Sep 16 2009
Vietnam Update, Sept. 16, 2009
The day began with us checking out of the hotel and then stopping at Duc Son Orphanage, operated by Buddhist nuns. Nearly 200 children are housed here. The orphanage is expecting an additional 10 more children in a month. Needs identified included money for milk and food. Packets of nutritional supplements, baby bonnets and a couple traditional facemasks for celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival were provided.
Departing the orphanage at 10am, we headed to Vietcom Bank to acquire deposit information on Ly. Freddie learned of Ly’s need for a motorbike to enable her to travel to work so we stopped at two local bike shops. About an hour later, Ly had a new motorbike.
Following lunch in Hue, we headed to the airport. We attempted to catch an earlier flight to no avail. Our regularly scheduled 7:10pm flight was delayed until shortly after 8pm. Nonetheless, we made it to Saigon in plenty of time to rest and relax before catching our 11:50pm flight to Seoul, Korea.
Arriving shortly after 7am, we all had time to rest some more before catching our connecting flights. Freddie, Drew and Charles were the first to head out for Atlanta shortly after 10am, followed closely by Andy an hour or so later, who flew to New York, where he caught another flight to Washington, D.C. My flight finally left at 4:45pm. After a short layover in San Francisco, I was on my way to Denver.
ROW’s “rowving” reporter, Karin M. Clack