Hello Vietnam

Departed Seattle Oct 29 @ 01:50 for Taipei. I had asked for an exit seat so I could have some exta leg room. Instead there was a bulkhead in front of me. So what I got was less leg room. The seat was a sub-mini micro that was physically impossible for me to wedge myself into and sit normally. No big deal, it's only a 13 hour flight... Unable to sleep in my sub-mini micro seat I watched numerous movies; Die Hard 4, Mr Brooks, icense to wed, You kill me, Sunshine, and Evan Almighty. I don't recommend any of them.

Arrived Taipei approx 06:30 Tuesday morning, had to beat feet to make our connection. They make you go thru a luggage check again. Only two scanners for the whole flight so the line gets pretty slow. Got to the gate and boarded immediately. Departed approx 07:30 for Ho Chi Minh city. My Seat was much better which allowed some snoozing during the 3.5 hour flight.

Arrived HCMC approx 10:00 Tuesday morning (crossed the date line). They have made some nice improvements to the airport facility at HCMC. Before we had to ride a bus from the plane to the terminal, but now they have jetways (the things we take for granted). They also installed a luggage conveyor system (Wow). So we only waited about an hour for our boxes. TSA had opened 2 of the 4 boxes. It feels something like a break-in and it's our own government doing it in the name of 'security'. Can any one tell me which of my constitutional rights were violated?

So about 11:00 AM we stepped out of the terminal to meet the mass of folks waiting for some one. We found our face in the crowd; Chi Hanh. Then we stood around and visited while we waited for our van to arrive. Our friend Richelle was with the van too. It was good to see her and hear of her experiences and observations during her last month in HCMC. She's become
quite good at the language. I know this because Anh was impressed and she's a tough audience. Anyway we put our stuff in the van and set off on our 4 hour road trip to Phan Thiet. I was fairly exhausted and (on the way there) fell asleep sitting up. We arrived sometime around 17:00. I know that because the sun was still up.

Wednesday - We woke a little after 03:00. Tossed and turned and wrote some in my journal. Anh and I went for a walk at 05:30 the sun was coming up. Apparently the flies were awakened by it too, and we were followed by them the entire walk. Met some of the locals on our return walk. One grandmother was walking her 1st grader to school. And we met several workers waiting for their rides to work. We've learned that there is a school near us that is abandoned. The parents are forced to make other arrangements if they want their kids to go to school. Anyway, we are looking into the possibilty of cleaning and rehabing it. After breakfast took the motorbikes South to KeGa. I had a refreshing drink of Vietnamese coffee while the girls wandered around. Took the long way home and had an adventure. Then lunch followed by a luxurious 2 hour nap. It was delightful.

The afternoon was spent driving motorbikes North to Mui Ne. Not much to see, but it was fun. We came back in the dark. By the way, helmets are now required by law, so we wear them. Got home, had dinner, and would have gone to bed, but for the late night visitors. They stayed til almost 23:00.

Thursday - Got up this morning with the sun and took a walk with Anh. Met more folks, including 3 guys returning from their morning swim in the ocean. They asked me if I wanted to go with them tomorrow. What could I say? So 05:00 tomorrow morning they are coming to get me. Some of the neighbor kids paid me a visit while I was having breakfast, so we chatted briefly, gave them each candy and asked them to come back one afternoon next week and we will have popcorn and Anh will tell them a story. Many of these kids are completely unsupervised during the day. We don't want to get into a daycare mode.

Well that brings you up to now. We took a motor bike ride into Phan Thiet to buy some stuff and so I could make this posting. I'm surrounded by kids wasting time playing video games. Yike! Is this really the future of this country?

I was struck by a verse; Mark 4:19. Not the whole verse, but rather a phrase; "the deceitfulness of wealth" it's one of the three primary reasons why peoples' lives don't bear fruit. It makes me wonder how much wealth I have and how much wealth has me.

Don't forget; when you travel all times are local.
More later; I see the girls waiting for me. Never keep a lady waiting...

Preparation

This is not the most fun part of the process, but doing a proper job makes the trip go better.

We will be flying on China Airlines; leaving Seattle at o'dark thirty on the 29th of October. Passports, tickets and visas are all in order. The flight is non-stop to Taipei. That's kind of a misnomer, since every flight should have one stop at least ( and that at the appointed destination). Anyway, we change planes in Taipei and continue on to Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh City). We are scheduled to arrive at 10AM Monday morning. That would appear to be nine hours but is more like an 18 hour trip.

Packing - Ugh
Normally we like to travel light. It's less work and we don't like to lug any more stuff than is necessary. But this is a little different since we plan on having a home there, it seems appropriate to bring some twigs and feathers to stick in the nest. We are each allowed 2 checked boxes. The maximum weight per box is 70 pounds. The sum of the length, width and height must not exceed 62 inches or we'll have to walk. Finding out that your package is oversize or weight at check-in is no fun.

We are both really jazzed about seeing our new home. It was under construction when we were there last year. The pictures we've seen look nice, so we are anxious to be there. There is so much that we want to do that the mind races and you wonder where to start. I think I'll be starting with plans for a swimming pool and refining the plans for our landscaping. The swimming pool is how we plan to stay in tip top athletic form.

There is also much to do in the area of service. One must never forget that this is a communist country and they take control very seriously. We want to start a reading room for the local kids. Permission to build a school is still going through the department of red tape. It seems ironic to me that the officials we met were very excited about our intention to build a school, yet there is no fast track or sense of urgency about approving our moving ahead with the plan. We need to work on networking to establish ourselves in the community. That part's kinda tough for me since my command of the language is so weak, but I continue to study.