Greetings from the capitol city of Hanoi

Greetings from Hanoi. It has been an adventurous day to say the least! We got up this morning had breakfast, waited in the lobby for Avery's au doi to be delivered, and payed for our GNR expenses. Then, we spent a few hours relaxing in our room before checking out of the Rex and departing for the airport.

We got to the airport and through security with about 40 minutes to spare. at 1:30ish, our flight was called and we moved in to a holding area. As the clouds moved in we wondered what the weather was going to do. Naturally, it began to pour down rain and our flight was delayed slightly. We left HCMC at about 2:30 and dropped about 40 feet from the air on the landing strip in Hanoi. BAM! The landed was the worst landing that any of us have ever encountered. Thank the Lord that all of the parents were holding their babies tightly. The pilot came on over the intercom and apologized for the rough landing but they had a pilot in training - glad we knew this after the flight! Avery was so good the entire trip (she slept most of it).

We quickly gathered our luggage and made our way through the airport. We loaded a large bus and headed to our hotel. That was an experience as well. On the way to our hotel we hit a lady on her motor bike. Her high heel went flying into the traffic and knocked her bike over. Keep in mind, the driver did not stop to check on her even with all of us yelling at him! Next, we got to the hotel and the driver pulls into the wrong drive way and preceds to try and turn a corner that was clearly made for a small car. He decides to back the bus back out into the traffic (lots of traffic) and side swipes a traffic sign and misses a couple on a motor bike by 2 inches. We kissed the ground when we arrived! Thank God we were in a large bus or who knows what might have happened!

Hanoi is really a pretty city. Between the airport and downtown, it is all agriculture. Cows standing along side the road and TONS of rice fields. Harvesting rice is such manual labor. It is back breaking work, not to mention probably terrible for the knees. I did find that many of the cemetaries or mausoleum were located within the rice fields. It is so strange! Once you get into the downtown area it is similar to that of NYC. Tons of motor bikes and cars with honking horns and people everywhere!

Our hotel is really nice. This location is the best that we have been in since arriving in VN. It is an apartment type setup. We have 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, a kitchen, dining area and living room. For those families who have yet to travel - you will love this hotel!

Tomorrow, we plan to do some shopping and spend some time resting!