Addendum...

Home at last!  My last day in Hanoi began early so we all could have breakfast together on our last day in Hanoi.  The Allender family was staying on in Hanoi until Saturday, May 7, but they were leaving Tuesday morning to fly down to the south to Na Trang, which is said to have one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  I hope their trip was an enjoyable one.

We also went to the hospital to see our patients from last week.  They were all there except our first day patients, as they went home on Monday.  We arrived and saw everyone.  They were all smiles and sad to see us go.  All the families were there as well and no interpreting was needed.  We could see and feel how grateful they were for all the work we have done.  Lots of hugs and tears and more photos.  We did communicate for them to come back next year, when the team arrive again, so we can follow up and see how they are doing.  It was so nice to see them all again and to say good-bye.

The next plan was for us (Jim, Vicky and Judy) to plan one last day of shopping and then a last shower before we depart for the airport.  We managed to finish shopping around lunch time and then, where should we eat?  I piped up with "please, no more asian food"!  I really wanted a cheeseburger!  Instead, we went to "Little Hanoi" for a wonderful baguette sandwich.  It tasted so great!

Back to the hotel for a rest period and to finalize our packing.  Two of the Vietnamese doctors were to pick us up at 8pm to transport us to the airport.  I packed to full suitcases with my stuff plus the added souvenirs.  I couldn't sleep, even though I desperately wanted to get some rest.  I did shower and re-fresh and then met our doctors for our last drive to the airport.

The plane left on time for our 4 hour flight to Seoul, Korea.  The flight left at 2250 and arrived in Seoul at 5 a.m. (Seoul is 2 hrs ahead).  Seoul airport is massive, beautiful and spotless!  They do have a Transit Hotel so we went to check it out, for hopefully, a room to sleep and a shower.  They have a hotel but at a cost of $146.00 per person, we opted for the Asiana Airlines lounge area which consists of padded chaise lounges out in the open, for a much needed power nap.  There is also a shower area and massage room for those in need of relaxation.  It was early enough for a short nap, and then, the noise level increased as the airport got busier.  OK, now I am hungry.  I really want some pancakes and sausage!  Us 3 girls were up and ready.  Jim unfortunately leaves 2 hours earlier as he got on a different flight.  Instead of flying to Seattle with us and then connecting to Eugene, OR, his flight goes into San Francisco and then to Eugene.  He was bushed and exhuasted, so decided to sleep and told us to go on ahead. 

OK...a big airport...where to find some pancakes!  I see the Information Desk!  I asked "where can we go to get some pancakes for breakfast"?  We were pointed in the direction of a "cafe" for a breakfast with eggs, pancakes, bacon....yum!  We walked down looking for our "cafe".  Well, the cafe was "McCafe"!  Really?  McDonalds?  After our fit of laughter, we looked further and found a piece of heaven AND home:  Starbucks!  Oh my gosh!  My first latte in 2 weeks!  We sprinted, stood in the long line (it was well worth it) and had my usual: at tall non-fat vanilla latte!  It was soooo good.  We all enjoyed our drinks and some starbucks fare for breakfast.  I even bought a Starbucks "Seoul" mug for my husband as a souvenir.

OK...now to pursue a transit tour of Seoul since we have HOURS until our flight leaves for Seattle (13 hr layover to be exact).  We found a brochure with the different offerings of tours.  We settled on the tour of Seoul of the Royal Palace, lunch, shopping ( we need more souvenirs now that we are in Korea) and a water park, then back to the airport in time for our departure.

Well, it was work trying to find where to go.  We had to actually leave the airport, go through immigration again and show our passport, and exit the airport to check on the tours.  Is it worth it to go out, and then have to come back again through immigration and then security?  You're darn right it is!  The other thing that made our decision to go through immigration was I finally got a stamp in my passport.  I didn't get one in Hanoi and I was bummed about that.

We signed up for our tour and there were only 4 of  us.  A gentleman named Dan, also from Seattle and on our same flight, and us girls.  Dan works for Boeing and was in Uzbekitstahn for business.  We had a very sweet tour guide named Min Kyong, who gave us a wonderful and informative tour of Seoul.

We left Incheon airport for the hour drive into Seoul.  Incheon is on an island, so we crossed a bridge over the Yellow Sea into Seoul.  What a modern and progressive city.  After being in Hanoi for 2 weeks, this was quite a contrast of cultures.  We had noticed while in the Incheon airport how the people were dressed well.  the women with fashionable clothing and shoes and the men in suits or shirts with ties.  Hanoi is old, a bit more primitive, and really strikes a cord of being a city undergoing a revival.  Vicky was telling me when they first came to Hanoi 7 years ago, there were still remnants of bombed out buildings from the war.  Hoan Kiem Lake, in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, had open toilets for squatting in public.  She said the smell was horrendous, as you can imagine.  All that is gone now and every year that they have come back, there have been new hotels, shopping centers, etc, built, to attract more tourism.  Then you have the chaotic traffic with absolutely no rules to the road being enforced.  Just plain chaos!

Seoul, on the other hand, was a modern, progressive city and impeccably clean!  Many skyscrapers with electronic billboards (massive flat screen TV's) mounted on top of the buildings with the advertisements.  There were few motorcycles, scooters and lots of nicer cars and actually staying in the lanes of the roads and no horns honking or lights flashing at other cars to move over.  As a pedestrian, no dodging traffic to cross the road.

Anyway,  our tour took us to the Palace of the Royal Family.  They Royals no longer exist now.  After the Korean War, the Royals were disbanded of their power and a "president" was elected and now serves the country.  The Palace is a big tourist attraction with a museum.  We toured the massive grounds, the museum and watched the hourly guard changing and got pictures taken.  You will also see a picture of a woman with Korean characters on her cloak, standing in front of a government office.  The guide told us she was in protest of the Korean government.  Only one person can protest at a time, anymore people and they will be arrested.  The guide told us the South is in fear of the North from takeover all the time.  Scarry.
We then were taken to a shopping district for a fabulous lunch of stir-fried beef and rice and some appetizers of Kim Chee, seaweed, mushrooms.  We then just had 30 minutes to shop, which was not enough, but the weather was about 65 degrees and sunny.  It was beautiful to be outside without all the humidity of Hanoi.  Back on the bus to a waterfall/artificial water promenade through the middle of the main drag in Seoul.  Again, outside in the cool, sunny air was invigorating!  Now, back on the bus back to the airport.  I managed to get another nap on the bus ride home, to then go through immigration again, and another passport stamp, to then get ready to board the plane for our 10 hour flight home.

We missed getting back in time to see Jim off the San Francisco.  I am sorry I didn't give him a big hug before he left.  I am sure I will see him again.  We boarded our flight, and bid a fond farewell the Asia.

I sat next to a man from Seattle were just spent 5 weeks in Delhi and hiking in the mountains of India.  We exchanged our experiences of our trips, then put on our headphones to watch our movies for our flight home.  The service on Asiana Air was excellent, both going to and returning from Asia.  I would definitely recommend them to anyone going to the East.  We were served 2 delicious meals plus a snack.  The food was hot and delicious. 

I really was hoping to sleep so took an Advil PM and turned of my screen monitor to get some much needed shut eye.  I was so tired, but could not get comfortable.  I got up a couple of times, walked to visit Vicky and Judy to see how they were doing.  They were sleeping!   Good for them, not so for me.  I tried reading, doing a crossword, but I was so tired, I couldn't keep my eyes open.  Good, maybe now I can sleep.  No matter what I tried, I just was restless and antsy.  It was the longest flight ever!  On the monitors on the back of the seat in front of us, we can watch the travel route of the plane and see where you are.  It wasn't moving nearly fast enough, but finally, we were making our descent.

Arrived in Seattle on time, retrieved our luggage, went through customs rather quickly and then sent our luggage on another converyor belt to be sent down to baggage claim in the main airport.  I gave Vicky and Judy hugs good-bye as they went for another 5 hour layover before their flight to Eugene.  Such a long day for us, but not quite over for them.  They were great and we exhange emails.  They were wonderful women and admire them for all their work they have done over the years in Hanoi.

On my mind now was seeing Bruce waiting for me at the baggage claim area.  We came up the escalator from the International terminal and I scanned the crowd of greeters looking for Bruce.  No Bruce.  As I headed down to baggage claim #1, I saw him pacing and looking around, holding a red rose.  It was so great to see him and hug him again.  I missed him so much that I couldn't help but cry.  I am tearing up as I type this too.  He is such a great husband and being away just re-affirms how lucky I am to have him in my life.

The weather in Seattle was sunny with blue skies, just beautiful.  So happy to round the corner and see our house and to see my 2 dogs and 2 cats.  Buddy ran past me to Bruce, but as I was patting Ginger who was super excited, he came back and danced around me with his "welcome home" dance.  I missed my animals too.  I just took a deep breath and was grateful for all that I have in my life and to re-appreciate everyone and everything that I have.

I exchanged emails with my little Vietnames patient that I got close to.  I do hope to keep in contact with her and see how her life turns out.  It was a very amazing experience, that I will not forget.  I do intend to go back and hope that I can follow through on my hope to return next year.

Thank you again to "Facial Harmony Vietnam" team for all they have done in the past and their future endeavors.  I am proud to have partaken in this adventure with them and hope to give back again.

Thank you to my family and friends for all their support before I left for Vietnam and while in Vietnam.  If anyone has an opportunity to do some volunteer work, act on it.  You will be glad you did.

Good night all!  Enjoy my pictures, for the last time...this year, at least!

Farewell Hanoi!

Here I am at my last entry on my "Vietnam Experience" and what an experience it has been.  It has been full of sights, smells, emotions, smiles, hellos and now, goodbyes. 

I will start with my weekend trip to Ha Long Bay with Dr. Allender, his wife Laurel, children Amanda and Chris, nurses Judy and Vicky.  We left Sunday morning via bus for the 4 hr journey to Ha Long Bay.  We crossed the Red River, saw the countryside and managed to get away from the noise of the city for awhile. 

The journey took us through the countryside consisting of small towns along the way, many rice paddies, fields of banana trees, and corn.  Water buffalo roamed to paddies, the roads and the cities.  We also saw goats, horses and cattle.  Lots of women with their bamboo hats were seen,  working in the fields, spraying the DDT (which is sprayed everywhere to control the mosquitoes), sewing seeds in the fields, and loading their bicycles with their fruits, produce, and baquettes.  I tried so hard to capture the scooters and bikes that were literally, loaded down with wares going to market.  I saw bikes with crates of live pigs, some had live chickens, all going to market.  It made me sad.  I hated knowing they weren't out for a Sunday drive.  Baquettes are served a lot for breakfast, instead of toast.  You can see women with stands, one right after the other, with their bikes loaded with baquettes, fruits, veggies.  Again, they are lined up on the side of the road, all with the same things.  How they actually make a living, I couldn't say. 

Through the towns, peoples yards were set up like produce stands.  Again, one almost right after the other.  There is no recycling, that I could tell.  Garbage would be piled up in certain areas.  They make these bricks out of clay, with holes in them.  They are used as briquettes for cooking on the sides of the street.  We actually saw people with a coal powder, mixing with water, to form the bricks.  Lots of construction going on, with toiling manually.  No cement trucks, just people with their wheelbarrows, making the mortar, laying bricks.  Roads were pretty well, but in the city, lots of the sidewalks are in disrepair and you really have to watch your step or down you can go. 

I understand that being a member of "the Party" (communist party) is one of the few ways to become prosperous.  Any bad words flung their way, will banish you and stifle any financial advantage for you and your family.  If you have money, the Party is the way to go, to advance.  As a family, 2 children is the limit.  If you have more than 2 children, you are taxed an extrodinary amount.  It is very frowned upon.  The population of Hanoi is 5 million, so I guess controls are the way to go.  To buy vehicles, you pay the government 200% tax above the cost.  A car that cost $25,000, will cost $50,000 there.  That explains the number of scooters everywhere.

Here I go again, I start to talk about Ha Long, and I drift.  OK, back on task.  We arrived in Ha Long Bay, boarded a tender to our "junk" the Dragon Cruise Line.  There were about 20 of us that were on the boat.  I shared a room with Judy and Vicky and the family had 2 rooms.  There were Chinese on board, one of which was living in Hanoi and starting up a new company here.  A couple with an adorable 2 y.o. daughter.  The dad was German, the mom Bulgarian and their daughter was learning both languages PLUS english.  I'm jealous of all the multi-lingual people we have come across.  We also met a man who is from Wyoming, but living in Hanoi for 3 years, teaching English.  His Swedish friend met him for a trip to Ha Long.  Also on board was a couple from Australia and they were filling us in on their country and all the beautiful things to see and do.  We were a good group with lots of info to share.

We took off the the islands of Ha Long.  The islands consist of mulitple limestone structures, covered with vegetation, jutting out of the water.  There were a mulititude of "junks" with tourists, due to the holiday weekend.  Along the way, were local fishing boats, and women with their boats filled with pringles, strawberry and blueberry filled oreo cookies, soda, water, candy.  They would come up to the boat in hopes of selling their items.  We came to a stop, and a tender brought us in to an area of a massive cave that was discovered in 1901 from the French.  Lots of stalagtites and stalagmites so we walked through.  It was incredible.  My biggest complaint about my time here has been the heat and humidity.  With any exertion, you are dripping with sweat and just feel grimey.  So, after all the steps to get to the caves, I was ready for a shower, but instead, we went kayaking. 

We were taken to a place to kayak.  Here I am, kayaking in the Gulf of Tonkin.  Unbelievable, as I was in the kayak,  thinking about where I really was.  We were then taken back to the boat for a shower, later we had dinner, and then, we just enjoyed the sunset on the upper deck of the boat.  We attempted fishing for squid off the boat.  We could see them, but no luck.

Time for bed and the mattress was rock hard, so not the best sleep.  We awoke for breakfast, and a cruise to a fishing village.  The locals actually set up small clapboard houses, and they fish for their livlihood.  There was also a one room school house for the children (it will be the green structure that you see).  We then headed back to shore, to the bus, and the journey back to our hotel.

Tomorrow, a visit back to the hospital to see our patients, some last minute shopping and then packing for home.  The hotel here was so kind as to let us keep our rooms until we leave for the airport, which is 8pm.  No charge.  The people of Vietnam have been so welcoming, friendly and gracious.  The vendors on the street are a bit agressive and will sneer if you don't buy anything, but that's capitalism for you.

So, below, I will post pictures of our junk (the Ha Long Dragon Cruise), other junks with their beautiful and colorful masts, the caves, the countryside, and our group.

I was so fortunate to  be welcomed into a very tight-knit group.  Everyone has been so kind and really welcoming to me and wanting me to feel like one of the team.  They also were great in showing me around and telling me all they knew about this country. 

I really want to thank Dr. Brian Allender, Dr. Richard Litchfield, Jim Hayfield, RN, Vicky Shook RN, Judy Peterson RN for all their knowledge and help in this journey.  I also want to thank Mrs. Jacquie Litchfield and Mrs. Laurel Allender and their children, Amanda and Chris for their friendliness and kindness extended to me.  You all make me want to come back again.  Really!

So, to all my family and friends back home in USA and my extended family in Canada, thank you for going on this journey with me and I hope I could bring some insight into another culture for you.  It was really a wonderful and fulfilling experience I will never forget.

Good night from Hanoi!

A day of Shopping...and then some...

Saturday finally has arrived to really hit the streets and markets of Hanoi and shop for myself and family.  Luckily, Vicky, Judy and Jim has been here 6 times before, so they know the good places to go for the items we wanted.

We stopped off at a market to see a friend of Jim's from his prior years here.  There was just about anything you can imagine.  It was a produce market, a meat market, a pasta and rice market.  There were individual stalls, very small with souvenir trinkets from chopstix, to pottery to textiles, to oriental dolls, to magnets.  I found the most beautiful blue and white pottery, but it was our first stop and I didn't want to haul it around.  I took the woman's card and promised to return to purchase and wonderful bowl, 4 square plates and some tea/coffee cups.  I will have to return on Tuesday, before we leave, because I kept my promise. 

It was interesting to see all the foods.  There were entire chickens, ducks, all plucked and ready to cook.  No refridgeration, just laying out on the tables.  There were cuts of meat/beef that you could have chopped up as you like.  Beautiful fruits and vegetables.  They cook pumpkin vines in garlic and stir fry it.  It is wonderful.  Similar to spinach or broccolini.  The fruit is very juicy.  The mango and pineapple are to die for! 

We then left the market and headed for the open streets.  Again, this weekend is the 2nd most important holiday to the Vietnamese people: the Unification of Vietnam.  30 April 1975 is when Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) fell to the control of the communist government of the North.  People are celebrating with hoards of shoppers, tourists, more motorbikes; if you can believe that.  Anyway, we shopped, found some beautiful silk tablerunners: 3/35$.  I just had to buy them in such vivid colors.  Also, more jewelry with oriental symbol among mother of pearl earrings.  Also, bookmarks for my co-workers back home, silk eyeglass case, lacquered boxes, lacquered coasters in a box, mother of pearl bracelets.  Hmmmm, what else.  I still need to get the pottery.  The prices are unbelievable.

Many vendors which are the poor population selling t-shirts, fruits, produce, books, lighters, just about anything.  The problem is they sometimes don't want to take "no" for an answer and will follow you down the street.  I did post a picture of Vicky buying from one of the vendors...

We then thought after all the walking, how about a foot massage?  Sounds great right?  Well, we went to a place that Vicky knew and the sign said "foot massage:  $6.00 US". Sounds great.  Well, we sat down, and they began the massage.  They then had us go upstairs, where we got a head, neck, shoulder and back massage (through our clothes).  We thought, hmmm, must be an added bonus since 3 of us entered their establishment.  After the massage the price was $13.00, which surprised us, but we were there for an hour, so why not.  But, they wanted a $2.00 tip as well...It's not the cost, it is just that we felt taken.  We just paid and got the heck out of there and headed home.  Oh well, every tourist has a scam to tell, right?

We then went out to dinner with the entire group at the "City View Cafe" about 5 stories up with a view to die for, of the center, near Hoan Kiem Lake.  We were outside on the terrace and just watched all the crazy traffic from a birds eye view.  Cars, pedestrians, bikes, motorbikes, going every which way.  No lanes, no traffic lights, some near misses as we watched.  We had a wonderful dinner provided for by Dr. Allender.  The crowds were getting thicker, so thought we'd make our way back to the hotel.  We got through the crowd and Dr. Allender realized his i-phone was not in his pocket.  He said he felt someone watching him as we were walking through the crowd and thinks they took it out of his pocket.  Quite a damper to the day.  We headed back to the hotel, because we leave in the morning for Ha Long Bay.  Dr. Allender went back to the restaurant just in case, it fell out of his pocket.  I hope to blog good news later.

Time for bed.  Early day tomorrow for our overnight.  Will miss blogging tomorrow, but hope to post pics for the last time Monday night of our trip to the Bay. 

Night all and will be coming home soon.  I miss Marysville and my husband terribly!

A Celebration

Facial Harmony Vietnam is the name of the Medical Group from Eugene Oregon that I am traveling with.  Our last day was Friday and a wonderful presentation of "thank you" was given to the group and myself.  This group I travelled with includes: Dr. Richard Litchfield, retired Dentist that started coming to Hanoi about 12 years ago to help the Doctors here. Dr. Litchfield's wife Jacquie, who has worked teaching English to the staff and patients.  Dr. Brian Allender, an Oral-Maxilo-facial surgeon, who has been coming for the past 6 years.  He works on the surgical correction for cleft palates, and either overbites or underbites and repairs the jaw and upper jaw to better align the two.  Vicky Shook, RN who has been working the Dr. Allender for the past few years in his office and in surgery. Judy Peterson, RN who also works in the OR with Dr. A.  Jim Hayfield, RN who has been an Operating Room nurse down at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene for many years.  Jim is the connection I had for this trip via a nurse at my institution in Everett, WA.  Jim and BJ traveled to Guatamala last January so we connected when the team needed a Recovery Room nurse to travel to Vietnam.

OK, history lesson complete.  Yesterday was our last surgery on a young lady needing both the upper and lower jaw re-aligned.  We were done early and told to be back to the Institue at 2pm.  We then arrived upstairs, to a conference room and saw a film presentation the local Doctors/Dentists prepared with pictures of all this team has accomplished over the past years.  There is so much love and admiration and gratitude that it is difficult to put down in words.  The room consisted of all of us, the staff which includes the head and I do mean HEAD of the Government of Vietnam's medical Institute here in Hanoi and down in HCM city (Ho Chi Minh).  The group also consisted of about 5 past patients that also wanted to tell the team how their surgeries has changed their lives, physically and emotionally.  One patient even met his future wife while being a patient in the hospital last year.  His fiancee's sister also was a patient, and she visited her sister and met her now, fiance.  Anyway, this young man got up and told the team how grateful he was for "making my life better".  It was so emotional that the tears started to flow.

After the speeches of thanks and "please come back next year" (that was repeated many, many times), was the presentation of "gifts" too.  The slide show had the bios of everyone with their pictures, and then they all came up to the front and were presented with framed certificates from the government of Vietnam for thanks in all their humanitarian work they have done over the years.  Also, a beatiful crystal award to put on their mantles, from the Institute. A gift of a beautiful embroidered silk tablecloth with 12 napkins and an envelope with more thanks.  I was so proud of all these people and their contributions and so glad I met and could participate with each and every one of them.  I was not left out, as I received a beautiful bouquet of long stemmed red roses and a gift of an exquisite silk scarf (pictures below).

Lots of hugs and kisses and fond farewells were exchanged (plus the paparazzi was out in force with all the photos being taken).  We were then instructed to be back to the Institute at 6pm for our final celebration with what else, FOOD!

This experience is something I have always wanted to do, to give back and to help others.  I have waited too long to be apart, but I have done it now and really hope to continue the mission.

I plan in my next blog entry to try to describe how the experience was, in more detail.  We just have a few days left, and we will go to the Institute and give our fond farewells to the patients that are still in hospital.  I did receive a scarf from my little patient that I have grown close to and we exchanged emails and facebook addresses.  I hope to stay in contact with her for many years to come and maybe see her one day in the USA, or even on my next trip here.

Now, time for shopping!

Enjoy the pics!