What a crazy couple of days it has been. We got up at 4:30 am on Tuesday to begin our journey to Vinh Long to pick up Kevin. We met the others at the other hotel at 6:00 am and began our long trek to Vinh Long.
Vinh Long is located on the Mekong River in the Mekong delta at the very south tip of Vietnam near the Cambodian border. The whole area brings up thoughts of the Vietnam war and how you would hear of all these place names like Saigon, Danang, Mekong, Hanoi, etc. It is really interesting to see them now.
We set out in our Merecedes van (not as luxurious as it sounds) for out 3 hour one-way trip to Vinh Long. It seems that the city never really ends, it just fades to more rural but still seems to be people everywhere. Eventually we go to the areas where you saw people working in the rice paddies wearing the typical cone-shaped hats. There are motorbikes EVERYWHERE! Even the small villages are crammed with motorbikes. Nobody really has a car here.
After about two hours in the car, we stopped for lunch at some restaurant right on the Mekong River. It actually sits on stilts out on the river. I was sad to see the half filled aquariums with all the critters they plan to serve to diners. (I wanted to buy the little turtle and drop him back into the river from my table).
After lunch, we drove about 45 minutes to this remote, dusty compound of old concrete buildings set way back from the road. It looked like an overgrown Davidian compound or something. We were taken into a room with a bust of Ho Chi Minh and a big red drape on the wall with yellow letters that certainly spouted some communist propaganda.
A few moments later, we saw four nannies in cone hats carrying four babies down the dirt path. Somehow, the one nanny must have known that Kevin was ours because she stopped and pointed to me and said Bing Bang Bang or something to show that he was mine. They then handed the babies to us and we were allowed to change them into the clothes we brought them (they kept the clothes they were wearing). It was amazing how all the babies were SO QUIET! None of them made a peep.
Then we were off to the Vinh Long provincial communist party headquarters for the Giving and Receiving ceremony. We went up the stairs to a conference type room and they flipped over the Vietnamese sign from what said “weddings” to “baby handover”. We then sat there as the official talked for about 5 minutes in Vietnamese (no clue what he was saying). Each father then had to stand and make a speech. Of course, being in a communist country, we were told what our speech had to include: 1) Thank you to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for taking such wonderful care of my baby. 2) I will send annual updates on how the child is doing, and 3) I will take good care of him. Kind of strange how the taking good care of him comes last…
So we gave our speeches and got the heck out of there. Apparently the Clean Indoor Air Act has not made it to Vietnam because the orphanage officials and the party officials seemed to have no problem lighting up indoors with four infants in the room!
We then had a long 3 hour ride back to Saigon. All of the babies were SO QUIET! None of them made a peep….well, except for the big baby (Brian). Brian decided that he was going to say the word “apricot” over and over all the way home. Unfortunately, some of the other people in the van laughed at it, which perpetuated it! Apricot…..ap-ri-cot…..APRICOT!!
When we got back to Saigon, we were all dropped off at the Kim-do hotel where others in our party are staying. We wanted to jump in a cab and go to our hotel but the lady who is supposed to be our interpreter (kind of interesting that she speaks almost no English) took us on a forced march across this busy street to get Visa photos for the babies (it was after 6pm by this time and we just wanted to head home). There are no crosswalks or cross signals in Saigon. The barrage of motorbikes never stops so you have to just walk slowly across the street, staring straight ahead and they will (hopefully) go around you. So, there are four guys holding four babies, walking across a street the size of Canal Street in New Orleans with motorbikes 15 across in each direction. It was true, though. The motorbikes just flow around you and keep going. They never blink an eye!
Finally, it was back to our hotel to try and get some sleep! We were still operating on quick naps for the last two days and were ready to actually sleep through the night!
Vinh Long is located on the Mekong River in the Mekong delta at the very south tip of Vietnam near the Cambodian border. The whole area brings up thoughts of the Vietnam war and how you would hear of all these place names like Saigon, Danang, Mekong, Hanoi, etc. It is really interesting to see them now.
We set out in our Merecedes van (not as luxurious as it sounds) for out 3 hour one-way trip to Vinh Long. It seems that the city never really ends, it just fades to more rural but still seems to be people everywhere. Eventually we go to the areas where you saw people working in the rice paddies wearing the typical cone-shaped hats. There are motorbikes EVERYWHERE! Even the small villages are crammed with motorbikes. Nobody really has a car here.
After about two hours in the car, we stopped for lunch at some restaurant right on the Mekong River. It actually sits on stilts out on the river. I was sad to see the half filled aquariums with all the critters they plan to serve to diners. (I wanted to buy the little turtle and drop him back into the river from my table).
After lunch, we drove about 45 minutes to this remote, dusty compound of old concrete buildings set way back from the road. It looked like an overgrown Davidian compound or something. We were taken into a room with a bust of Ho Chi Minh and a big red drape on the wall with yellow letters that certainly spouted some communist propaganda.
A few moments later, we saw four nannies in cone hats carrying four babies down the dirt path. Somehow, the one nanny must have known that Kevin was ours because she stopped and pointed to me and said Bing Bang Bang or something to show that he was mine. They then handed the babies to us and we were allowed to change them into the clothes we brought them (they kept the clothes they were wearing). It was amazing how all the babies were SO QUIET! None of them made a peep.
Then we were off to the Vinh Long provincial communist party headquarters for the Giving and Receiving ceremony. We went up the stairs to a conference type room and they flipped over the Vietnamese sign from what said “weddings” to “baby handover”. We then sat there as the official talked for about 5 minutes in Vietnamese (no clue what he was saying). Each father then had to stand and make a speech. Of course, being in a communist country, we were told what our speech had to include: 1) Thank you to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for taking such wonderful care of my baby. 2) I will send annual updates on how the child is doing, and 3) I will take good care of him. Kind of strange how the taking good care of him comes last…
So we gave our speeches and got the heck out of there. Apparently the Clean Indoor Air Act has not made it to Vietnam because the orphanage officials and the party officials seemed to have no problem lighting up indoors with four infants in the room!
We then had a long 3 hour ride back to Saigon. All of the babies were SO QUIET! None of them made a peep….well, except for the big baby (Brian). Brian decided that he was going to say the word “apricot” over and over all the way home. Unfortunately, some of the other people in the van laughed at it, which perpetuated it! Apricot…..ap-ri-cot…..APRICOT!!
When we got back to Saigon, we were all dropped off at the Kim-do hotel where others in our party are staying. We wanted to jump in a cab and go to our hotel but the lady who is supposed to be our interpreter (kind of interesting that she speaks almost no English) took us on a forced march across this busy street to get Visa photos for the babies (it was after 6pm by this time and we just wanted to head home). There are no crosswalks or cross signals in Saigon. The barrage of motorbikes never stops so you have to just walk slowly across the street, staring straight ahead and they will (hopefully) go around you. So, there are four guys holding four babies, walking across a street the size of Canal Street in New Orleans with motorbikes 15 across in each direction. It was true, though. The motorbikes just flow around you and keep going. They never blink an eye!
Finally, it was back to our hotel to try and get some sleep! We were still operating on quick naps for the last two days and were ready to actually sleep through the night!
No comments:
Post a Comment