Early Moring...

Good Morning from Vietnam.

All is well. The sleep schedule is a bit off but other than that I think we're okay. As Jessica indicated previously, we were separated during the long portion of the flight. It wasn't as bad on my end. I sat next to this fascinating Chinese-American and we talked for hours. He gave me some basic instruction on how to decipher Chinese characters and we talked about religion, politics and philosophy. Still, I would have preferred a seat with Jess.



HCMC is a very busy and wild place. Full of motion and construction. The people seem friendly enough and basically ignore us unless we're near a shop...then if you linger a moment too long...they pounce and try to get you to venture in for more bargains. At this point we've only window-shopped.

A few of us took a brief excursion through the blocks around our hotel to get the lay of the land. We made it back unharmed, even after crossing a few busy streets. As for the fearful street crossing...yeah...be afraid...but also be smart and quick. Chances are good that they want to hit you about as much as you want to be hit by them. Also...the tourist assistants at the busy intersections are a big help. Sure they kinda laugh at you and you feel like a child needing help getting across the street...but being safe is worth it.

The Rex has a fancy Rooftop Garden restaurant. Sitting up there last night was very peaceful. Since we were 5 stories above the fray below...the sounds of the city acted like musical accompaniment to the meal.

I'm looking forward to this morning. We're meeting the other families at 8am for breakfast and we'll get instructions from our on-site support as to the next steps in our travel plans. What we know for certain is that we'll head out on Sunday to meet Beckett. I'm trilled and scared.

After the breakfast event, we've scheduled a half-day bus tour of the city followed by an evening of shopping (and maybe swimming and a massage).

I'm certainly missing my friends, family, pets, and high speed internet...but I can take it.

More later.

That is all.

at least breakfast was delicious

Word to the wise. If you are traveling to SE Asia on a flight longer than half a day and you want to sit next to someone who isn't a total stranger, check your seat assignments before you leave the check in kiosk. Trust me. You'll be glad you did. I, unfortunately, didn't look at my seat assignment until we were boarding the plane. Ken and I were nowhere close to each other. In fact, we were in completely different cabins. Despite my best efforts, neither of the folks seated by me were willing to trade places with Ken, so I spent the entire flight smashed between two strangers. It was awful. It was also really sweaty and cramped. And I had to pee. And the woman on the aisle had some kind of disability that made walking/standing difficult and she informed me that she would only be able to stand up to let me out twice during the flight so I had better hold it. Did I mention how much I enjoyed my trans-pacific flight?

The one truly shining moment was when they served us breakfast. It was about 4:30 am and I was starved. Breakfast consisted of diced fried potatoes, two sausage links, an omelet, a banana nut muffin, an awesome cup of fresh fruit, raspberry yogurt and OJ. I inhaled it. It was freakin awesome.

The flight to HCMC from Hong Kong was only two hours long, so imagine our surprise when the announced that they would be serving breakfast. It was around 9:00 at that point and we knew lunch wasn't really going to happen, so we tucked in to breakfast number two. This is the smörgåsbord of deliciousness pictured above. The menu was scrambled eggs topped with a cheese and spinach sautée, a tiny bratwurst type sausage, fresh tomato, a croissant with strawberry jam, another awesome fruit cup (with delicious dragon fruit)and apple juice. Tasty. Tasty. Tasty!!

Click here if you want to see photos from our journey.

good morning vietnam!

After the longest travel day of our lives we finally arrived in HCMC, Vietnam! Woo hoo! I promise a good long post in the very near future, but at the moment I am much more interested in taking the first shower I've had since Wednesday morning.