Vietnam

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It's been a pretty cool first week in Vietnam.. maybe cool isnt the right word the humidity here is insaane..
We had two days in Hanoi at first wondering around trying to get our heads around the busyness that is Hanoi!! all pavemens covered in bikes, people, food stalls and the like.. after 2 days we escaped to Halong Bay for 3 days which is stunning. its a beautiful bay with about 3000 small islands that jut randomly out f the water. we stayed on a 'junk' a big wooden boat which was pretty cool, first day was cruising around, kayaking, visiting a cave and swimming (and getting stung by a jellyfish...) second day was visiting Cat Ba island national park for a bike ride, visit to a trad. village and a trek through the NP which was pretty cool! that night we stayed in a hotel on Cat Ba island and experienced a pretty insane thunder storm! 3rd day we cruised back on our boat back to the main harbour and then back to hanoi. it was a pretty insane three days, looots of photos of course...

one more day in hanoi visiting the jail museum which has had a pretty impressive aray of prisoners throughout its history due to the massive amount of conflict vietnam has endured, most recently the american pilots who were shot down bombing hanoi.

the next night was a night train trip to sapa and then 2 days escaping the humidity up in the mountains. we had an awesome, if tiring 2 days trekking. the second day in the rain and mud which was an experience in itself!! lots of pretty trinkets bought and a night at a homestay with the black h'mong tribe, spent most of that night drinking rice wine and chatting to a girl (Beng) about life in the village. it was fascinating to learn how she had her tribe live and the massive influence tourists have had. 15 yrs ago when tourists began going the villagers used to run and hide as they were so scared of new people, now they run at you waving bracelets and bags nd various other handmade stuff. 'you buy from me you buy from me' was the most commonly heard phrase. bad and good though, beng was telling us that before the tourists the girls never went to school, now families make more money so can afford to send the girls to school, at least for primary, though the nearest high school is in sapa 12 km away. though now that the tourists buy he handmade gifts, the families make more money but less people work in the fields, now it is only the men who work in the fields, so there is less food and families are beginnng to have 3/4 children instead of the traditional 8/10! Beng was one of 8 children. 2 of her sisters had died however, one because she fell in the river. the tribe is scared of water and so do not teach their children to swim despite the massive river that runs through the valley. the other sister died because she fell in the fire and though her father carried her 12km uphill to the sapa hospital, she died before she got there. Beng did not seem overly upset, it seems with little to no healthcare, death is quite a common occurence in the villages.. it was an incredible experience though and all of their english is incredibly good. the h'mong have their own language so we could not use our few words of learnt vietnamese sadly but their english was so good it was not a problem. though the children learn english at school now, Beng, who never went to school, learnt all hers by chatting to tourists!! it seems that tourists are both a blessing and curse to sapa though the benefits do seem to outwiegh the bad, at least for now.

so yeah, an awesome first week in vietnam. izzy is flying out to meet us tonight which is cool.
hope everyone is happy and having fun at home xxxxx

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