Long flight followed into Hanoi by way of Taipei. St. Patrick's Day didn't even exist for me as I flew over the International Date line... I did crave a rueben sandwich when I hit Taipei, but none were to be had in the airport amongst the Bubble Tea and Hello Kitty stuff. Met the team at the Hanoi airport, which is about half American and half Vietnamese (kind of like me?).

We load up our truck of medical gear with everyone's second checked luggage bins reserved for the mission and hop on our bus for about an hour and a half bus to a city called Viet Tri. We arrive at our hotel and unload all the medical bins. I meet my roommate Kate, who seems nice and is a Pediatric Resident who is about to start her last year in ER Peds. Dropped my backpack in the room and immediately headed out for a walk around the city for a little bit and checked put the local market. No one really speaks any English here, and everyone speaks to me in Vietnamese first, any way (and often continues to speak to me in Vietnamese, even when it should be pretty clear that all I understand is the Vietnamese words for coffee and ice cream).

Dinner was prepared for the group by the hotel. And then the exhaustion hit and I crashed out, too tired to care about the beeping motorcycle horns and cars under my window, or the super hard Vietnamese mattress (man, I forgot how hard these things are). Luckily, I have my thermarest with me for the cave trip, and it makes for a super comfy sleep if blown up and put on top of a hard mattress. May start traveling with it everywhere.
Had my first steaming bowl of pho for breakfast, then introductions and organizing the supplies, and lunch at the hotel. I am not jetlagged at all, since I never came off my night shift schedule (which is similar to the local time here). The food is good, but I would rather eat on the street or in the market. We were told again that the rules for the group are that the "buddy system" is to be used and no one is to go out without a buddy, as it is "not safe." This was likely directed at me, as this is a discussion that started before we left, as I had concerns about some of the "rules" and was assured that it would be okay. Pretty irritated, as I am very capable of handling myself and being aware of my surroundings and am not a five year old and do not like being treated like one. I am an adult, and while I am here to work, I also paid money to be here and would like to do my own thing in my free time, as long as it does not comprise the medical mission. Plus, I need alone time every day and also need to exercise before my cave trip. Pretty much ignoring said message until they want to chat with me about it. At least the woman running the little stand at a bus stop outside is really nice. I sit with her and her 13 year old daughter, but don't understand much of what is said. A nice man treats me to an iced coffee.

We head to nearby Kings Hung Temple as a group by bus. Fun few hours of sightseeing. It was a cloudy day, so not much of a view at the top. At least I got to walk a lot of stairs. Later, we visit the school for children with special needs. A few kids live there who were left at hospitals. Many are deaf and some with developmental delays. This is followed by a really yummy dinner at a local restaurant, as a treat from the school director.

Next morning was another bowl of pho at the 6:30am breakfast, and then off for our first clinic. I will be in triage, which for this is mainly vital signs and moving kids through to the doctors. There are two other Americans (both Physician Assistants) and two Vietnamese nurses in triage with me. The kids already receive their hygiene and teeth brushing lessons before getting to us. We send them over to the doctors and then they hit the dental area before getting to pick out a toy.

Things seem to run relatively smoothly for Day 1 and with a half day clinic, I think we saw about 84 kids. Afterward, we head back to the hotel. I sit at the little stand for a bit, practicing English with the daughter (she brought her English lesson book and we point to stuff). Get another coffee and they fill my water bottle with tea, as I say goodbye and the group gets back on the bus for a 5.5 hour bus ride to Sapa. Some of the Vietnamese crew makes a pretty tasty dinner and serves us on the bus.

Nicer hotel in Sapa (but still unsure why this trip costs each volunteer about $125 per day plus airfare, with shared rooms) and I was a bit saddened by all the changes to the area since I was here ten years ago. Paved roads, lots of neon flashing lights for pizza joints, a tram to the highest mountain in Vietnam, and bars blaring Bob Marley music. This was my favorite place in Vietnam before, and while it was kind of touristy before, now it is way more so. But the scenery as the fog rolls over terraced rice fields and friendliness of the people is still near and dear to my heart. There is something unexplainable that really draws me to this area and people.

Our first clinic in Sapa serves 240 ethnic minority Hmong middle schoolers. There are three of us in triage (mainly just vital signs, as we don't have an interpreter). I also jump out of triage to do any wound care or splints that come up. Lots of head lice, a probable broken forearm/elbow, and a heart murmur with clubbed fingers. Long day, but lots of fun.

A group of us want to walk back to the hotel, but are told "it is too dangerous", even though the Hmongs are trekking up and down the road all day. Ha! Whatever. Being told we have a totally free evening, only to find out it is another group dinner at some hotel restaurant is making me beyond annoyed. Having absolutely no alone time for days on end and a group leader, Raina, that is forever telling us we can't do things in our free time sucks. But after dinner, I find a meat on sticks place that you point to what they want and they grill it for you. Looks delicious! I tell my roommate (who is a kind of vegetarian) that I am coming back the next night for dinner. I peek inside, and there is some of our Vietnamese crew (truck driver, head nurse, and a few others). They invite Kate and I in and feed us more. "Vegetarian" they say to Kate, until I point out it is wrapped in bacon. They laugh and remove the bacon for her with chopsticks... Really good shredded mushroom wrapped in bacon. They also bought us each a beer. So kind... I feel bad that the Vietnamese crew and American crew seem to remain separate, other then the translators. I tend to stick withe the Vietnamese crew (even with the language barrier), trying to sit with them at group meals and help them when they "serve" the Americans meals and such.

The next day is another early morning, this time with younger kids at the Hmong elementary school. We carry our heavy bins of gear down 80-90 steep uneven stairs to get to the school, which is out in the terraced rice fields. Haven't heard the final numbers for today, but I think we only saw around 120 kids. They were adorable! These kids were very poor. You could tell they tried to put on their best clothes, whatever that outfit may be. They each received a bag with a few donated clothing items and toys. I found one little boy in tears, and found a translator to find out what was wrong. He either lost his bag or didn't get one. So sad.

On a break, some of the girls went to go play on the rice fields and I went to sit with them. One of my favorite girls had been given a Barbie doll (which I know the donation came from a good place, but I and at least one other man on the mission found it kind of inappropriate to give a blonde hair, blue eyed, big boobed doll to an ethnic minority girl). She promptly ripped the head off and threw it down the hill, giggling and sitting down to play with her now headless doll. Totally my hero! We finally got to have dinner on our own... Well, on our own except we can't leave the hotel without a buddy. My roommate agreed to not tell anyone and I snuck off for a few blissful hours of alone time.

I went back to the food on sticks place and ordered almost one of everything (including some tiny, unidentifiable bird thing). The owner and workers were really kind and also gave me part of their dinner they had made for their family. I saw our truck driver and another one of the Vietnamese men that bought us beer they night before walking past, and invited them to join me for a beer. Much needed night of independence from the watchful eye of the mission leader.
We packed a small three day bag of stuff and put our big bags in the truck. The driver will drive to Hoi An and meet us in a few days. We have three free days, roaming Sapa for a half day tomorrow before jumping on the bus to Hanoi for a day and then flying to Danang/Hoi An. Then we get back to work. As you likely guessed, I will probably be incurring the wrath of Raina by sneaking out as much as possible on my own for the next three days.
Well, that's it for now. More when I have the time.
Love,
Betsy
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