March 20 Hue, Fly to Ho Chi Minh City - Karaoke Madness

This was to be our last full day in Vietnam. We took an early morning flight with Vietnam Airlines to go back to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for our flight home the following day.

We spent the day doing some last minute tourist type things...going for their famous noodle soup at Pho 2000 restaurant, touring and purchasing souvenirs at the lacquerware factory, and picking up some last minute bargains at the local "department store". My biggest find was DVDs of first rate movies for $1.20 each (did someone say pirated copies???).

That evening we were guests at the home of our guide, Anh. In Vietnam, the entire extended family lives together, so we had the opportunity to meet them all.

His mother is said to be the "Mother Teresa" of Vietnam and is very involved in all types of humanitarian works there. She has been instrumental in setting up many of our contacts in Vietnam as well as procuring many of the humanitarian goods that we donated to the various organizations there. Often his sisters were delivering the goods or shipping them to us via bus so we could deliver them.

One of the gifts we delivered to Anh's mother was a plaque representing a special humanitarian award bestowed upon her by The Pope. Tony, our counselor had worked the full year since his last trip there to obtain this for her and she was truly blessed and honored by it.

After dinner, we walked around the corner to a karaoke facility owned and run by Anh's sister. Karaoke is big in Asia, but this was the first time most of us had seen it in person. The room was fairly small, like a private party room. They had two microphones, a very large TV screen and a very LOUD sound system. Once we got started with it and a couple Vietnamese girls got going with it, we had a lot of fun.

If someone every tries to convince you that I got up and did a solo of "Wind Beneath My Wings" to my dear husband...don't believe it. I cannot sing and I do not drink so why in God's earth would I ever do such a thing...other than I dearly love him and wanted to make a public statement of that. He got the message...even if I did see blood coming out of his ears!

That morning when we had returned to Saigon it had been again to the Rex Hotel where we had stayed upon our arrival in Vietnam. It was a strange feeling of "coming full circle". Somehow after all we had done, seen and participated in the Rex did not look the same.

Thinking back on it now...I know that the Rex had not changed, I had. I cannot speak for Gary on this, but I know that personally this has been a life changing experience for me.

All of Life is an Adventure,

You just have to be open to life changing experiences

Linda