We have arrived!

Pearce and I are finally in Hanoi Vietnam! We arrived Monday morning at 3am. Funny, our itinerary said we would arrive in Hanoi on Thursday night at 11pm. Where did things go wrong you ask? Well to answer that I would have to write a short novel in explanation but since I am not interested in reliving the last 5 days I am going to touch on some of the highlights. The flight from Hawaii to Manila was 11 hrs and Pearce was a dream. Pearce, the two year old, was the easiest part of the whole trip believe it or not. Due to flight complications we were able to spend some time in Manila and ventured through their newest attraction, The Ocean Park. Even though the park was an aquarium oasis, Pearce was the main attraction. Every family wanted a picture with Pearce and he was happy to oblige. Throughout this trip we have experienced some very nice strangers. Lee, a Vietnam TV reporter from Hanoi, helped in so many ways while we waited 6 hrs for Cebu airlines to show up. He even went out of his way to hurry through the Vietnamese customs to retrieve Pearce's stroller from the baggage claim and then brought it to me by re-entering the customs area so I wouldn't have to carry 40 pounds of Pearce through the long airport trek. Thank you to all who reached out and went the extra mile for us. My personal favorite highlight was walking out of the Hanoi airport at 3am to fall into my husbands arms and to watch Pearce's excitement to see his Dad after missing him for several weeks.

We were greeted at the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake (our home for the next 2 months) by Chien, an old friend who was our Guide in Sapa last year, who is now working at the Intercontinental. He works at the front desk till 10pm and then kindly waited for us till we arrived at 4am to present Pearce with a gift: a motorcycle helmet. Now that's a good friend. OK, you would think we would just climb into bed. But no. With all the excitement we couldn't sleep. So I unpacked and went to the Intercontinental' gourmet breakfast buffet and pigged out. Then we slept.

We woke up by the afternoon and ate again. We decided to ditch the car/driver and go local: the three of us together rode around on a motorcycle which made Pearce's year. He loves motorcycles. His enjoyment didn't just come from riding one but also seeing hundreds of motorcycles riding around him in every direction. Unfortunately, as we rounded Westlake, a storm was ready to dump on us, so we found the nearest boat cafe. We drank chocolate shakes while the boat rocked back and forth and the rain poured hard. Once it stopped we rode around until dark. Everything is how I remembered it, and I have to say I love Vietnam.