Such Amazing Grace: 2004 Vietnam Aid Expedition

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Subject: Day 9

Greetings from Dalat! We arrived at about 6:15 this evening and had a few minutes at the hotel before we headed out to dinner. The hotel has free internet service for 30 minutes. The internet cafe we used in Nha Trang was just across the street from our hotel and was really cheap - $1000 Vietnamese Dong per minute.

Today got off to a shaky start. We were supposed to meet everyone in the hotel lobby at 6:00 and Barb woke me up at 5:47. I guess neither alarm went off or we slept through both. Anyway, I was glad the guys from the YMCA gave us baseball caps to wear. We scurried off to see the kids off. It was so sad. Alot of the girls were crying which just made it harder for everyone. We were able to hand out our "business cards" with our picture, email address and mailing address. The kids loved that. Also we were each given 2 envelopes with postage to address to ourselves and then give to the kids. I gave one to my friend from the Little Rose Warm Shelter. Her name is Minh and she is so sweet. They all were. The boys didn't seem to want too much to do with the women volunteers but were certainly crazy about the guys. And our guys were so good with them.

After all the goodbyes were said, we headed off to the mineral springs where I took a mud bath. Kinda weird but my skin feels really soft. Then it was lunch - I haven't had pho in several days! - and back on the bus for the ride to Dalat.

The highway - the only highway - is pretty narrow and the bus driver honked the horn nearly the whole time. They honk as a warning to move over or get run over! And it works. The ride was about 4 hours and the scenery was beautiful. Lots of mountains and lots of green. The last hour or so was all uphill on a VERY narrow road. We were all warned beforehand to take our Dramamine and I don't think anyone got sick! I guess the way down is worse though.

Dalat is a very touristy town. They call it Little Paris - the post office right across the street from our hotel has a huge Eiffel Tower on top. Speaking of our hotel - this one is the nicest one yet. Very French Colonial in style. Very beautiful.

Oh! I forgot to mention last night that I had my first bah bah bah! It's a beer made in Vietnam. I'm not at all a beer drinker but I wanted to try it. Tomorrow I'll try the famous Vietnamese coffee. Who knows, maybe I'll develop a taste for that! It's strong coffee with sweetened condensed milk. All the coffee drinkers love it. I'll let you know how I like it.

Ok, the line for the computer is getting long.

Thanks for the emails and support.

Love,

Kathy