We are HERE in SAIGON!!!!

We arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh- HCM) City around 11:30pm SGN time (10:30 PM CST)
Walking out of the airport, there were 100's of people awaiting the arrival of the exiting passengers. In the sea of family welcoming home a loved one, I wondered, will there be someone waiting for us, just one? Thankfully there was a little VN man waiting with our names on a sign, "Mr & Mrs. Carlson." He escorted us to the van & took us to the Bong Sen Hotel. We were tired from traveling over 24 hrs., but my eyes wide open to try to capture as much of the city as I could, in the dark.

I noticed immediately how HUMID it is here! No wonder the locals are so thin, they work, eat, sleep in a sauna. Also, there are VERY few street lights...the vehicles mainly consist of mo-ped bikes, bicycles & a few automobiles BEEPING as they enter an intersection to notify they are coming...there is no "stopping" and waiting for a light...I saw no "law & order"in the traffic, I felt like I was in NYC except more bicycles to dodge than taxis. And dozens of people still up, walking, biking, talking & even sleeping on the streets at Midnight SGN time!

We will meet our Motherland Tour this am and see the sights, already in the sun light I see how poverished the city is...just like I have seen in the movies, I see with my own eyes now!!! I am trying to take it all in.

Stay tuned & I'll be back...signing off, Golden Orchid

PS-PLEASE anyone seeing my sweet boys, Joseph & Samuel- & my mom, please hug them & tell them how much we LOVE & MISS them, already!

**Thank you MOM for help making this once-in-a-lifetime dream trip come true...I will now see my "hometown" in which I was plucked out of and into your hands many moons ago. I am forever grateful to you, I love you from the depths of my heart...