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Published: November 27th 2005
Welcome Flowers
Dung my surprise welcoming guide. Cousin in NgatI was looking for solitude on this trip. On the flight over, I usually meet interesting people and have a great time talking to travelers. On this trip I met no one. Each of passengers occupied our little space with little interest in anyone else.
I always marvel at the flight attendants who try to make us comfortable on this long journey. China Airlines have some of the best. On the 20 some hours of flight time they did everything they could to make our flight as comfortable as possible.
They even took care of an on flight emergency. I don’t know what happened to a passenger about five rows ahead of me but they worked on her for several hours. Watching the professionalism of the flight attendants going from serving drinks and food to getting out the first aid kits and doing what they could for this women was interesting. They know exactly what to do and the situation stabilized during the long flight.
As I said, I was looking for solitude on this trip but my friends and family had a great concern about me biking Vietnam alone. My friend at the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington
D.C. was also concerned and had even tried to hook me up with a Vietnamese Veteran to bike with me. I went along with this but it didn’t come about so I thought I was going to get my wish.
After landing at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport, I went through customs and picked up my bags. My intention was to take by bicycle out of the box and load up my gear and be on my way. However, this was not to be. Outside, I was greeted by two groups: Each had a sign saying: “Kent Converse.” Not known by me was that Trang; my Rotary Daughter who is a flight attendant for Vietnam Airlines had planned to meet me at the airport. She couldn’t work out her schedule so she had two girlfriends come to the airport, with flowers and a sign to meet me. When they got there they saw another group with flowers and sign, “Kent Converse.” Could there be two Kent Converse’s in the world? The other group was my Special Daughter Ngat Dao who had decided to come to North Vietnam and greet me. She was standing there with her cousins, Uncle and family
that she had never met to greet me and help me with my trip. She had recently graduated from HCMC University and had decided that since I helped her through college and we had never met she was going to put off looking for a job and help me. Also coming north she got to meet her relatives and especially her 100-year old Grandmother.
Anyway, none of these people knew one another. But, we are all acquainted now and I am having a great time.
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TOM CORNS, GREENSBURG ROTARY
non-member comment
KENT: I ENJOYED YOUR BLOG AND WILL SHARE WITH THE GREENSBURG ROTARY CLUB. WE WILL LOOK FORWARD TO FURTHER INSTALLMENTS TO YOUR ADVENTURE.