This morning I took off from Hanoi on a 0800hrs flight to Danang. When I landed, I was met by two of the three counterparts I will be working with for the next 10 days. We got in the new Mitsubishi Pajero that their office is now using and started on our seven plus hour journey headed for the Lao Bao Border Gate area.
We stopped in Hue and had lunch with two of the local MIA province officials. My counterpart had some coordination to do with them in preparation for a follow on mission we will do about a week after I get back to Hanoi from this trip. We ate at a restaurant on Dien Bien Phu Street named Không Gian Xưa that specializes in sticky rice... like we won't be getting enough of that in the coming days.
Back on the road again, we mostly napped on and off for the rest of the trip up HWY 1and then West on HWY 9 (Also called AH16). We pulled in to the Xuyên Á Hotel around 1600hrs and I got my room.
We are scheduled to eat dinner this evening. I will probably end up meeting all eight of our witnesses tonight. This is a very critical time for me to establish my position with these guys. I have already read the backgrounds of the cases they will be doing and know each of their names, but now I have to put the face to the name. It will be good if I can nail their names without having to stutter through them every time I have to address them. Of course, it is easy enough to call them Bác (older paternal uncle) but I think it will give a better impression if I can "learn" their names quickly.
Wish me luck! Tomorrow we cross on through to the other side. Hopefully our Laos team is waiting.
1 comment:
sending LUCK your way!!
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