HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Some of you may still be up celebrating New Year's 2009. It is almost 2:00 am your time. We all wish you health and happiness for the new year and are looking forward to seeing you very soon!

Randy, Mike and I spent New Year's Eve day and night in Vung Tau. A small beach and resort town southeast of our home base of Bien Hoa. Vung Tao is located on the coast of the South China Sea. There is a large beach and several beautiful resorts. We stayed in a nice hotel just off the main strip farther south of the beaches. The town was much more layed back than what we have become accustomed to and it was so nice to have some peace and quiet. We did not worry about crossing the streets and getting hit by motor scooters and there wasn't as much honking either. There really wasn't much celebrating of the new year. Even though it was heavily decorated for it, the Vietnamese traditionally celebrate the new year on the lunar calendar and not on December 31st. We celebrated by eating and toasting to each other in a restaurant at one of the local hotels.

This morning we returned to Bien Hoa and went to the market to pick up some flowers to take with us to Khan and Jung's home. They had a large party and invited us and many of our new friends that we have met along the way while being here. Jung again prepared a large feast for all of us (about 25 people). We will miss her cooking and asked if she would consider coming back to the US with us?! :) It was so nice to see everyone again and be able to say good-bye one last time. The most memorable part of today was having a cultural exchange of drinking games. We taught them "Thumper" and they taught us a most interesting game. This game involved using the cooked head of a chicken (the rest of the chicken we ate for lunch), putting it on a plate with a bowl over the top of it. Then you shake the plate and bowl. When you remove the bowl whichever way the beak of the chicken is pointing, that person must drink. Sort of like "Spin the Bottle" but with beer. Jolene had that beak pointed to her multiple times, as did Mike. Randy got off easier but made up for it by chugging more beer than either Mike or me. We all agreed that this exchange broke down barriers between us as we all laughed at and with each other.

Later in the afternoon, Jimmy, Mike, My and Randy took turns riding motor scooters. Everyone had a great time. Randy was wide open with the throttle and gave My a heart attack. She kept yelling, "Slow down Dr. Maebo!". She was concerned that someone would get hurt. Yesterday her cousin and nephew were in an accident on a scooter. An elderly woman just stepped right out in front of them unexpectedly and to avoid hitting her they had to swerve dramatically and both fell off the bikes. Before the bike went down, they did hit the woman. Everyone involved is fine today, thankfully, and only have bruises, cuts and a few stitches. I have not yet written about the traffic and driving here on the blog. It is, in a few words, unbelievably frightening.

We are now back at our hotel and relaxing a bit before meeting My's family for coffee and a boat ride on the river. Since this is our last night here we also have a lot of packing to do. Tomorrow we will head into Saigon early to visit our favorite coffee shop one more time before heading to the airport.

We estimate that we have taken more than 600 pictures between us and have countless minutes of video tape to supplement our documentation. It has truly been an incredible journey for all of us. I think each person is taking something unique to her/him home from this trip. There were definitely some challenging times and most all of us are ready to go home but I know for me personally, I'm still glad I came and had this experience. I know I will never forget Vietnam and all of the wonderful people I met.

If we don't get the chance to check in before we leave, we will see you all very soon. We arrive home on Friday evening at 5:30 pm.

Again, Happy New Year! It has been so nice to check into the blog and find your well wishes. Thank you for encouraging us and helping us to stay positive and successful on our journey.

Chau tam biet,
Mike, Randy, My, Jimmy, and Jolene