Friday, December 19, 2008

Temple of Literature and other wanderings

Today we took a wrong turn and went through the bowels of HaNoi. I think we saw true HaNoi life and people were shocked to see Westerners wander their streets. As always, though, we got lots of smiles and "Xin chaos" (hello). By the time we got where we wanted to go, we decided to have lunch first. We ate at KOTO. It is a not-for-profit restaurant and training program that changes the lives of street and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam. Trainees go through a two year program studying the hospitality business. Graduates gain employment once they are done and KOTO has a 100% success rate. Check it out at http://www.koto.com.au/.

While at lunch we met a couple that was from Michigan. They were in the process to adopt from Vietnam but did not make the cutoff so they are now adopting from Ethopia. We wish them the best.
Finally we visited the Temple of Literature. It is a well-preserved example of Vietnamese architecture and is considered the most important historic site in the Dong Da District. In 1076 it became the site of Vietnam's first university.
As usual, Carli made lots of friends and was asked to take pictures with them.

Our feet are sore but it was another great day. We were able to change our tickets and will now leave on December 24th. It will great to be home although this has been a fantastic trip.














































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