't seem to

get any better until I tried this!

My Baby Thao

Cưng ơi, em làm cho anh thật hạnh phúc. Em là tất cả đối với anh.

Anh sẽ yêu em mãi mãi.

Bellydance!

Thao and I went to see a bellydance competition, since Thuy Au who works with me at

Punch was performing. Thao likes belly dance very much. She has some friends from Turkey,

who gave her a bellydance teaching dvd. Sometimes she practices in front of the mirror and I

get a nice show ;))











After their hard work of dancing, some girls take a break and watch the show.

"Ohhhh I like her!" Thao says about the girl in yellow. "Her belly, exactly that is what you need

to bellydance! The other girls are too skinny"











Thao gets a little too close to the sexy girls!!

Actually she got the phone number of the girl in red...... But she talked to Thao that all of

the performers had the same bellydance teacher from Korea.

"Oh, why not from Turkey??" Thao said













The girls pose for pictures after the performances. Some great costumes!











And the winner is........ Thuy Au!!

Here is the video of the winning performance. Nice job Thuy!

The male bellydancer was very good, but a little strange for me to watch heheh

This was one of Thao's favorite performances, with live music.



Of course Thao was very interested in taking bellydance classes too!

"I can dance better than ANYONE here!" she says ;)) Next time she will be the winner

I also showed Thao my own version of bellydance , but sorry no video for you










And here are my real favorite belly dance from Turkey.


These are some of Thao's all-time favorite bellydance videos :)

She can paint the future!