VIETNAM UPDATE

Hi everyone.....just to let you know that we are still alive and well here in Vietnam. I have been very slack with my travel blogs but hope to catch up on things and get into a bit of a routine for the last 6 weeks here.

We are currently in HoiAn - having just spent 3 weeks in Hanoi. The Hanoi trip was mainly for me to continue with my TESOL study and to complete some units while here in Vietnam. Along with 22 others from Australia and New Zealand we undertook a 5-day in-class component and then the next 2 weeks were taken up with lesson planning and actual teaching. I found it to be a rather stressful and exhausting experience but the end result is that I did manage to get through the units but I still have quite a lot of work to do on-line when we get back home. The best experience of the course was actually getting into a public school and having the opportunity to experience a classroom there - I had Grade 3's - approx 55 kids to each class - and I don't really have a lot in common with 8-9 year olds.......but we both managed to get through the experience.

My favourite time was spent with the Hanoi Kids Club students. They are a large group of university students who volunteer to show tourists around Hanoi - they want to practice their English and probably get a free meal as well. Great classes with these young adults - if you ever need a guide in Hanoi - check out their web site and give them a go.

Our Hanoi hotel was very close to the TESOL venue and each morning and evening I walked through a local market right in the centre of the Old Quarter in Hanoi. Much the same as you see everywhere in Vietnam but the stalls selling fish at least aireated the water (unlike the ladies on our local corner here in HoiAn. The market was very busy first thing in the am and again about 5.30 for the dinner rush......if you walked through there early afternoon - everyone was asleep amongst their stall.

There were about 6 of the course participants staying at the same hotel which was a great source of fun, inspiration and support throughout the course. I have to say that I particularly enjoyed the company of everyone there - I guess there is nothing like everyone sharing the same experience to bring people together....plus a few bottle of well earned French or South American red wine.

During this time Michael busied himself finding his way around Hanoi (including getting lost a few times).....he spent a fair bit of time on Bai Hoi junction meeting strange and interesting people.....he was a wealth of information about what was going on in Hanoi.......where to go and eat, etc. Obviously the beer was very cheap - a big attraction - 3,000 dong or 20 cents for a pot of draught beer. Each of the four corners had little beer businesses operating and I think Michael tried most of them. Occasionally the police would come along and, without getting out of their car, would move everyone along and make us sit on the sidewalk instead of on the road. As soon as the police left the lady owners would move the seats back into the road and continue serving up the beer. We were following some tourists up there one night and they suddenly stopped in front of us and commented that "this should be the place".........we asked them what they were looking for and they were surprised to discover that they had found Beer Hoi corner - they were looking for an actual pub!!!!!

Hanoi is apparently the Bai Hoi capital of Vietnam. Bai Hoi (beer) is Vietnam's own draught street beer - it is a light-bodied Pilsener and is brewed and delivered daily to drinking establishments throughout the city. Brewed without preservatives, it's meant to be enjoyed immediately.....and there are always many people on the corner doing exactly that.

Michael also went on a 7 day motor bike trip from Hanoi up to the Laos border and back down to Hanoi through Sapa.....more about that in another blog..... I didn't get much of a chance to have a look around the city - but that didn't really matter much to me as we had been to Hanoi before and done all the tourist things. But we did enjoy nice walks around the lake - the people we met - and ice cream at Fanny's.

Because I finished my course earlier than first thought we took the opportunity to do a side trip up to Sapa - which was fantastic - and full details will also follow in another blog.

We have been back in Hoian for 3 days now and had a pretty exciting trip down from Hanoi. Because of a storm crossing over the coast our plane circled over Da Nang for about 15 minutes (visibility was down to 400m) and the pilot decided to abort our landing at the last minute and return to Hanoi.......all flights were cancelled and we spent another night in Hanoi and finally got through last the next evening. Our hotel had sent a car to pick us up the first night and we felt very sorry for the driver but there was nothing we could go about - but - in true Vietnamese fashion he was there the next night smiling happy to see us again.

We have been welcomed back to our hotel - which is very busy at the moment - and it is good be be amongst the Lifestart family as well. It has been raining here on and off and from the last storm the river is up again - but only to the first street (Hai Scout cafe and Tam Tam cafe are safe at the moment) - but today my students got across the bridge to their lessons. The Lifestart workshop was closed for 2 days but everything is back to normal - until next time I guess.

Anyway, hope you are all well. Regards, Ros

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Part of trip: Vietnam60

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