Week one - Hanoi two days and now Haiphong for the last 5. Random thoughts on my time here so far:

The people... about as welcoming, friendly and kind as I've seen anywhere in the world. 


The food... haven't gone too exotic yet but the fruits and vegetables and the fish and meats, the soups...all extremely yummy and oh yes... I hear its all very healthy

The weather... the only real negative so far... HUMID

The traffic... mesmerizing and scary all in one; but with all the synchronized chaos... absolutely no signs of road rage or upset even in the slightest. Hmmmm...what does that say about our culture???

 “Nguyen” can be a first name or a last name and there are a lot of them here. At least half maybe more of the Vietnamese I’ve met here have this name.

Interesting facts: 
-Vietnam is the 13th most populated country (who would have known, I certainly didn't)
-Among all developing countries, Vietnam has one of the lowest unemployment rates.
-An estimated ten million motor bikes travel on the roads of Vietnam every day.and it seems like that number is low!
-Among all developing countries, Vietnam has one of the lowest unemployment rates.
-Ruou ran (snake wine), a Vietnamese specialty of rice wine with a pickled snake inside, allegedly can cure any sickness. I will wait until I'm on my death bed.
-From the northern tip to the farthest south point is about the same distance as from Seattle to Los Angeles ... over a thousand miles. One very long "little" country.

Anyway... life in the hotel (although I have to say, it is a very nice hotel); is getting old but, I do believe I found a home for us to rent.. a nice 3 bungalow compound that should work just fine. And Dawn has given her thumbs up so now to work out the details.