Hey Ho Chi Minh!

First, the good news. After 28 action packed hours in transit (that included an unscheduled fuel stop in Inchon, Korea) we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (A.K.A. Saigon or HCMC). 200 mph headwinds made the slog over the Pacific more challenging than normal for our 747, but we finally arrived to the sweet 90 degree heat of Southern Vietnam. Some highlights from the trip; watching The Bourne Ultimatum (Ryan), buying Black Currant Pastilles in Hong Kong (Betsy), watching more cartoons in a 24 hour period than ever before (Olivia) and seeing Mike Farrell of M.A.S.H fame on the airplane from MSP to LAX (Bea -Betsy's Mom).

The bad news you ask? Watching forlornly for 45 minutes while everyone else walks away from the baggage carousel leaving you with only one of your 5 checked bags is a tad bit frustrating. Yup, the only bag that made the trip successfully was the bag full of presents for the orphanage. All of our clothes are still hanging out someplace other than HCMC (every time I write that it reminds me of Hennepin County Medical Center). So, this afternoon, we made a trip to the mall - picture a flea market, Macy's and Target all rolled into one. Actually, the only part that made it remotely like Target was the fact that we bought a skirt for Olivia that was branded Cherokee and still had the original tag on it. We all managed to find one new set of clothes to change into and some miscellaneous toiletries. Total cost: $1.2 Million Vietnamese dollars...this exchange rate is going to take a while to get used to. One US dollar is equal to about 16,000 Vietnamese Dong.

We are hoping to get our bags sometime in the next day....it might be a little challenging for the airline since tomorrow we will be heading down to Ben Tre, the province that Jonah's orphanage is in.

On the short drive to the Mall, we hit sightseeing paydirt....a scooter with 4 people on it. Dad was driving with a son in front. Mom was riding behind with an infact perched on her knee. Crazy. I am a little concerned about Bea's blood pressure when we are riding in Taxis. The traffic patterns here are, well, patternless. Pretty much anything goes. For any of you that have been to Bangkok or Shanghai, you can probably picture it. However, replace about 80 percent of the cars with scooters, and that will give you a general idea.

I think we get to meet Jonah tomorrow!!! It is going to be hard to sleep tonight...OK that is probably not true since all of us have drooping eyelids right now. In fact, Olivia is currently sleeping sitting up on the bed. Betsy is finding it so funny that she is mercilessly letter her rock back and forth. Hopefully I will be able to write more tomorrow when I am not in a state of jet lag imposed delirium.

As the flight attendant said at the end of our flight today; "Have a good very afternoon".