Arlyn

Okay, so here’s the deal. I am sitting outside the Daewoo Hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam at a beautiful banquet table. It’s dark now and the main lights are from the candles on the table and lights around the beautiful pool. The temperature is about 70 degrees and there is a soft breeze blowing. There are 14 people around the table, and there are at least 50 of these tables set up, white table cloths, French wine, wonderful food… My table mates are from Vietnam, Thailand, United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore. There is music- the National Orchestra of Vietnam is playing. The men are all in dark suits, and the women are in evening gowns. Very pretty women in traditional Vietnamese dresses are serving us and waiters are not letting a glass go dry. Sometimes I sit ... read more

Hi Everyone, I received a few comments that readers couldn’t find the filmstrip on the last post. The fact is I should have explained it better. The film strip is accessed by clicking onm the film icon at the top of the page. By the way- I hope that you know that if you click on any picture, you get a larger copy of the pictures. Saturday I took a trip to Ha Long Bay. Ha Long Bay is about 120 miles northeast of Hanoi and is worth every mile. If you are ever in Vietnam, take advantage of the tours. My tour to Ha Long Bay included an air-conditioned 18 passenger bus, a four hour cruise on the bay, a fresh seafood dinner (I’ll talk about that later), admission to two sight-seeing tours and transportation ... read more

Hi Everyone, It has been fast and furious here in Hanoi, but I did take some time out today (Sunday) for some sight-seeing. I took a tour that lasted from 8:30 Am to 3:00 PM. It was a great to learn a lot more about the history of Vietnam and Hanoi and to gain some new perspectives from some of its citizens. The tour group leader was a lady named Huong, who was very intelligent and a very good communicator. The only hitch was that we had a 9 passenger tour bus and 14 passengers. Let’s just say we all became good friends before it was over. There was a great deal of togetherness on the bus. The tour group consisted of about Australians, Malaysians, Japanese, and Thais and me. As usual, everyone spoke English. We ... read more

Hi Everyone! This is my first blog entry since I have been on the road. I'm sorry, but I have no pictures to upload today. I should have some for tomorrow. It looks like I will be here till November 4th and then will head home, but I will only be home for about a week and then will head back to Vietnam. It turns out that President Bush is actually going to present our E-Manifest application when he is over here on November 16th. He will then introduce us so we can give our presentation. This is really the big time for a simple guy from Oklahoma! I have to get to work, but I will write more tonight. Best regards, Arlyn... read more