In HaNoi, but it wasn't easy

I had a very nice time in VungTau. Ms. Mai, met me and took me to her home. Then her husband took me to a hotel near their home, which worked out great. On Wed. I visited the new high school which is now a national hi sch, one of 5 in VN. The school is huge, over 2000. Then, at night, I was a guest speaker for Ms. Mai's evening home school class. The next morning, she had another class in her home and I managed to squeeze them in before leaving on the boat back to Saigon. I maybe repeating my self...??

The day before I spent walking along the fishing village. This turned into more of trek than I had thought, even though I had a map too. Along the road there was a huge Buddhist temple carved into the side of a mountain, so I climbed up many steps to view this huge Buddha. Many other people there too paying homage. I walked around back, where a young man was about to throw several large stones into a tree. He saw me and decided to let me pass first. I, on the other hand, was curious as to what he was trying to dislodge in the tree, so I motion to him that I would wait and he could throw his rocks. He threw into the tree 4 times, and I still couldn't see any fruit, or bird or anything that he might be aiming for. So I walked on. The next thing I notice are these huge black insects flying above my head. Almost like a black cloud. Now I knew what he was trying to hit. And they came dive bombing at my head. I quickly retreated to another area, and luckily they didn't follow. I don't think they were bees, more like dragon flies, but scary enough. Ha!! I returned to walking along the waterfront, feeling extremely stupid- I should have walked and not encouraged him to throw something.

My boat ride back to Saigon almost turned into something eventful too. The sea was very rough and so the boat schedule got delayed for over an hour to start with. Then all the passengers had to be carpooled to a different side of VungTau to catch the boat. But finally we got started. Of course this threw my schedule off slightly, so I had to borrow someone's cell phone to tell him I would be late. We started back to Saigon, and everything seemed fine except that this Australian man who was sitting next to me said we were literally sitting still-not moving. I thought he was overstating it plus he seemed like he was trying to excite a small roit, or at least crowd panic. That, was the last thing we needed. The crew was no where to be found-a bad sign. Many of these passengers had early afternoon flights out of Saigon. Luckily, my flight was in the evening. It was only after the boat made an announcement that we would be transferring to another boat that I began to believe this Australian guy knew what he was talking about. The transfer actually went quite well, as a nervously walked a wide plank connecting the two boats. Then we began to sail up the Saigon river, arriving 1.5 hours late. But Safe!!

My last little Snafu of the day was at the airport in SGN. Thanh and I were taking the night flight to HaNoi. So, on 3 motorbikes, with all our luggage and heavy 1 plus hours of traffic, we arrived with a few minutes to spare. Checked in and sailed through security. About 30 minutes before the flight, the annoucement came that the flight was cancelled due to weather. Now what to do. First, you have to go back to Vietnam airlines and reschuled. But of course they weren't doing that until tomorrow morning. They recommended that we come back tomorrow at 6 am.which we did. So we had to find a hotel, near the airport last night. The line moved quickly this morning and we did get on an 8:30 am flight, so all is good. And it was a safe flight... The perils of traveling.