"Day Two"

We left on Wednesday. The itinerary says this is "day two," but the calendar indicates that today is Friday. Our body clocks are totally confused. A sixteen hour flight across the International Dateline has placed us on the other side of the world, in Vietnam, at a time that is out of sync with our personal calendars.

This was sort of a last minute trip. We had explored it earlier, but when the pre-trip extension to the Vietnamese highlands was unavailable during January, we decided to wait. Then we got the email about the "Black Friday" Special. The offer was too good to pass up, so we barely had time to send our passports off for visas and get them back again before departure.

This is not our first time in Vietnam. We visited the south, in and near Ho Chi Minh City, very briefly a couple of years ago. We enjoyed the energy of this emerging nation, which while very old in history has a population that is overwhelmingly young. The CIA world database says that 85% of all Vietnamese are under the age of 55. About 40% are under age 25.

After an evening of beer and pizza with Katherine & Matt, we spent Wednesday morning at the special Luther exhibit at Minneapolis Institute of Art. Then Katherine dropped us at the airport so that United Airlines could take us to Chicago. The long flight was on EVA, a Taiwanese airline we'd not heard of. EVA took us from Chicago to Taipei, and then from Taipei on to Hanoi. The seats were cramped, but the service and the food were quite good.

At the MIA Luther exhibit

Coming from below zero temperatures in Iowa and Minnesota, Vietnam is downright tropical. While the normally expected temperatures here at this time of year would still be comfortable, the highs are running up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit above normal -- highs in the mid-80s. We could hardly ask for better!

The cold I thought I had conquered prior to departure came back on me, but the running nose and cough are being controlled by medication. Jet lag has us thrown for now, but we're coming back quite swiftly.

Hanoi seems spread out, with patches of agricultural land interspersed with housing and businesses. The buildings maintain something of their communist past, lacking bright colors. We had a brief walking orientation tour of the neighborhood, followed by a welcome meal. On first meeting, our group appears to be a good one, with many well-traveled folks. We look forward to what the days ahead will bring.