Kien Giang

We got up early and started our long trek to Kien Giang province, the southernmost region of Vietnam. It was a seven-hour van drive past some beautiful countryside, thousands and thousands of tiny mom-and-pop shops, down bumpy, narrow dirt roads and on two ferries. Along the way we ate some wonderful regional food at a rest stop and visited a couple of very interesting restrooms. The typical was the hole-in-the-floor type, but the most unusual consisted of several unisex stalls out in the open with nothing more than a small bamboo door (covering from about chest to knees) to separate the visitor from the rest of the whole wide world. I was standing in a stall between two men. The stall was simply a sloped concrete floor with a grate at the lower end. You then grab a ladle of water from a plastic garbage can just outside the stalls to "flush". If you ever plan to visit Vietnam, bring toilet paper. It's not generally provided. When we first arrived in Kien Giang, we visited Kien Giang orphanage where Ephraim and Olivia first lived. I've included pictures of the baby room, the director, and the roster listing Ephraim's name. His Vietnamese name is Tran Van Hoang. That evening we stayed in the Kim Son Hotel overlooking the Gulf of Thailand. We rented a first-class room for $16 a night! The room was very tiny but clean and quiet, and the staff was very polite and accomodating. There was no crib, so Ephraim slept on the bedspread on the floor. They advertise firm beds, and they are right! The plumbing was interesting. There is no drain in the bathtub/shower, so the water runs down the stairs and into a hole in the middle of the bathroom floor. That evening we ate in a wonderful open-air restaurant and strolled around the village. It's so quiet and peaceful here! I wish we could spend more time seeing the area before heading back to the big city.