May 11: Hanoi

We have now officially completed the Indonesia chapter of this international tour. We woke up this morning and were immediately off to the airport after a quick breakfast. Unfortunately, we finally said goodbye to our amazing guides throughout our tour up to this point, Patrick, Roy, and Harry, as well as our guides for Bali, Windy and Frits. We were so fortunate to have such loving guides as we were all brought to this unfamiliar country. As a final parting anthem, the choir gathered together and sang God Be with You Till We Meet Again for our new friends. While we have no doubt that the people of Vietnam will appreciate the choir and their performances, goodbyes are difficult when the people we say goodbye to are so special to us.

After a few pictures, we then went through a quick security check before boarding our flight for our first layover in Singapore. Our first plane was a little behind schedule, which caused a bit of a rush when walking to the next gate for our final flight to Hanoi, Vietnam. Near the end of our flight when we came over Hanoi, we encountered a sizable thunderstorm which delayed our landing a bit. A few members of the choir were a little nervous with lightning flashing around us, but we kept reminding ourselves that planes are made for those conditions!

Once we finally landed, we met our new tour guides, Hung and Long, who will be with us during our time in Hanoi. After exchanging our currency, we drove about 30 minutes to the hotel at which we will be staying, and they had a wonderful Vietnamese meal prepared. Perhaps the highlight for many members of the choir was the shrimp, which unlike common shrimp in America, these shrimp still had a head attached to their body. For some, eating these critters was very difficult since they were looking right back at us. We then retired to our rooms for the night to prepare for an exciting day tomorrow.