Day 3 - On The Road to Nha Trang

This morning we left at 5:15 am from Saigon - ony 15 minutes behind schedule! Those that are familiar with "Vietnam Time" should think this is a MAJOR achievement for a group as big as ours! We were all awake by 4:00 am though to pack and get ready to check out - so needless to say we weren't in the best of moods for our 11 hour bus ride to Nha Trang!

But leaving from the big city this early is always fun because there is absolutely NO ONE on the silent streets. Susan asked "Where are those 6 million people anyway?" Then just as the sun is about to peek over the horizon you start seeing the elderly doing their Tai Chi in the park, the cyclo drivers waking up from their evening rest stop in their cyclo beds, smelling the pho broth begining to boil and within just a few short minutes everyone is up and the honking of the horns begin in earnest!

We took the only highway to Nha Trang -it is technically only 450 km (280 miles) from Saigon. Even though the "highway" is mostly paved and more than one lane you still are amazed at how a big tour bus like us can play chicken so well with mopeds, bikes, trucks, and of course the cows & water buffalo! It is not a road trip that is fun when you consider that along the way there will eventually have to be a rest stop (aka potty break). Roadside bathrooms are "interesting" and minimal to say the least. For all of us that were on past Aid Expeditions it's the part of the trip that we never warn anyone about and quickly forget! Let's just say that you know you're in trouble when you don't can't find the bathroom and there are other animals within reach!

So a trip that would normally last only 4 hours in the US was further enhanced by the onboard microphone/speaker system! This year our "activities" coordinator for camp is a group from the YMCA Vietnam. They are young and enthusiastic and love to sing and dance as many songs as possible! We started with "We all belong to you...we all belong to the YMCA (insert hand motions to spell out each letter)". But then our youngest team members decided that it was a perfect way to pass the "really boring trip". Emily, Clare, Keelin and yes even Little Michael had plenty of songs to sing during our trip! Nothing makes you smile big like hearing them sing "You are my sunshine" and leading us all in "5 little monkeys"! Now you all can remember your own karaoke machine for your next road trip!

We stopped for lunch at Cana Beach past Phan Thiet where we met up with the other buses of children going to camp. We had lunch in this HUGE hall that was full to brim with pre-ordered food. It wasn't quite the truckstop that we have in the States but definitely something similar! The beach was beautiful even though it was rainy and cloudy. It didn't stop a few of us from getting our feet wet and digging for sea shells! Everyone got a chance to stretch their legs and buy our share of Pringles, Coconut cookies, Dried Jackfruit and Vietnamese peanut brittle! Yummy! Aileen and others from the southern half of the US were all excited when they saw a box of Choco-pies for sale! Who would have thought moon pies would have made it all the way to Vietnam!!?

When we finally arrived in Nha Trang - a beautiful "beach resort town" we were ready to go! Our hotel is nice (but not the 5 star that we were already spoiled with!) But we have hot water, a bed, air conditioning and still no creatures visiting our rooms so we are all happy! That evening we met briefly with all the children after dinner. All 230 children along with the 70 Vietnamese social workers/staff are staying at Guest House within walking distance of our hotel and have a huge courtyard to play in. We stood there in the darkness singing camp songs and dancing in circles for about an hour. Our team was exhausted but kept going because the kids were so excited...and loud!

Back from the 1 hour with the kids we had our own dancing to do. Tomorrow night is a "musical show" that will be more of a competition for the best performance by a group. All the kids and different shelters (10 total) have been rehearsing their performances for weeks. For our team it was going to be 1 hour tops and we decided to dance to a traditional Vietnamese song! I wish you could have seen the 10 men that were on the team really having a good time skipping to the beat of "Trang Com". I will be sure to send pictures later but it won't do it justice at all!

Well tomorrow is the big day...a whole day of camp activities with all the kids. I've been reving up the team since Day 1 about why it's such an amazing experience to have all these kids here but now they will be experiencing it first hand! We can't wait!

Thanks again for all your support....it really is not possible without all of your generosity!
Peace,
Caroline