120 days without an address: Meet the family

We arrived in Saigon in the evening and quickly found a hotel room, got cleaned up, and had some dinner. We strolled around a bit before heading to bed. The next morning we toured the city by foot. We checked out the huge market near our hotel and then kept on going until we found ourselves at the reunification palace. We toured the reunification palace, the basement was the most interesting with maps and phones and other relics from the Vietnam-American war. When done, we strolled back towards our hotel and had some food. We had a big day the next day so we tried to get some rest.

After breakfast the next morning, CJ's Uncle Vang and Cousin Cuc picked us up at the hotel and drove us out to Bien Hoa where the family lives. CJs mother is Vietnamese so she has all kinds of relatives in Bien Hoa. None of them speak English well at all so we were in for an interesting day of communication. We drove down a dirt alley as we neared our destination. Several turns down the alley later and we arrived. A number of people awaited our arrival at the house...again, none spoke english. The house was quite nice with a small outdoor patio and nice living room. We sat down and more people cam into the room to greet us. One introduced himself in English and said that the family had asked him to come by to interpret for us. We were relieved because our nods and hand gestures weren't getting us very far! Drinks and fruit were then presented and we started introducing ourselves. Many remembered CJ from her visit 10 years earlier and tears began to flow. We caught up and met everyone over fruit and beers. Of course I was meeting all these people for the first time, and it was fantastic. We sat down for a nice lunch of rice, veggies and fish. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming.

After a while at Uncle Vang's we all hopped on motorbikes and went to Uncle Ut's house to meet more family. After the 6 or 7 bike caravan we arrived and went straight upstairs to say a prayer and light some incense for CJs grandmother and grandfather who have both passed away. We sat in the living room and shared more stories and took heaps of photos. Next we piled back onto the motorbikes and drove through town to a cafe. After more beers and snacks at the cafe we headed back to Uncle Vang's house before taking a cab back to Saigon. It was a fantastic visit. I was really taken back by the welcome and the emotion felt by us and the family. Really an amazing feeling to meet up with new family in a foreign country at 32 years old! Even if a translator was needed to communicate, you could feel the love in the air. Photos to come soon I hope!