Lance and Kristen Baker

Every year Da Nang, Vietnam hosts an international fireworks competition. It spans over two evenings and 5 teams (countries) display their best firework show choreographed to music. We started to view the show up close but didn’t have a very good view of the fireworks.  However, we had a great view and enjoyed watching the multitudes of people and motorbikes crowding the riverside, streets and sidewalks.  After the first show,  we decided to get away from the crowds and drive halfway up the nearby mountain.  Quite a few people had the same idea as us but it wasn’t nearly as crowded as the downtown streets.  It was a beautiful and peaceful place to enjoy of the remaining fireworks.

(Lance writing)
While hanging out at Promise House during the International Firework Competition, 4 of the girls were passing the time between shows by playing a clapping and singing game. Their smiles and laughter are so uplifting.  While putting this video up, I was reminded of something some of the children said when they went back to the countryside to visit their relatives a few months ago.  They said that it was nice to see their Aunt, Uncle or cousins but they said it was a little sad because they missed everyone back at Promise House.  While it is sad that the children do not have parents to care for them, they do have each other.

Kristen and I see how often they bring joy and companionship to one another.  If you ask any of the children at Promise House how many people are in their family, they will immediately say “26″ in reference to the other children and caretakers who live there.  They are friends, play-mates and brothers and sisters to each other and I think that is really special. (video below)

Every Sunday we attend an international fellowship known as Da Nang International Fellowship (DIF).  The fellowship is made of individuals and families from Korea, Australia, South Africa, America, England and a few other countries that I am forgetting.  Recently, we put on a special retreat for the children there.  Here is a video overview of the weekend.

(Lance writing)

Well we normally try to keep our blog focused on our work with Orphan Voice and relationships with friends but I had a couple fun adventures that I thought would be fun to share with you all.

Mountain Sunrise

A couple weeks ago my friend Robin and I decided to drive to the top of Monkey Mountain here in Da Nang to attempt to get some good photo and video of the sunrise.  We knew it would take about an hour to get to the top of the mountain and decided that we needed to leave about 4:30am.

At 4:30am we meet on our motorbikes near the beach and began our ascent in the still pitch black morning.  It was actually quite a rush winding up through the wide open mountain road, our small headlights illuminating the way and the atmosphere silent except for the sound of our motorbikes.

A good portion of the drive was along the coastal road but toward the end of the peninsula the road takes a sharp turn to the left and becomes insanely steep.  I know our motorbikes aren’t the most powerful things in the world, but even in first gear we barely had enough power to climb the steep and narrow road.  After a few minutes of climbing the narrow road that weaves through the dense jungle, a heavy fog began to set it.  An already eery drive became even more so between the darkness, the fog, the narrow winding road and the sounds of the jungle on each side of us.

Since it was so foggy, this is the only picture I was able to get from the mountain.  This is about halfway down.

This story is a classic example of “it’s about the journey, not the destination” because when we finally got to the top of the mountain, it was too foggy and we realized that we were actually in the wrong part of the mountain to get a good view of the sunrise anyway.  We continued to drive across the top of the mountain and back down the other side.  We had a great time despite our disappointment in not catching a beautiful sunrise.

The Swimming Hole

The second adventure occurred last Saturday.  Friends Robin, Jeremiah and I decided to drive an hour or so north over the Hai Van Pass to try and find this natural park preserve that we had heard about.  Driving over the Hai Van Pass is one of the most beautiful journeys I have experienced in Vietnam.  It just continues to climb and climb continually boasting HUGE vistas and gorgeous views of the ocean, rice fields and forests.  By the time we drove up and down the other side of the Hai Van Pass it was already an amazing trip.

The Hai Van Pass Road

We stopped for ice-coffee at the top of the pass.

After asking a few locals in the city of Lang Co about the park, we realized it was quite a bit farther than we had planned to drive that day so we decided to explore a local road that led us through a beautiful water-filled valley basin.  We stopped to visit with some water buffalo who very uninterested in us and quite content bathing in the cool water.  They must have inspired Robin because it was just few minutes up the road that he decided he needed to go for a swim.  We stopped on a small bride about 20 feet above the river water below. Robin, perhaps a little unwisely, decided to jump into the river below without knowing how deep it actually was.  (See the video here: Bridge Jumping)  Thankfully, it was plenty deep and he proceeded to jump a second time at which point a young man drove up on a motorbike and told us about another swimming hole nearby.

We followed the young man off the main road and onto a series of smaller, rougher, dirt paths and through some small villages and rice paddies till we finally came to a small house in the middle of the countryside. The family came out to greet us and seemed friendly enough.  They told us to park our bikes there and that we had to walk the rest of the way.  We continued to follow our new friend through a field and a small forest, not really knowing what to expect, when we suddenly came upon a beautiful river decorated with massive grey boulders.  It didn’t take long for us all to jump in and enjoy the coolness of the mountain water on a hot, sunny day.

We swam, relaxed for a while and talked to a few people who were also there for a swim.  To me it was just the perfect picture of beauty, not just the river but the whole days journey there.  The motorbiking through the mountains, the adventure of following some random guy down some difficult dirt paths, the rock jumping and swimming and community of friends (both Robin and Jeremiah and the people we met along the way).

Water Buffalo – Who’s looking at who?

Beautiful countryside.

This is how the road was for a good 15 minutes.  A guy in front of us got stuck while carrying a load of pots and pans on his motorbike.

A house we walked by- much like the one where we left our motorbikes.

We had to walk for about 15 minutes to reach the river.

The River.

Jumping in.

I didn’t think about this initially, but I guess both of these stories have to do with failing to reach an intended destination or to accomplish a certain task.  We never captured the sunset that we had planned all week to photograph and film and we never made it to the nature preserve- but the process of “failing” actually turned out to be a series of great stories and experiences.  I don’t know how to tie all this together into a final finishing statement… but I guess I am just reminded that there is a lot of life that we will never experience if we don’t set some goals and at least attempt to pursue them.

(Lance Writing)

I know that we’ve been getting a bit lax on keeping up with our blog posts and we are sorry about that.  There is plenty happening, we just haven’t made time to write about it and keep you up-to-date. This is a brief overview of what’s been happening the last week.

The Dentist

We’ve started the big task of getting all 22 children to the dentist.  We can only take about 3 children each visit (because of time restraints) so we try to do two appointments per week.  It is the same dentist that Kristen and I have gone to in the past so we know that the standard and quality is very good.  The dentist and the receptionist speak English very well and have been such a pleasure to work with.  Every time we go, the receptionist sits down with the children and uses a plastic model of teeth to demonstrate and explain to the children how to brush and care for their teeth.  So far we have 7 children done and 15 to go!

It has been a really good opportunity for us to spend more individual time with the children.  It’s also a glimpse of parenthood for us!  The dentist always calls Kristen back to tell her when the children need fillings or a tooth pulled.  Afterward, we have to go to the pharmacy to get any needed medicine and we do our best to comfort them before and after.  For many of the children, it may only be the second time they’ve been to the dentist so it is a very new experience.

Depending on how much work the children need done, the appointments can be up to two hours. We do our best to entertain the other children while we wait in the small lobby.

The dental clinic.

Last Saturday, a medical team came to give MMR vaccinations (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) to all of the children. The medical team was very professional and sweet toward the children. Some of the children were really nervous but they were brave and did just fine.

The children nervously waiting their turn.

The look on his face says it all.

A couple weeks ago we noticed that one of the boys at Promise House was drawing pictures in black crayon and then giving them to the other children to color. So this week we decided to print off a bunch of pictures that we knew they would like and had a big coloring session. Our friend/translator had the idea of making a fun contest out of it. It wasn’t anything official, we just held up all the colorings at the end and had the children cheer and clap for their favorites. All the pictures got hung on the wall either way.

Hard at work coloring.

Nam displaying his pictures on the wall.

So that’s an overview of the last week.  We’ll try to post more often in the near future!  Thank for reading.