We did it.

We are officially in Ha Noi and I'm so very happy to finally arrive. It has been a long and arduous process, one which I was entirely sure would happen.

It was an incredibly long trip and a bit trying on us all, but so very worth it. We had three flights, all very different. Portland to Seattle was on a tiny little plane. Seattle was a trying experience and i don't recommend their airport to anyone. We had an easier time finding where we were going when we landed in Korea, for goodness sake. Anyway, that leg was on a big ol' jet with 9 seats across, each with a movie/game/music player that also featured a map thing that allowed us to see where we were. We saw Alaska, Russia, and China as we flew over them. We spent only an hour in Korea, where I spent nearly $5 on 2 bottles of water, but did get Korean coins. :) Then we hopped on board a smaller (6 seats across) plane for the flight to Ha Noi. It was slightly less than 4 1/2 hours, most of which the kids slept. Thankfully.

We arrived in Ha Noi at 10:40pm local time (which was 7:40am PST) and made it through all the scary paperwork, getting our luggage (it all made it!) and saw that my friend Keith was waiting for us. His 6'4" stature made him easy to spot. He'd gotten a taxi for us, so we hauled all our stuff out there, loaded it a few different ways trying to get it all (3 suitcases, 3 backpacks, 2 duffels and Mr. Spooky). We finally made it back to the hotel and in bed at around 1 am.

Today (Thursday) we went with our new friends from New Zealand, Tamra and Summer, to Hoan Kiem Lake. We walked around it taking lots of photos and getting to know each other in person, rather than via email. Tamra get along well and Summer and Audrey have really hit it off. The girls were a hit with a few groups of people at the lake who wanted their photos taken with the cute Western girls. I'd warned Audrey, but Summer was a bit overwhelmed by it the first time and it ended in tears.

We managed to find a supermarket and had a great time strolling through there and checking out all sorts of things. Blueberry-flavored gum, deer jerky, yoghurt drinks, Japanese jelly candies, etc. Stuart was taking photos and was strongly asked to stop by a police officer-looking fellow.We ended up buying some candies (or lollies, as Summer calls them) included fake Kindereggs. Horrible. We spent a whopping 92,000VND. ( About $6) The dried bananas were good, though, and we bought oranges off a lady in the street. Yes, she was carrying them in the baskets held over her shoulders.

This afternoon we visited Keith's school (he teaches English there) for a Q & A session about us visiting Viet Nam, traveling abroad, etc. Quite fun. The class invited us to join them for drinks at a cafe across the street. Audrey had nuoc cam (orange juice) and I had something like lemonade, but made with another citrus fruit that i can't remember the name of. We took a taxi both ways from the hotel to the school and back. All by ourselves. I was quite proud that we made it and I didn't get ripped off. It cost about $1.10 for each way. The oranges were about $1.00 for about 20 little oranges. Very yummy!

So, we're back at the hotel, killing time until dinner. Stuart isn't feeling so well (both he and I decided to wait until Christmas Day to get sick), so he is trying to sleep it off. He is doing better today and I'm pumping him full of vitamins and water. :)

The kids are doing great and their attitudes and willingness to accept things that are not easy continues to amaze me. The traffic is scaring the bejeebers out of Audrey, though. Basically, you just walk in to the street and keep your eyes on the scooters zooming toward (and hopefully) around you. It's honestly NUTS. Traffic goes whichever way it pleases whenever and there's honking at all times. Girls ride side-saddle on the back when they are in skirts. Whole families are stuck onto one bike. And they carry everything from vegetables to soda, to fishing nets, to pigs!