Getting here and arriving

March 24 and 25^th are running into each other. I left today for my flight to Vietnam. Marci took me to the Birmingham airport and after a short flight to Atlanta I flew on Korean Air to Inchon (Seoul). It was a strange experience because we left at 11 AM March 24 and arrived in Korea on March 25^th at 3:30PM but the flight was 13 hours long. We flew over the North Pole, Arctic Ocean and then Siberia. We took a jog to the west to go over China instead of North Korea. The flight was not that full and I could stretch out some but not much sleep. It never got dark. We took off and flew into the Sunset so that it never set. It was hard to sleep when it is so bright. I did a lot of re-reading the HIV/AIDS protocols and reviewing materials.

I am now in Inchon Airport and waiting for my final leg which will get me into Hanoi. I am just going to try to stay awake (I really don’t feel sleepy yet) because it should be after 11 PM local time when I get checked into my hotel in Hanoi and then I can just go to sleep. I hope that will help me get on the right time frame pretty quick.

The Inchon Airport feels very Western to me with the same kind of store fronts and monitors. It just that the news is in Korean and of course I can’t out what they are saying. There are still a lot of Americans here since the Military presence here is strong so I see young looking people clean cut looking like they are reporting for duty.

I will write and send more when I got to Vietnam.

The flight to Ha Noi I finally got some sleep. Getting in to the country was interesting in that there were no inspections or questions. No one opened my bag. Mr. Eric was supposed to pick me up at the airport but apparently he did not get my plane message and he called Marci. I hope that that did not worry her. I could not find Eric so just got a Taxi my self (phrase book) and came on in. The driver wanted me to pay a toll and I said no way that was part of his cost and then he could not find my hotel at all. I showed him in the map and new that I was in the right area so when I saw a very rich looking hotel I told him to stop let me out. i went in to get directions but this Italian older man told me that the hotel was only one block away and showed me from the door. I walked over at Midnight and only one person asked if I needed a massage.

It was my hotel so I am here safe and sound feel pretty good and will start the day.

I have a few pictures from the hotel but no time or battery to post today.

Will write more tomorrow.

By the way the Italian guy got worried about me and a few minutes after I was in the lobby he showed up to make sure I was there. I wish I had got his name.