After ten hours cramped up on the airplane, we arrived in Istanbul in the wee hours of the morning. Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport had that familiar feeling that all airports have just before dawn. There’s some activity, but also a sense that the day is just beginning and that within a few hours time the place will come alive with people, vehicles, baggage, airplanes, etc. One welcome relief was the weather. Instead of the hot humid air we had become used to in Vietnam, there was an early morning chill that felt pleasant.

As we made our way to the immigration hall, which was largely deserted at this time of the day, we discussed our strategy for getting Alyssa’s visa. We decided to try the obvious and went to the window that was designated for purchasing visas. No luck. The official said we first had to check with the immigration authorities. On to that line where we were told to go to the special line for diplomats and aircrews. Maybe a positive step?? At our third stop, we laid out all the documents we had — our passports, our Turkish diplomatic IDs, the by-now infamous letter with the red ribbon and copies of two letters in Turkish to the Istanbul Immigration Authorities and Turkish Airlines saying that we would be requesting a visa for Alyssa in Istanbul. The official carefully looked at the mound of paperwork, then collected all the documents and left. We could only stand and wait and hope for the best. But, before long, he returned to a nearby desk and I heard him say in Turkish to one of his colleagues that they had received a fax about us on the previous evening. That was encouraging, and sure enough a few minutes later, he came back to tell us that we could purchase a 15 day tourist visa for Alyssa. We just had to wait until all of the paperwork could be completed. At last, we now felt like we were home with no worries!

Soon, some of the other Immigration Officials started to wander down to us since the immigration hall was now empty except for us. One of them stepped forward and asked if he could hold Alyssa, explaining that he had a 12 day old child at home. Clearly they had heard our story and knew we were diplomats returning with a newly adopted daughter. The most senior Immigration Official offered the chair at his desk (the only one visible in the entire immiagration area) to Patsy and the others also began to play with Jessie. As a result, our wait was as enjoyable as could be expected at 4:00 AM after being in the air all night. I should mention that the time difference between Turkey and Vietnam is only four hours so jet lag was not a big factor. We were simpley exhausted from essentially having missed a night of sleep.

As part of the visa purchase process, I had to go to another section of the terminal to pay the visa fee as this was the only official cashier available at this hour. I was escorted by two Turkish Airlines employees who took me through several security checkpoints and up three floors to a cashier who was sound asleep. Fortunately, he wasn’t too upset at being awakened and gladly accepted my money and gave me the necessary receipt. Now it was back through the security checkpoints down to where everyone was still waiting. All this took another hour and at 5:00 AM we finally walked into another large deserted hall, this time where all of the luggage carousels were.

Then the search to find our luggage began. I expected to find it all piled up next to a carousel and, given the amount that we had, figured it would be easy to spot. But, I didn’t see it. After checking to make sure I was at the carousel where our flight’s luggage had been sent, I started to look around more carefully. Clearly, it wasn’t there. All this time, the rest of the gang was dragging along behind me very exhausted, approaching the meltdown stage. I stopped and asked at the lost luggage office and was given another spot to look, which also didn’t produce anything. Finally, we asked the lone customs official who was on duty if it were possible that our luggage could have been sent to Ankara. He confirmed that this is precisely what had occurred and that this was only possible when connecting on Turkish Airlines flights. So, after much trudging around the luggage carousels, we learned something new and knowing our luggage wasn’t being left behind or lost, we proceeded to the domestic terminal for the last flight in this odyssey.

After yet another long trek to the domestic terminal during which I carried Jessie a good portion of the way, we came to the domestic terminal, which by now was becoming alive with passengers. As you can imagine, Monday morning is a busy time, especially for travellers going to and from Istanbul and Ankara, much like the flow of people between New York and Washington on any Monday morning. We sat for a couple of hours and had a small breakfast, mostly to amuse Jessie and pass the time, before boarding our flight to Ankara at 8:30 AM. I could hardly believe we were on the last leg and that everything had worked out so smoothly. Soon, we’d be home with Alyssa!! Something Nancy, Jessie and I had been talking and dreaming aobut since we had arrived in Ankara so many months ago.

The flight to Ankara was uneventful and blissfully short — less than an hour. We were met getting off the airplane and whisked to the VIP terminal. It was great to see Nancy’s security detail and to know that everything was in their hands. Of course, everyone wanted to see the new baby and Alyssa became the star of the show, something that was most likely to go on for several weeks since we had told so many people of our adoption plans. Now, they would all want to see the latest addition to our family. In just a few minutes, our baggage was in the van and we were off to take Alyssa to her new home.

Everything seemed familiar and Ankara definitely felt like home as we made our way from the airport to our house. Our staff was eagerly awaiting our arrival with smiles of joy. It was great to see them and to be home. After hugs and kisses, we took Alyssa upstairs to show her her new room and crib. We were home at last and, although we were completely exhausted, we were elated to be here with our entire family of four, finally together after a long, long wait. And, as you can see from the two pictures below, Alyssa has found the same happiness that Jessie did just a few yeara ago.

Our flight to Bangkok was short and uneventful. We had bulkhead seats and shortly after takeoff the flight attendants brought our a bassinet for Alyssa. She went to sleep immediately and slept for the entire flight. By now, Jessie had become a first rate traveler and was able to keep herself busy. Soon we touched down in Bangkok and made our way into the terminal.

Unlike our previous jaunt through the Bangkok airport, we weren’t in any big rush this time because we had eight hours to wait for our flight to Istanbul. We strolled lazily along the terminal corridor looking for the transfer desk where we would be able to find Turkish Airlines representatives. It was a long walk. The airport in Bangkok is so large that there are signs posted giving the distance in meters to the next terminal. So, we were able to determine that we needed to go 500 meters to get to Terminal 1, our departure terminal. We finally arrived at the transfer desk only to be told that the Turkish Airlines reps wouldn’t appear until 8:00 PM. It was now 2:00 PM. Only six more hours. But, we had a plan! This was not going to be one of those painful layovers spent in uncomfortable plastic airport chairs.

During our previous stop in Bangkok, we had learned that day rooms were available in the terminal and since we had so much time on our hands, this was the perfect solution. Originally, we had contemplated leaving the airport and taking a quick tour of Bangkok, but with Alyssa’s undetermined status we thought it made more sense to remain at the terminal and not deal with yet another immigration official. But, the day rooms in the terminal were just fine. Although the room wasn’t luxurious, it did have three beds, which was all we needed.

We all rested for a little while before Jessie and I decided to wander around the terminal. We really didn’t want Jess to sleep all day and then be up all night on the flight back to Turkey. Besides, she and I were on a mission. During our frantic rush through the Bangkok airport on our outbound journey, we had managed to lose Jessie’s new pink backpack that she and I had picked out in Wisconsin just a few weeks earlier. We had been racing through a crowded chaotic terminal, trying to keep up with an airport official who was helping us. Despite my pleas for hime to slow down and allow the rest of the family to catch up, this very eager young man wanted to make sure we got to our desination with plenty of time to spare. In fact, we weren’t even sure where he was taking us since our rebooked flight didn’t depart for two hours. But, there we were strung out in a line, dodging scurrying passengers and strolling shoppers. I was in front keeping an eye on our guide, who just seemed to melt into the throngs of people, Patsy was in the middle and Nancy was bringing up the rear with Jessie. Fortunately we were able to use a handcart for all of our carry on luggage, but unfortunately Jessie wanted to push the cart in this crowded situation. This resulted in several near misses with oncoming human beings and apparently during one of these encounters, Jessie’s new backpack slipped off the cart unseen. We only discovered this when the airport official led us to an escalator, which we discovered took us to an airport lounge. Since we couldn’t take the cart up the escalator, I grabbed all the carry on baggage and realized just as Jessie exclaimed “Where’s my backpack?” that her bag was missing. I made sure everyone was in the lounge and then made a mad dash back through the long terminal frantically looking for Jessie’s backpack. I figured it had slipped off the handcart and wanted to get to it before airport security found it and decided to blow it up. But, it was no where in sight. We assume someone must have picked it up or, for that matter, it could have been snatched directly from the cart. But, in any event, the bag had gone missing. Jessie took this in stride as we explained to her that we had contacted the airport lost and found department and that, if we didn’t find it now, we’d have a lot of time on our return trip to look for it.

So, here we were on the return, looking for the beloved pink backpack. Of course, I didn’t really think we’d find it laying on the terminal floor after two weeks, but it was a way for Jessie to be involved in the search for the lost bag and also kept her awake and busy during the long layover. When we didn’t find it during our walk through the terminal, we stopped at an airport information desk and asked them to contact the lost and found department. I described the backpack and they said they had nothing that matched the description. So, now it was time for Jessie to realize that we weren’t going to find it. But, she was a real trooper about it and didn’t complain. As we strolled back to the day room, she told me that perhaps she’d ask Santa to bring her a new backpack for Christmas along with one of her favorite dolls that, unluckily, had been in the backpack. She was so accepting and took her loss with such maturity that I decided then and there that I’d get her another pink backpack exactly like the one that had been lost. (Follow up note: After our return to Ankara, I ordered another backpack from the same store where we had gotten the original and gave it to Jessie on the day we had a belated birthday party for her. She was elated and now uses it to take her lunch to school every day.) Once Jessie understood that her backpack and its contents were gone for good, she asked if she could buy a small ’stuffy’ to replace the one that had been in the backpack. Since she had dealt with her loss so calmly, I thought it was appropriate so we shopped for a while and finally she decided on a small bear that now has become one of her favorites.

Our little jaunt through the terminal had taken a couple of hours and had whittled away a fair portion of our layover. Upon returning to the day room, we rested while Nancy and Patsy went out for a stroll in the terminal. Soon, it was time to go check with the Turkish Airlines officials, to see what they were going to say about Alyssa’s visa or should I say lack of visa? Nancy, Jessie and I went to the transfer desk and found the Turkish Airlines section, which had finally opened at around 8:00 PM. We had hoped this desked would be staffed by at least one Turkish individual since we had copies of letters to the Turkish Immigration Authorities that were only in Turkish. But, this was not the case, the entire staff was Thai. So, we tried the same approach that we had taken in Ho Chi Minh City with Thai Airways. We used the very official looking letter with the red ribbon. Again, it took a long time, about an hour. But we were finally able to convince these folks that what we were doing was legitimate and that it would be no problem for us to get Alyssa a visa when we arrived in Istanbul. One more obstacle in our journey home had been removed. Now the only question left was what would happen in Istanbul. But, we felt confident everything had been taken care of and were happy to get our boarding passes.

Soon it was actually time for us to head to the gate. It hadn’t seemed like we had been in the Bangkok airport for eight hours, but we all attributed that to the day room. It was so much more pleasant to be able to recline and to escape the hustle and bustle of the terminal. We didn’t feel totally rested, but we certainly felt better than if we had been stuck in plastic chairs for the entire time.

At 10:30 PM, we boarded our flight for Istanbul, which was scheduled to last ten hours and get us to Istanbul around 4:00 AM on Monday morning, September 11. Again, we had bulkhead seats, which was a real blessing, not only for Alyssa, but the rest of us, too. Not long after takeoff, Alyssa fell asleep and proceeded to sleep quietly for the next seven hours. Jessie was thrilled that the entertainment package on the aircraft included cartoons and watched them for about an hour before curling up on her seat and sleeping for several hours. I watched one movie and, after a typical airlines meal, fell asleep. Only Nancy and Patsy had difficulty sleeping. But at least there were plenty of movies to watch. And so we made our way west, back across Central Asia to Turkey.

This morning we woke up in a crowded hotel room for one last time. As we maneuverred around luggage and packages, finishing up our last minute packing, we commented how ready we were to go home. Today was going to be the ‘longest’ day of the trip. After a short flight to Bangkok, we have an eight hour layover there before the ten hour flight to Istanbul followed by another hour flight to Ankara. Unfortunately, there are no later flights from HCMC that can connect with the Turkish Air flight to Istanbul. Under our initial plan, flying from Hanoi to Bangkok, however, the Bangkok layover would have been 12 hours so we consider ourselves lucky in that regard.

We had done most of the packing the day before and only had to check around the room for misplaced items. It’s amazing how many things end up under the beds in hotel rooms when you have a five year old. Because of the anticipated delay at the airport to deal with Alyssa’s visa situation, we planned on arriving at the airport at least two hours before departure so left the hotel around 10:00 AM for a 12:30 departure. Quite astonishingly, the bellboys and our cab driver were able to fit all of our bags into a single cab and off we went with me in the front seat with Jessie and Nancy and Patsy in the back with Alyssa on their laps and a mountain of luggage behind them. I’ll be so glad to get home and not have to face lugging those large suitcases around for a while.

Along the way to the airport, the surroundings started to look familiar and then I remembered that the location where we had done Jessie’s ‘G&R’ was on the route to the airport. Sure enough, in a couple of minutes, we passed the building that we had waited outside with Jessie and her birth mother six years ago before completing her adoption. Passing by this place immediately brought back many memories from our trip to get Jessie. I say ‘G&R’ in quotes because, with Jessie, there was no real ceremony. Nancy and I sat at a table with Jessie’s birth mother and completed the final adoption paperwork. The table was in the foyer of the government building we had just driven by and we were surrounded by other people who were standing in line at counters in the foyer. We had asked to take pictures and were told that was not possible. Patsy was forbidden to participate or even watch. And, as I mentioned earlier, we had to wait outside for a long time on some hard wooden benches with a crowd of people. The contrast between the two G&Rs could not be greater, but the end result was the same — each provided us with a healthy, beautiful baby girl. For some reason, seeing this building on the way to the airport, made me feel like we had come full circle on our initial decision to adopt a child from Vietnam and I had a real sense of completion and fulfillment as we continued on our way.

In only a few more minutes, we arrived at the airport. At first, it seemed like there was a monster line and that we were going to face a long delay to get to the ticket counter, but then we realized that the mass of people we saw were standing around waiting for arriving passengers. We were able to proceed through the crowd with ease and enter the terminal with no problem.

Fortunately, we were early and the line at the Thai Airways counter was short. We approached the next available agent with our seven oversized suitcases and laid out all of our paperwork to see what would happen. It took only a few minutes before the agent said that Alyssa didn’t have a Turkish visa. I told her we were going to purchase her visa at the Istanbul airport. She hit a couple of keys on her keyboard and came back with “That’s not possible for a Vietnamese citizen.” Fortunately, Nancy had had the foresight to ask the consular office in Ankara to write a letter explaining our situation, which they had done. The letter, on US Embassy letterhead and signed by the Consul General, simply stated that we were a diplomatic family working in Turkey who had recently adopted a baby in Vietnam and that we would accomplish all of the necessary processing for a US visa in Ankara. As an added touch, the letter had a very formal looking red ribbon attached to it. Now, this letter had no real legal status, but we employed it anyway to see how the Thai Airways authorities would react. The agent took the letter to her supervisor and I watched anxiously as a discussion ensured between several people behind the ticket counter. As their discussion continued, they periodically made calls on radios or cell phones. It was clear we had presented them with an intriguing situation. The entire time the ticket agent continued to process our tickets so I was hopeful a successful resolution was on the way. Eventually, that was the case. I was asked to sign a waiver releasing Thai Airways of any repatriation costs should Alyssa not be given a visa in Istanbul. That was no problem and, after 45 minutes of waiting, boarding passes in hand, we started to head to the departure gate.

Of course, we still had to go through immigration control and I had some misgivings that Alyssa’a lack of a visa could cause problems there, too. But, that was not the case. The immigration official was friendly and didn’t even look for a visa in anyone’s passport. He was more interested in the entry forms that the rest of us had filled out when we arrived in Vietnam and we soon found ourselves at the gate.

Again, we couldn’t help but compare our final few minutes in Vietnam at the airport with Alyssa to what we had experienced six year earlier with Jessie. To give you a sense, check out the picture from our departure with Jessie below.  The terminal area had been modernized with many shops and restaurants, but mostly it was much cleaner and, in general, more comfortable. We were all very happy to be on our way home as you can see from this picture of ‘the girls’ at the airport.

We woke up this morning ready to enjoy our last day in Vietnam, but also eager to end our stay and go home. It’s not that we were not having fun in Vietnam. It’s just that on these international adoption trips, you eventually reach a point where you just want to be home. Home with your new child. Home where she can sleep in her own crib in her own room. Home where you can set up normal patterns and establish daily routines. Home where you can watch your child start to grow and develop. And, most importantly, home where you can begin the rest of your life with your new child. But, we also knew we had only one more day remaining in Vietnam and wanted to make the most of it. And since the only ‘chore’ we had to accomplish was to get our tickets changed, we had plenty of time for other more enjoyable activities.

So, after another hearty breakfast, we left the hotel around 1100 to set off for some light shopping with a plan to stop by a Thai Airways ticket office along the way. But, as we departed the hotel, the concierge told us that there was only one Thai Airways ticket office and that it closed at noon on Saturdays. So a quick change of plans. I jumped in a taxi to get the tickets changed while Nancy, Grandma Patsy and the girls began the shopping trip.

The Thai Airways office wasn’t too far away. In fact, it was in the same building as the SOS Clinic where we had taken Jessie six years ago. So, it was a nostalgic side trip for me as well. It only took a few minutes to get the tickets changed. I probably could have done it at the airport on the day we departed, but because we were uncertain what was going to happen with Alyssa’s visa situation, I wanted to have everything else taken care of in advance. I decided to walk back from the ticket office to link up with the shoppers. It was only a few blocks and gave me the opportunity to see more of HCMC. I was impressed with how diffferent the city seemed compared to six years ago. The shops and stores were more modern and were definitely more upscale and, as I walked along wide smooth sidewalks, there seemed to be more public green spaces. All around increased economic activity was evident.

I had no problem finding the family making its way through the central shopping area and joined in the fun. Nancy and Patsy were deeply engaged. Jessie was having a great time ooking for things and Alyssa was half asleep, only to awaken when pinched on the cheek by interested shopkeepers. It was a hot, muggy afternoon. The air was dead still inside most of the shops, which put a damper on the shopping. After an hour or so, both of the girls had reached their tolerance level for shopping. Alyssa because she wanted to go to sleep and Jessie because we were unwilling to purchase all of the wonderful items she had selected for herself. So, I took the girls back to the hotel to give Nancy and Patsy some time alone to do some power shopping without having to worry about the kids.

Around 3:00 PM, Nancy and Patsy returned with arms loaded and I groaned as I contemplated how I was going to get everything into our luggage in a way so everything wouldn’t get broken. But, a little patience and care would take care of that. I stayed with Alyssa while Nancy met with Thao one last time to tie up the loose ends. Jessie took advantage of this meeting to coax Thao into giving her another ride around the block on her motorbike. Jessie also got together with Gracie and said goodby to her since Gracie and her family were going to be off on a tour early the next day. Then everyone came back to the room to get ready for our next adventure of the day - going to see a Buddhist monk who was going to bless Alyssa.

But, before I chronicle our sojourn to the temple, I should add that one of the items Nancy purchased for Jessie was an ao dai, the Vietnamese traditional long dress.  Jessie decided she wanted to wear her new ao dai to see the monk.  She looked like a beautiful Vietnamese princess in her new dress as you can see in this picture.

Now, you’re probably wondering what this was all about. Turns out that a colleague of Nancy’s at the embassy in Ankara had previously served in Burma, where he had come to know this Buddhist monk, who was now living in HCMC. Since the monk spoke English, Nancy’s colleague suggested that we might want to have him give a blessing to Alyssa. It sounded like a nice touch to us. Grandma Patsy had been so generous to have a lovely christening dress made for Alyssa (as she had also done for Jessie) so we figured this would be a fine time for Alyssa to try out the dress. Nancy had called the monk earlier in the day and arranged for us to come by his temple at 5:00 PM.

We left the hotel a few minutes before five. The concierge helped us find a taxi and explained to the taxi driver where we wanted to go. The cabby seemed a bit puzzled why these Americans would want to go to a temple in the part of HCMC where we were going, but he was game and off we went. The drive was not far, but definitely took us into an area where tourists don’t normally go. After about 15 minutes, we came to a corner on a busy street. The cab driver indicated that this was the temple, based on the address we had given him. But, he was also motioning that he thought the temple was closed. We motioned back that it was no problem. The monk knew we were coming so we’d just knock on the door, which we did. But, no one was home. We went around the corner where we were able to get a better view behind the front door and were surprised by what we saw. Most of the area on this corner, which we thought was all temple, was a vacant lot that looked like it was being readied for construction. But, in the front portion of the lot in a long narrow space was a small temple. This confirmed we were at the right place and there was a placard on the door with the same phone number that Nancy had called to contact the monk. We knocked louder on the door to no avail. Then we asked the cabby for his cell phone so we could call the monk. We did that, but the monk’s phone was switched off. We were starting to draw a crowd as we banged on the door. I was hoping that maybe someone who spoke English would appear and help us out. But, no lock. Finally, after calling the monk’s cell phone a second time, we gave up. The best we could do was take some pictures in front of the temple, two of which are below.

Despite the disappointment of not actually meeting the monk, we were happy to have tried and left the temple to go for an early dinner at a very nice Vietnamese restaurant. The decor was old Vietnamese and the food was delicious as you can see from a couple of pictures below.

Friday, September 8, arrived early for everyone because we had to leave the hotel at 8:00 AM to get medical certificates for the new babies. Everyone is happy, finally back in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and moving on toward the next step of the adoption process. With any luck, we’d be able to complete our interview with CIS today and be off to Hanoi tomorrow.

In contrast to Phan Thiet, HCMC had a feel of hustle and bustle to it as we negotiated our way through throngs of motorbikes in the morning rush hour. Our destination is Cho Ray Hospital, the same place where we got Jessie’s medical certificate a little less than six years ago. At that time we took a picture of Jessie, Grandma Patsy and Nancy at the entrance to the hospital so we decided to do the same this time. Both pictures are below.

Although it doesn’t look like it from the pictures above, Cho Ray had clearly improved in the past six years. The waiting room we were ushered to was very modern and had a video playing showing patients what to expect in the checkup they were about to receive. Apparently, this was the hospital that everyone had to go to to get medical certificates to travel to the US because in the video there was often a map of the US in the background. The process for the babies’ certificates had been streamlined since the last time, too. I remember having to trek a long way across the grounds of the hospital to pay the $50 fee last time, but today the cashier was in the next room.

We waited about 30 minutes and then were called for Alyssa’s checkup. The checkup is really very cursory. Alyssa was weighed and measured and a doctor listened to her heart and pushed on her tummy while the rest of the family looked on with great interest as you can see by the photo below.

The doctor, who in contrast to last time, spoke English, was very courteous and made it clear that we’d be able to pick up the Alyssa’s medical certificate once her passport was brought to the hospital. Today was a busy day for Thao as she was running around finishing up the process for the babies’ passports and, at the same time, getting all of us to the hospital for the medical certificates. Since she couldn’t be in two places at once, her cousin accompanied us to the hospital.I should mention that the hospital is a sprawling complex with many buildings covering an entire city block. We didn’t have to go very far into the complex, but everywhere we looked there were people sitting around and motorbikes parked. Of course, we drew everyone’s attention as we walked by and I couldn’t resist taking a couple of pictures.

The whole process didn’t take very long and soon we were back on the street climbing into the van. At this point, Jessie informed everyone that she was riding back to the hotel with Thao, who had shown up a few minutes earlier, on her motorbike. Nancy would ride with her. At first, I was taken aback by the thought of number one daughter riding on a motorbike completely unprotected amidst the throngs that constantly populated the streets of HCMC. But, as I thought about it, I realized that every Vietnamese family did the same thing with their children and determined that it couldn’t really cause much harm. One thing I should point out. While there are a great many motorbikes on the road, they all move along in a relatively orderly fashion, and, more importantly, they really are not driving too fast. None of the wild accelerating and weaving that characterizes the traffic flows we are so used to in the US. That also added to my peace of mind. So, off went Jessie and Nancy with Thao as the picture below shows while Grandma Patsy and I rode back in the van with Alyssa.

Once back at the hotel, we were again in the ‘wait’ mode until we heard from the CIS office. The process is set up so that once you have all of your paperwork completed, you submit it to the CIS office and are called with an appointment time, which is normally in the next 24 hours.  All of us, of course, were hoping that would be yet today. A couple of hours later, just before noon, we got the call from Thao that CIS had given us appointments at 11:30 AM on Monday. What a disappointment! That would definitely add several days on to our stay in Vietnam and we were also hearing that the visa processing in Hanoi was also going real slow. But, there was not much that could be done.

A bit later, Nancy received a personal call from a colleague at the consulate who invited her to lunch. She went to lunch to discuss other business, but upon returning we found out that we would be able to talk with the CIS officer later that day. We weren’t sure if we’d get our clearance or not, but we wanted to explain our situation and seek the CIS officer’s advice on whether we should complete our US immigrant visa processing in Vietnam or do it once we had returned to Ankara.

So, around 4:00 PM we met with the CIS officer. She indicated that all of our paperwork was fine and that she would fill out the necessary forms to recommend that an immigrant visa be issued. In her estimation based on her review of our documents, it didn’t really matter if the visa was issued in Vietnam or Turkey. That was great news. But we still had to figure out what to do about Alyssa’s Turkish visa.

Back at the hotel, Nancy emailed the consular officer at the embassy in Ankara and posed the question, “Why can’t we just buy a visa for Alyssa at the airport?” About an hour later, the response arrived, saying that the Turkish immigration authorities had agreed to such a plan. Now we were in business as this meant we could leave Vietnam directly from HCMC and avoid the trip to Hanoi completely. I just had to get our travel arrangements adjusted and we’d be all set. But, we were running out of time. It was already late in the day in Vietnam and I only had a couple of hours to contact the travel office at the embassy in Ankara, get them to change our reservations (if possible) and email us a confirmation of the new itinerary. And, we also needed to receive via email copies of letters explaining our situation that the consular officer in Ankara had written to the Turkish authorities. Thank goodness for laptops, email and Skype. It took several hours and I worked on it late into the night, but, before going to bed at 11:00 PM, I had all the necessary documents in hand and flight arrangements adjusted. We’d be leaving Vietnam on Sunday and arriving back in Ankara on Monday, September 11. What a sudden turn of events! I was tired, but very happy with the way things had turned out.

And, while in the process of getting all of this done, I took a short break to take Jessie out for a walk to buy some gum, which I had been promising I would do all evening. Jessie had been very patient and I had reached a point in my efforts where I had to wait for email to arrive so it was a pleasant diversion. I figured it would be easy to find a store with gum, but it turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought. Jessie and I walked several blocks before finding a woman who was selling gum on the street. As we neared the hotel on our return, several ’street children’ a few years older than Jessie approached us. Ironically, they were selling gum and quite aggressive about it. When we said we already had some, they continued to press us and starting asking Jessie where she was from. It was clear they recognized that she had been born in Vietnam, but they also realized that she couldn’t speak Vietnamese and that she spoke native English. It was the kind of experience that I’d always assumed Jess would face at some point in her life when she comes face to face in a very direct way with her personal history — where she was born, being adopted, etc. She handled it very well even though it was clear that it wasn’t a real pleasant experience for her.

Friday, September 8, arrived early for everyone because we had to leave the hotel at 8:00 AM to get medical certificates for the new babies. Everyone is happy, finally back in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and moving on toward the next step of the adoption process. With any luck, we’d be able to complete our interview with CIS today and be off to Hanoi tomorrow.

In contrast to Phan Thiet, HCMC had a feel of hustle and bustle to it as we negotiated our way through throngs of motorbikes in the morning rush hour. Our destination is Cho Ray Hospital, the same place where we got Jessie’s medical certificate a little less than six years ago. At that time we took a picture of Jessie, Grandma Patsy and Nancy at the entrance to the hospital so we decided to do the same this time. Both pictures are below.

Although it doesn’t look like it from the pictures above, Cho Ray had clearly improved in the past six years. The waiting room we were ushered to was very modern and had a video playing showing patients what to expect in the checkup they were about to receive. Apparently, this was the hospital that everyone had to go to to get medical certificates to travel to the US because in the video there was often a map of the US in the background. The process for the babies’ certificates had been streamlined since the last time, too. I remember having to trek a long way across the grounds of the hospital to pay the $50 fee last time, but today the cashier was in the next room.

We waited about 30 minutes and then were called for Alyssa’s checkup. The checkup is really very cursory. Alyssa was weighed and measured and a doctor listened to her heart and pushed on her tummy while the rest of the family looked on with great interest as you can see by the photo below.

The doctor, who in contrast to last time, spoke English, was very courteous and made it clear that we’d be able to pick up the Alyssa’s medical certificate once her passport was brought to the hospital. Today was a busy day for Thao as she was running around finishing up the process for the babies’ passports and, at the same time, getting all of us to the hospital for the medical certificates. Since she couldn’t be in two places at once, her cousin accompanied us to the hospital.I should mention that the hospital is a sprawling complex with many buildings covering an entire city block. We didn’t have to go very far into the complex, but everywhere we looked there were people sitting around and motorbikes parked. Of course, we drew everyone’s attention as we walked by and I couldn’t resist taking a couple of pictures.

The whole process didn’t take very long and soon we were back on the street climbing into the van. At this point, Jessie informed everyone that she was riding back to the hotel with Thao, who had shown up a few minutes earlier, on her motorbike. Nancy would ride with her. At first, I was taken aback by the thought of number one daughter riding on a motorbike completely unprotected amidst the throngs that constantly populated the streets of HCMC. But, as I thought about it, I realized that every Vietnamese family did the same thing with their children and determined that it couldn’t really cause much harm. One thing I should point out. While there are a great many motorbikes on the road, they all move along in a relatively orderly fashion, and, more importantly, they really are not driving too fast. None of the wild accelerating and weaving that characterizes the traffic flows we are so used to in the US. That also added to my peace of mind. So, off went Jessie and Nancy with Thao as the picture below shows while Grandma Patsy and I rode back in the van with Alyssa.

Once back at the hotel, we were again in the ‘wait’ mode until we heard from the CIS office. The process is set up so that once you have all of your paperwork completed, you submit it to the CIS office and are called with an appointment time, which is normally in the next 24 hours.  All of us, of course, were hoping that would be yet today. A couple of hours later, just before noon, we got the call from Thao that CIS had given us appointments at 11:30 AM on Monday. What a disappointment! That would definitely add several days on to our stay in Vietnam and we were also hearing that the visa processing in Hanoi was also going real slow. But, there was not much that could be done.

A bit later, Nancy received a personal call from a colleague at the consulate who invited her to lunch. She went to lunch to discuss other business, but upon returning we found out that we would be able to talk with the CIS officer later that day. We weren’t sure if we’d get our clearance or not, but we wanted to explain our situation and seek the CIS officer’s advice on whether we should complete our US immigrant visa processing in Vietnam or do it once we had returned to Ankara.

So, around 4:00 PM we met with the CIS officer. She indicated that all of our paperwork was fine and that she would fill out the necessary forms to recommend that an immigrant visa be issued. In her estimation based on her review of our documents, it didn’t really matter if the visa was issued in Vietnam or Turkey. That was great news. But we still had to figure out what to do about Alyssa’s Turkish visa.

Back at the hotel, Nancy emailed the consular officer at the embassy in Ankara and posed the question, “Why can’t we just buy a visa for Alyssa at the airport?” About an hour later, the response arrived, saying that the Turkish immigration authorities had agreed to such a plan. Now we were in business as this meant we could leave Vietnam directly from HCMC and avoid the trip to Hanoi completely. I just had to get our travel arrangements adjusted and we’d be all set. But, we were running out of time. It was already late in the day in Vietnam and I only had a couple of hours to contact the travel office at the embassy in Ankara, get them to change our reservations (if possible) and email us a confirmation of the new itinerary. And, we also needed to receive via email copies of letters explaining our situation that the consular officer in Ankara had written to the Turkish authorities. Thank goodness for laptops, email and Skype. It took several hours and I worked on it late into the night, but, before going to bed at 11:00 PM, I had all the necessary documents in hand and flight arrangements adjusted. We’d be leaving Vietnam on Sunday and arriving back in Ankara on Monday, September 11. What a sudden turn of events! I was tired, but very happy with the way things had turned out.

And, while in the process of getting all of this done, I took a short break to take Jessie out for a walk to buy some gum, which I had been promising I would do all evening. Jessie had been very patient and I had reached a point in my efforts where I had to wait for email to arrive so it was a pleasant diversion. I figured it would be easy to find a store with gum, but it turned out to be more of a challenge than I thought. Jessie and I walked several blocks before finding a woman who was selling gum on the street. As we neared the hotel on our return, several ’street children’ a few years older than Jessie approached us. Ironically, they were selling gum and quite aggressive about it. When we said we already had some, they continued to press us and starting asking Jessie where she was from. It was clear they recognized that she had been born in Vietnam, but they also realized that she couldn’t speak Vietnamese and that she spoke native English. It was the kind of experience that I’d always assumed Jess would face at some point in her life when she comes face to face in a very direct way with her personal history — where she was born, being adopted, etc. She handled it very well even though it was clear that it wasn’t a real pleasant experience for her.

Today was packing day. What else can I say? Except “Wow, do we have a log of stuff.” Fortunately, we had most of the day to spend on packing so it wasn’t be a big rush. Also, we brought quite a few presents and gifts for people at the orphanage - kids and caregivers - so were no longer carrying those things around. And, this time we’re not putting our luggage on an airplane so it won’t get tossed around as much, which makes it easier to pack in my estimation.

But, that still leaves all of the baby paraphenalia that we need for Alyssa and, of course, Jessie requires items like games, small craft projects, dolls, too. And, don’t forget all of the electronic gear - video camera, still camera, laptop computer, portable DVD player along with chargers, adapters, batteries, cables, etc. So, we’ve still got a lot of stuff to pack and carry around Vietnam!

Eventually, we got everything stuffed into the luggage and after one last check of the hotel room, we were ready to go.

We all gathered in the hotel lobby and started putting all of our luggage into the van. You can imagine how much that was for eight adults, two children and three infants on a several week international trip. This time the van will be more crowded than the ride up to Phan Thiet from Ho Chi Minh City because we’ve got three extra passengers - the new babies. They don’t take up much space, but each family has an additional backpack with bottles, extra formula and diapers. And to make room for our luggage the back seat of the van had to be folded down so we’re now squeezed into three bench seats instead of the four that we had become accustomed to. The picture below gives you a sense of what it was like. But, it’s a cheery crowd as everyone is happy to be completing the first phase of our Vietnam trip and eager to get phase two started.

The trip was uneventful other than being four hours long. The babies were, in general, very good. I had thoughts of a long drive with tired babies, crying because they were unable to sleep. But, that was not the case.

At last, we arrived back at the Riverside Renaissance Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City around 8:30 PM. We were all very tired, but too wound up to go to sleep immediately so we gathered in the lounge and chatted for a while before going back to our rooms. Tomorrow was planned to be a busy day. We had to leave the hotel at 8:00 AM to take the babies for their medical clearances and then, hopefully, we’d get appointments to see the Citizens Immigration Services officer later in the day. But, we couldn’t be sure of that until we had submitted the completed medical clearances to the CIS office.

Today is going to be our last full day in Phan Thiet. Thao told us this morning that the paperwork for the children’s passports is progressing and that she’ll have the necessary documents sometime tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon, after which we can return to Ho Chi Minh City and start our processing with the US authorities. We all linger a bit longer after breakfast, discussing the next steps in our journey to get our babies back home. Once we have their passports, we are essentially done with the Vietnamese government and all that remains is to get approval from the US government to take the babies back to the US. This is basically a two-step process, starting with an interview with the Citizens Immigration Services officer from the Department of Homeland Security in Ho Chi Minh City. Once that is complete and approval granted, we will need to travel to Hanoi to get the babies’ visas from the US Embassy.

Of course, for us, the process is different for two reasons. First, we aren’t going back to the US immediately and, thus, don’t necessarily need a US visa at this time. We have already talked with the Consular Officer at the US Embassy in Ankara and she has confirmed that she has all the required approvals to issue Alyssa’s visa in Turkey. But, the other side of that coin, is that we will need a Turkish visa for Alyssa for her to gain entry to Turkey, and, for that, we need to go to the Turkish Embassy in Hanoi. So, at this time, we’re planning on doing all of our processing in Vietnam. The US Embassy in Hanoi recommended this approach, suggesting that in case there was something that need to be corrected with our Vietnamese documents, it would be much easier done in Vietnam than from Turkey.

Since we only had a day remaining in Phan Thiet, we decided to take a little family trip into the town one last time. Previously, we had always gone as a group with the other families and this would give us a chance to stroll around the city as we desired. So, shortly after noon we climbed into the van and set off for the center of Phan Thiet, which was only a few miles away. When we got out of the van in the main business district, we quickly realized that what had been a warm, but breezy day at the resort, had been transformed into a hot, sweltering day once we were away from the coast and the cooling effect of the wind. But, we continued on, eager to explore and see new sights.

The business area isn’t exactly an open market, but it felt like it at times. The streets were narrow, packed with small shops. Since it was mid-afternoon, business was slow and most of the shopkeepers were sitting in front of their stores, idling away the time. We, of course, generated great interest, both because we were clearly western and, probably even more, because we were potential big buyers. Interestingly enough, we soon realized that everyone was drawn to us for another reason — Alyssa. People, especially women, were coming up to us and saying “Vietnam” and pointing to Alyssa. They were clearly aware that she had been born in Vietnam and were communicating that to us. Since we don’t know any Vietnamese at all, we couldn’t respond and just kept walking through the market. But, this continued and soon people were also referring to Jessie with the same query “Vietnam.” It started to become somewhat disconcerting as we didn’t want to draw a crowd so we began to think about leaving.

Then we happened to get close to the fishmonger section and that solidified our decision to depart. While we never actually saw any fish shops, the smell of fish in combination with the heat was overwhelming. Our stomachs started to get quesy so we quickened our pace and hurried back to the main street we had come from where it was more open and the air was fresher. We made one short stop in a shoe store to buy Jessie a pair of flip-flops and then called it a day. So much for a quiet stroll through the market place.

We got back in the van, which was an air conditioned respite from the heat, and made everyone feel better. Since we had promised Jessie that we would stop at a local park, we made our way there. I took her to play while Grandma Patsy and Nancy stayed in the coolness of the van. We had driven past this particular park a few days ago in the evening and it had been lively and full of children. Now it was almost deserted and all of its small carnival rides were closed. But, there was a playground and some coin operated mechanical rides that Jessie wanted to play on. We did that for a while and I took advantage of the time to take a few pictures of the local surroudings. My favorite picture is below, showing four Vietnamese gentlemen resting on a park bench. Also, here’s Jessie having fun and objecting to her father taking her picture.

We returned back to the resort in the late afternoon, rested for a while and then had an early dinner. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, packing and then making the four hour trip back to Ho Chi Minh City.

Today, it was Dad’s turn to got to the beach with Jessie. So after breakfast, we wandered down to the beach and swam in the South China Sea with Gracie and her mom for a while. The two girls had a great time riding the gentle waves in little plastic inner tubes. Then we built a large sand castle and, at the same time, looked for more sea shells. It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning. Meanwhile, Mom and Grandma Patsy got to spend more quality time with Alyssa, learning more about her personality and especially her sleeping and eating habits since that is mostly what kids do when they’re five months old.

In the afternoon, it was Gracie’s turn to host Jessie in her room. Jessie disappeared for several hours and we were starting to wonder what had become of her. But, not to worry, she and Gracie were busy playing games and going on make believe adventures together.

That evening, Jessie and Gracie got another chance to watch the band that was playing in the resort’s bar. This had become a nightly event over the past six or seven nights. It started one night after dinner while the adults were chatting.  The girls grew tired of sitting and wandered into the bar area where a three person band had been playing nightly since we had arrived at the resort. From Singapore, the band was a typical night club act — a female lead singer, a bass player and a keyboard player — who played standard American night club music. You know Guantanamera and the like.

The first night Jessie and Gracie were sitting quietly at a back table listening to the music. On night two they had moved to the front row of tables and were starting to interact with the band and sing along with their music. Of course, this continued to progress. They next took chopsticks from the dining table and were using them as drumsticks to tap out the rhythm of the songs. And toward the end of our stay, they were up on stage with the band, playing air guitars and singing along. The lead singer even offered them the mic several times, which they took advantage of to belt out a few tunes. We weren’t quite sure what to make of this transformation of our shy little girls. On many nights, all of the adults in the group had to dance in order to persuade Jessie and Gracie that it was time to go to bed. They simply wouldn’t leave until we had all spent a few minutes on the dance floor.

I should explain that there were no other patrons on the bar while this was all going on. Only during the Vietnamese Independence Day weekend, when the hotel was full, did we see anyone else in the bar. On every other evening, the band was playing to an empty room and, I’m sure, was pleased to have these two engaging little girls as fans. Since the band was from Singapore, they spoke English and Jessie and Gracie were on a first name basis with the band, chatting with them at length during their breaks. The lead singer’s name was Christina, the keyboard player was Nemo and, for some unknown reason, they called the bass player Chicken Lickin’.

Unfortunately, we ddn’t get any pictures of these budding rock stars debut performance, but we did get a nice shot of Jessie and Gracie with their new baby sisters, Alyssa and Ella, which you can see below.

Today, it was Dad’s turn to got to the beach with Jessie. So after breakfast, we wandered down to the beach and swam in the South China Sea with Gracie and her mom for a while. The two girls had a great time riding the gentle waves in little plastic inner tubes. Then we built a large sand castle and, at the same time, looked for more sea shells. It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning. Meanwhile, Mom and Grandma Patsy got to spend more quality time with Alyssa, learning more about her personality and especially her sleeping and eating habits since that is mostly what kids do when they’re five months old.

In the afternoon, it was Gracie’s turn to host Jessie in her room. Jessie disappeared for several hours and we were starting to wonder what had become of her. But, not to worry, she and Gracie were busy playing games and going on make believe adventures together.

That evening, Jessie and Gracie got another chance to watch the band that was playing in the resort’s bar. This had become a nightly event over the past six or seven nights. It started one night after dinner while the adults were chatting.  The girls grew tired of sitting and wandered into the bar area where a three person band had been playing nightly since we had arrived at the resort. From Singapore, the band was a typical night club act — a female lead singer, a bass player and a keyboard player — who played standard American night club music. You know Guantanamera and the like.

The first night Jessie and Gracie were sitting quietly at a back table listening to the music. On night two they had moved to the front row of tables and were starting to interact with the band and sing along with their music. Of course, this continued to progress. They next took chopsticks from the dining table and were using them as drumsticks to tap out the rhythm of the songs. And toward the end of our stay, they were up on stage with the band, playing air guitars and singing along. The lead singer even offered them the mic several times, which they took advantage of to belt out a few tunes. We weren’t quite sure what to make of this transformation of our shy little girls. On many nights, all of the adults in the group had to dance in order to persuade Jessie and Gracie that it was time to go to bed. They simply wouldn’t leave until we had all spent a few minutes on the dance floor.

I should explain that there were no other patrons on the bar while this was all going on. Only during the Vietnamese Independence Day weekend, when the hotel was full, did we see anyone else in the bar. On every other evening, the band was playing to an empty room and, I’m sure, was pleased to have these two engaging little girls as fans. Since the band was from Singapore, they spoke English and Jessie and Gracie were on a first name basis with the band, chatting with them at length during their breaks. The lead singer’s name was Christina, the keyboard player was Nemo and, for some unknown reason, they called the bass player Chicken Lickin’.

Unfortunately, we ddn’t get any pictures of these budding rock stars debut performance, but we did get a nice shot of Jessie and Gracie with their new baby sisters, Alyssa and Ella, which you can see below.