Greetings from Ben Tre

Sunday, October 28th (as written on Monday evening)

So, apparently we have internet connection in Ben Tre (I only find this out the night before we leave for Vinh Long...=D ). And, from the sounds of it, my husband is the comic relief.

For those of you planning to travel to VN, I have two observations:
1. Bring a calculator (to make sure you're receiving the right amount of dong for the dollar)
2. Apparently, each province has it's own type of electrical plug ins (HCMC had two prong & BT
has 3 prong outlets). Combine this w/ our electrical appliances having 2 or 3 prongs and it
spells "Tracy didn't bring all the different converters she needed)

After checking out at the hotel (see note #1 - we were almost charged for 3 nights stay, instead of two...quick thinking by my Math Wizard hubby saved the day), Mr. H, N, and L picked the three families (J & T arrived safely the night before) in two vans & drove us to the agency office. There, we had our orientation (and I saw Mr Colin's picture up on the display - one of the ones Heather R provided to me during her trip last Nov).

After orientation, we settled into our vans (J, T, & us w/ Y & N in the 1st van; P, M, Mr. H, & L in the 2nd) for our drive to Ben Tre (about 3 hours but conversations w/ Y made the trip go that much faster). We stopped in My Tho for a quick break & Y bought tasty VN treats for us to share).

To get to Ben Tre, we took the Rach Mieu ferry across the Tien Giang (giang = VN word for river). Since the vans didn't make it on the ferry w/ us, we stopped & looked around the area. There were lots of vendors selling interesting things. Y bought fermented quail eggs (for which I politely turned down an offer to try one). Ben Tre is famous for its different types of coconuts (yes, there are more than one). They use all parts of the coconut (and I do mean all - juice & creating milk for drinking, husks, shells to make really neat hand crafts).

After getting slightly lost (well, apparently our driver wasn't lost but the driver in the other van was...he thought he knew where he was going), we checked into the Hung Vuong Guest House. Not quite the amenities of the Lan Lan 2 but we have air conditioning (and for that, I'm happy). Within a few minutes of arriving to our room (view of the karoake bar from our window), a hotel employee I dubbed the "Dorm Matron" came in, closed the blinds (apparently my red hair is catching too much attention from the locals) & proceeded to tell us what items were "freedom" or "not freedom" (and well, the Coca Cola, beer, cigarettes, gum and brand name water are "not freedom" you have to pay for then).

We lost power for about 5 minutes within the first 10 minutes of being in the room. So far, knock on wood, no futher losses. If I have to identify the theme of our room, I'd describe it as "early 1950s institutional or dormitory, complete w/ Lucy & Ricky Ricardo twin beds). No top sheet, only a fitted sheet & thin blanket for covering.

Futher observations...
3. Karoake is bad in any language
4. Only in VN would you ever find me getting ready for bed at 8pm (=D)