Gotcha!

The Giving and Receiving ceremony -one of the best and worst moments of my life- In my excitement I forgot my passport in the van and had an uncharacteristic freakout until it was found- the rest is a blur- I also forgot my glasses and I kept forgetting whether my name had one "C" or 2. But we got through it. I especially love the ghost of Ho Chi Minh in the background.-Rebecca







Thanh Thai and his Nanny- The first time he has cried at all was when we said good-bye. I'm talking primal screams here-
it was heartbreaking.










Here he is 24 hours out the Orphanage- can you believe the change? We are all stunned and humbled by the human spirit. -Be careful, you will either laugh or cry.






Life is good.

2nd day at children's center-12 hours to go

Thai LOVES his orange crocs and the shades. Wore the shoes all day--might be the first time, judging from the cuts on his feet and the number of times he fell as he walked around today!
















This is Duyen, a very sweet 11 year old. She loves the babies, and loves Thai. She was so sweet, Cynthia really fell in love with her. She wrote Cynthia a note in English that said "Duyen love Cynthia", then asked if she could come to Thai's Giving and Receiving Ceremony. Amazingly enough, the Director said okay. So Cynthia bought her a red dress (her favorite color) to wear tomorrow. It's going to be one tear jerker day though. Will be very hard to say goodbye.





















We stopped along the street to watch people harvest rice. You can't see it, but to the left the rice goes in (which looks like wheat), and then it's stripped and this lady catches it in a basket (the one squatting) which is piled high as could be like a pyramid before switching baskets. Fascinating!

Rice used to be the biggest export product from Vietnam, but according to our driver, who seems to be the world's biggest expert on all things Vietnam, it is coffee. This area is not known for its rice production because of the amount of salt and brackish water. The coffee, btw, is amazing!! They fix it with sweetened condensed milk. We also are quite in love with the dragon fruithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_fruit--a cactus like plant which is a work of art to look at, as is the fruit, and is quite unusual inside--milk white with lots of little poppy seed-looking things. Apparently, Vietnam JUST started exporting dragon fruit to the US. Look for it at Whole Foods. It tastes a little like a kiwi.

Day 3-Binh Thuan

More later- speechless. It was incredible and now we are staying at a 10 star resort so I have to go put my feet in the South China Sea.

Day 2- Friday, July 26 Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

We're here, we're here , we're here!

These little guys are everywhere! But I don't think we can bring one back- sorry ARI!

Yummy...Rambutan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambutan-

We buy a big bag for breakfast

Our hotel is near a very famous market, we spent the afternoon trying to figure how much everything is when one American dollar $ is $1700 dong (Vietnamese money)- A cup of coffee costs $500 dong !

Day 1 July 24 & 25, D.C. to Taipei

Here We GO.......










Made it to Taipei, Taiwan. Only one more 3 hour leg to go before we're in Ho Chi Minh City. Very long very tiring. I'll tell you one thing, I definitely prefer foreign air carriers. United was crowded, very little leg room, etc. EVA Air on the other hand had twice as much leg room, the most beautiful stewardesses in the world, very customer focused. A delight! Still, a 12 hour flight is a 12 hour flight. We're ready to be there!

Hugs to everyone, Cynthia

Ditto everything Cynthia said about the airlines. The airport here is spotless and modern and efficient. I am very honored and excited to be included in this trip, and I hope we all still love each other on the way home! I plan on eating nothing but great food from now till I get home! Cheers!









Here are some pictures from the Taiwan Airport- Bonnie wants to live there - I mean IN the airport-but I took her passport so she wouldn't be tempted. -Rebecca
















This is the relaxation room it had plants, bird noises playing and a soothing voice saying something lovely, I'm sure- it also had free massage chairs which we had to be dragged out of in time to get back on the plane.



This is the Little kids Relaxation room- very nice, very very pink- "Hello Kitty"appears to be the regional animal of South East Asia- it is even painted on the planes.




LITTLE Kitties BIG mice...now does that make sense to you?