It’s 4:30 am here and I just woke up. I’ve slept enough, apparently. We were all exhausted last night. I kept falling asleep at the dinner table. Anyway, I’m up now, which is good, because the internet works better in the middle of the night here. I was having so much trouble uploading pictures to flickr last night.

Be sure and keep up with my photoblog . I’ll be uploading a LOT of photos there that I won’t necessarily post on the main blog. If you have a feed reader, you can search for the feed to the photoblog, and that will get all the pictures delivered to your computer.

The travel was actually pretty easy, considering that we came a literal “halfway around the world.” It hit home that we were in Vietnam when I got off the plane and onto the jetway to the terminal. I looked down through the glass window and on the tarmac was a young officer in full uniform.

70% of the population in Vietnam is under the age of 30 . Can you believe that? Younger leaders are beginning to make their way into positions of responsibility within the government. In the 90′s, Vietnam moved to a “free trade” marketplace and just a couple of years ago, they were admitted into the World Trade Organization. The upshot of that is that Vietnam is booming with growth.

The reception for Americans here is very warm. We are greeted on the street with people trying out their English, although we did get down to the heart of Hanoi yesterday, where tourists rarely make it. To say they were shocked to see Westerners down in those alleys is an understatement.

It is not to say that we were anything other than completely safe, though. There is no worry of assault or violent crime here. The worst that you can anticipate is dealing with pickpockets, though we saw none. I guess you don’t see pickpockets though. Anyway, we still have all of our money and stuff. :) If they were working yesterday, they were probably out in the tourist section, anyway. They wouldn’t have expected us to be around where they live. In many ways, we are safer here than if we were at home. The kids play in the courtyard of the guest house in which we are staying – owned by GVI.

We hit the ground running and had some meetings yesterday to look at SS3, an orphanage and Senior Adult facility on the other side of Hanoi. The kids were very friendly and so were the Senior Adults. If I ever get the pictures uploaded to flickr, I’ll post them here on the main site. There is much needed here. Margie will be doing health evaluations in that place on Saturday, while Jimmy, Dennis and I interview the kids, so that the team coming later this summer will know more about them when they arrive. These kids have never been anywhere, so this Summer, there is a plan just to take them to one of the world famous beaches here.

The babies in that place are dealing with rashes and other ailments that we treat or never even get, so we don’t think about it. We brought over a suitcase full of medicine – antibiotics, mostly. We got it pretty cheap at Blessings International, a place that facilitates just that.

I also look forward to giving them the soccer equipment from Mitchel and Peace is the Goal. That young man, by the way, buys the equipment himself with money he earns refereeing games, among other things. He then buys the equipment and donates it to children around the world. Gotta say that I am blown away by him.

Today, we are going to SS4, which is an orphanage that houses children with disabilities. Downs syndrome and other special needs kids will be in this facility.

It is now 5:00 am here and the city is starting to wake up. I can hear the horns blowing. By the way, traffic here is surreal. You have to go to Youtube and search for Hanoi Traffic to understand it. It is a living thing and it flows. The sounds of shrill horns from the scooters are only occasionally accented by the really loud horns of the buses. Lanes mean very little here and stop lights are few and they are just now getting to where people stop at them. They finally put traffic cops at the intersections with the lights and those guys can fine you on the spot, if you break the law. Of course, you can also negotiate the fine, so bring your bargaining skills if you drive. If you are not from here, I suggest you not drive.

The photos all the way through just off of the plane are 73% done now and I can then start working on what we saw yesterday. It may be tonight before I can upload them, because the load on their servers is too much when the city is moving. Internet cafe’s are everywhere here and they are packed.

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