Friday, October 14, 2005

We made it!

Finally, we're in Vietnam. It's our second day here. Everything so far has gone perfectly. China Airlines treated us great, and the flight to Taipei seemed much quicker than the nearly 12 hours it was. The flight to Saigon, I mean Ho Chi Minh City, was less then two hours. We flew through customs and immigration and Hoa's uncle and cousins were right there waiting for us. The ride through Ho Chi Minh City was a little scary but we survived. We're staying in Hoa's relatives' guest house in Vinh Long on the Mekong Delta. The house is right across the street from one of the forks of the Mekong. We have a great view of the river from our room. The room is very nice -- reliable electricity, flush toilet, hot water in the shower (not that I really want hot water), and even a refrigerator, which is more than I can say for the last place we stayed in the U.S. (just kidding, Jason). No cooking facilities in the room, but we could use the family's kitchen if we wanted to, which we probably won't. Eating out is too good and too cheap -- breakfast for three of us was about two bucks this morning. And that was for the best pho (noodle soup -- "phuh" is a good start) I ever had. Before breakfast we went to the Cafe Hoa Nang -- I don't know anyone there (yet) so the company wasn't as good as Prescott Coffee Roasters, but the coffee was much, much better, or at least stronger, which is pretty much the same thing to me.

We just got done going with one of Hoa's cousins on a boat tour of the Delta. We stopped at a couple of islands where they grow tons of strange fruit. It was beautiful. We rented bikes for a couple bucks and rode some gnarly singletrack along the river. Our guide ordered food for us while we for our ride. When we got back they servers brought us a whole large fish, three different kinds of pork dishes, prawns, vegetables, spring rolls, fresh fruit (pineapple was the only kind I'd seen before), rice, all kinds of stuff. I was getting a little nervous about the cost of this feast, but the bill came back under eight dollars. It probably would have been more, but our guide told the people at the restaurant that Hoa's cousin, Le, was another guide and they didn't charge for her.

I'm definitely in the early stage of living abroad where everything new is exciting. I'm sure the excitement will eventually wear out, but for now at least we're absolutely thrilled to be here. We're going to start studying Vietnamese with Hoa's cousin's English teacher tomorrow. We plan to study with him for a couple of hours a day for the next several weeks. We're not sure how long we're going to stay in Vinh Long. Our plan is to spend some time visiting family and studying the language here before heading up to Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands to visit more family and then exploring more of Vietnam. Then we'll decide where we want to settle down for a while.

I'll try to get some photos posted soon -- there's no USB port on this computer so I'll have to check out the computers at the post office and the internet cafes, which we're told exist here. Better get going, we're going to see some of Hoa's family we haven't seen yet here in Vinh Long.

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