Now that I am in travel mode, I am feeling more settled - go figure! The course is becoming a distant (at times bad, then good) memory. I had a week of sickness and exhaustion following it, as well as reaching saturation point in Hanoi. It seems like the more I learn and speak Vietnamese, the more miscommunications I have. The good news is I've passed the course and am looking forward to teaching. It's actually loads of fun! I am in a sleepy town called Sapa in the far north of Vietnam - a stone's throw from China - with a friend from my course, Jan, a Londoner. Sapa is the Asian equivalent of a European alpine resort, replete with stunning mountains (snow-capped in Winter but no skiing) peppered with rustic villages, French alpine architecture,
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