Goodnight Saigon

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Friday was our last day in Cao Lahn. We started the day by going to visit the families for a dedication ceremony. This was when we officially handed off the project to the home-owners. We thanked them for the opportunity. The families thanked us for our support. We heard that at other builds this ceremony was emotional; however, we had not developed much of a connection with our family. The guys who supplied the brick came and wanted pictures with Brad.

We had a final lunch at the government building before checking out at the hotel and doing some cultural activities. The cultural activities were a disappointment. We made a stop at a basket making facility which resembled a lumber yard. There did not seem to be any pre-planned programing for us. We watched the ladies make some baskets and a few of the crew tried their hand. The next activity was billed as a visit to a lotus farm. This turned out to be another trip to the government building where some lotus pods were laid out on the tables and we learned to peel the seeds. Finally, it was time to hit the road and travel back to Saigon.



The dinner plan was to do a quick meal at our hotel in Saigon. Somehow our translator misunderstood and we arrived at a restaurant late in the evening. The group decided to forgo the paid-for meal and return to the hotel before doing dinner on our own. We met up with a few people from our group and got some Bahn Mi sandwiches which were the most satisfying meal we had all week. We then went to a night market for a few beers. We exchanged numbers with Jim, a Habitiat employee and native Indonesian. We ended up staying out late before a morning flight, but had a good time chatting and drinking beer.

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