Greetings from Ben Tre

Last night Barbie and the kids went to bed about 6 pm. Helen woke up at 2 am and Thomas at 3 am. We stayed in bed until 6 am (Helen slept a little on and off between 2 and 6). However, everyone did pretty well and the kids just went to bed at 7:30.

After we got up we went to the hotel breakfast at 6:30. The Lan Lan 2 puts out a pretty good spread. There was all types of fruit (including dragon fruit which we talked Thomas into trying), baguettes (really good), croissants, yogurt, fried bananas, pho (rice noodle soup), ham sandwiches, all sorts of vietnamese food that I don't know how to describe, and really good strong coffee. We had a very successful meal.

After breakfast, Barbie's dad, Ken, and I went shopping for a few things that we needed. When we got back, we had a little lunch in a small cafe down the road and then a bus (arranged by the adoption agency) picked us up at the hotel and took us to the adoption agency local office. We met the other family that is going to have adopt a child from the same orphange there and the agency representatives gave us a bit of a idea about what to expect the next couple of days.

After our orientation, we got in a bus and headed for Ben Tre. The trip took about 3 hours, but we didn't cover much ground (maybe 50-75 miles?) A lot of time was taken getting through the thick Ho Chi Minh City traffic (still incredible) and once we got out of Saigon, the trafic was better, but still terrible.

Once we reached the river that borders Ben Tre province, we had to jump on a ferry (sp?) to travel across the river to Ben Tre province. From what we've seen of the province so far, it is full of rivers, canals, and coconut palms. We checked into our hotel when we arrived at about 4:30. It is nice enough and clean, so that is good. We seem to be seeing a lot of mosquitoes around here, so we are glad that we got our malaria meds before we left.

Tonight we had supper with the other family that is adopting and our agency representatives that have travelled with us (4 people). Thomas and Helen did a decent job of trying the different foods there, but it is new stuff and they were tired, so they were glad that some miniature bananas showed up at the end of the meal so that they could fill up on something!

The family is going to bed now (8:00 local time), and I found an internet cafe a couple of blocks away and decided to blog. I hope this works, but the connection is pretty slow and unpredictable. I'll guarantee that you won't get any pictures posted on the blog until we get back to Saigon on Saturday!

It is pretty surreal being here (in this haze of jet lag made more acute by the heat and humidity) knowing that our future daughter is very close. She doesn't have any idea what's in store for her in the next several days/weeks/months. It's going to be pretty difficult for her, I imagine. A bunch of strangers will come and visit a few times, and then take her on a bus drive for 3 hours (first time on a bus) away from the only home she has ever known, to stay in a small hotel room with these strangers for a few weeks before getting on a crowded airplane for 24 hours on the way to Minnesota in December (I'm quite sure that it is hotter right now in this internet cafe than it has ever been on thanksgiving day in Minnesota). We are very thankful for the opportunity to bring this girl into our lives, but we are also feeling a bit bad about what she's going to have to endure in the short term.

Anyway...we meet her tomorrow. What a trip. I hope it goes ok. I'll try and let you know. Take care and thanks for being interested enough to read.

See ya,

Doug for Barbie, Thomas, and Helen (soon to add another name here)