Some come to this town the easy way, via the maternity ward. For others, it's a drive down the QE, maybe a U-Haul in tow.

Angelina Doan's journey here, which began 25 years ago this weekend, was not so simple.

She and her brothers run businesses downtown and this is where they will stay.

Their trip from Vietnam began Aug. 17, 1983. The troubles began several decades earlier.

That was when the Communists gained control of North Vietnam. Angelina's grandparents were wealthy and paid a price.

A hole was dug in their village, grandfather was led to the edge and the people were told to throw stones. They did, until grandfather fell into that hole and was buried.

Angelina's grandmother was told the same fate awaited her the next day. Before that could happen, she hanged herself.

Angelina's parents, not married long, were able to make it across the border to safety in South Vietnam.

There they started over and raised nine children. They lived in a small house in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), and prospered. Though his children didn't know it until years later, father was working in some kind of special service for the Americans. Mother, a clever businesswoman, eventually owned a detergent factory.

The U.S. stumbled through the Vietnam war. When Saigon fell to the Communists in 1975, Angelina's parents began to fear for their children's future.

In the decade that followed, media around the world carried images of "boat people" fleeing Vietnam on rafts, in rusty tubs. Many refugees died.

There were other ways to leave, but not cheaply. The Doans learned of a midnight fishing boat that would take people away. The fee, $5,000 a head.

Angelina's parents had $20,000. They would send the oldest four boys. But the first son was in love, and refused to go. Love kept the second son home, too.

The final four were Angelina, 17, sister Mai Huong, 26, brothers Jeffrey, 20, and Ritchie, 18.

After a long bus ride at night, they trekked through fields to the sea, where a small fishing boat waited. There were to be 30 passengers, but others discovered the boat and jumped aboard.

There were 71 in all, jammed out of sight below. One day passed, then another. The little boat came up to ships from Poland and Germany. Some desperate refugees jumped out, hoping to be rescued by the foreigners. The big ships sailed on.

By Day 5 the drinking water was gone. But on Day 7 the boat reached Malaysia.

Angelina and her brothers and sister landed in the Pulao Bidong refugee camp. Due to their age, the four Doans were not eligible to enter Australia or the United States together. Then they had an interview with Canadian immigration official Eva Grodde.

An interpreter was there, too. Young Angelina, always a top student, asked Eva if she spoke French.

"Why, yes I do," Eva said with surprise.

"So kick out the interpreter," Angelina said. "I can tell you our story." That she did, in great detail. She won over Eva, who said she would find a way to get the four into Canada.

"Would you be our godmother?" Angelina asked. Eva said yes.

The family landed in Vancouver six months later. Angelina learned English in record time, then graduated from high school.

She went to University of Ottawa, boarding some of the time with godmother Eva. They still see each other.

Angelina became a successful accountant, was married for a time, lived in Burlington on Amelia Crescent. She had daughter Amelia, then son Laphong. Her parents are here now, too. Sister Mai Huong is a successful interior designer in Houston.

On Jan. 2 the whole family congregated at the splashy new White Palace, Vietnam's biggest convention centre, to celebrate the arrival of 2008 -- the year that would bring the 25th anniversary of that midnight boat ride to freedom.

Angelina is wise in real estate and has owned seven homes in 15 years, doing a little better each time.

She convinced her brothers that Hamilton was a good place to invest. In 2005 they bought a couple of storefronts at King East and Ferguson and opened Tsunami Bike, which distributes product across Canada. Now they have property across the street as well, housing a business called Home Etcetera.

Just in time for the new school year, Angelina and her kids are moving to a house in Westdale.

"I love Hamilton," she says. "I believe it's a city with promise. That's why I'm bringing my children here."

StreetBeat appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

pwilson@thespec.com

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