Catching Up from Viet Nam

I've been without internet service at the house for several days so couldn't post anything news here for a while.  However to catch up on what's been going on. . .

Thursday, August 19, Scott came home from Jakarta.  He met me and Van at a restaurant downtown where we had gone on Van's motorbike.  We all had a really nice lunch and then it started to look like it might rain.  Just before meeting Scott, Van and I had gone to a quilt store where I bought a handmade beautiful quilt; so before going home we had to go by and pick up the quilt. The logistics of all this is that Van and I ended up taking a cab home, along with Scott's luggage, briefcase, and my quilt; and Scott rode Van's motorbike home.  In the meantime, it started raining.  Really, raining-- like a driving pouring rain.  Scott got completely soaked on the motorbike.  When he got home, he took all his clothes, threw them in the washer. (There's a reason for the set up for this story.)

The next morning we were to leave for a trip to the Beach at Mui Ne, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan. Van said we would leave at around 6:00 a.m. to avoid the traffic.  We ended up leaving at 7:15 a.m. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was a "family" trip-- the entire family-- Van's two sisters, her sister's family (husband and two kids), her mother, her father, her older brother and his girlfriend.  Now with us, that includes 14 people!!!

Remember me telling you about Scott getting soaked on the motorbike, well, MAJOR PROBLEMS from that. His passport was in his pocket and it got SOAKED as well.  That technically make it a "Damaged Passport" which is not acceptable.  Therefore, he couldn't leave on the trip with us and had to stay and see what he could get done about his passport and included visas. (Without the passport and specifically the visas, he can't leave the country to go back to work in Jakarta or to come back to the States with me as originally planned.) He would follow us later to the Beach via taxi.

Trying to get all the luggage loaded into the mini-van.

Our trip to the Beach took a little over 5 1/2 hours.  Maximum speed was about 40 MPH and the total distance was right at 100 miles from HCM, Yes, we did stop about 45 minutes out for breakfast of pork chops and rice which took about an hour.  But it was still a very LONG trip.

Scott found out that he was basically screwed as far as his passport was concerned.  He had to apply for a new replacement passport from the States and now has to apply for all new Visas.  Even with a "rush" and "emergency" placed on them, it could take a minimum of 2-3 weeks.  So that means he will be working in HCM until he gets his papers in order.