Toto.... We're Not In Kansas Anymore

We made it to the Rex without any drama yesterday. We arrived and crashed. Normally we have enough energy after traveling to at least get out but after spending 24+ hours traveling we both just wanted to sleep.

Here's a rundown of the last two days.

Flight: First two flights were a piece of cake. But then the 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong was BRUTAL! I took two Tylenol PM thinking it would knock me out for a while but I was only out for about three hours. The directions on the bottle should say if you are flying to the other side of the world take half the bottle. Once we arrived in Hong Kong I had a good laugh as they were playing Christmas music throughout the airport. Here we were on the moving sidewalks and Hark the Herald is being blasted through the airport. On our last flight from Hong Kong to HCMC I think we had a new pilot who wanted to land on one wheel instead of three. I thought Chris was going to have a stroke. He wanted to ask the pilot if we were shot down but figured that wouldn't be a good idea.

HCMC Airport: Jynger wasn't kidding when she said it would be a mob scene. I've never seen so many people waiting for family/friends to arrive. Total chaos!!! However we found Minh right away and we on our way to the Rex.

Driving in HCMC: I don't know if driving is the word to use. I have never seen traffic like this before. It makes driving in NYC like a Sunday afternoon drive. There are motor scooters everywhere. What's really crazy is you will see a family of four on one scooter. And crossing the road is an adventure like none we have ever experienced. Basically you just need to step and hope nobody runs you over. We did pretty good on our first walk this morning. I'm sure by the end of the week we will be pro's.

Hotel: The Rex is wonderful. Bed was nice and comfy but I'll admit we would have slept on a pile of rocks by the time we arrived as we were exhausted. But of course our bodies were still on East Coast time so at 4am this morning we were both wide awake. We hit the restaurant as soon as it opened for breakfast. Both of us were starving. Plenty of yummy food to eat but watch out for the toaster. I managed to get a piece of bread stuck and it started burning. Took two people to get it wedged out. And of course we already fried the power strip. Chris plugged it into the converter and it about blew up. Good thing I brought extra converters. Hopefully we don't blow up anything else. This morning we met a couple in the hotel lobby who are from Kansas City. They are also adopting a child. We hope to meet up with them again later in the week.

Shopping: We hit the Saigon Center and the Tax Center this morning. Just wanted to get a feel for the land. Chris bought a belt at the Tax Center. The sales lady called Chris "big and giant". We also hit some of the shops around our hotel. The embroidary is beautiful here. I know I'm going to do some damage in some of these shops when we get back from Ninh Thuan.

I'm so glad we arrived early. Just to feel human for a day before heading to Ninh Thuan I think will make a big difference. Tomorrow is the big day. We meet Bennett for the first time.