After a late night of farewell drinks in Dong Hoi, Greg, Evi, and I woke up at 4:30am to catch the 5:30am train to Da Nang. We got to the station only to be told the train was running an hour and a half late because of last week's floods. An hour and a half later we were told it would be another hour. Finally after waiting in the train station for 4 hours the train arrived and we began the 6 hour ride to Da Nang. Once we got there and took a car to Hoi An, we checked into the hotel, showered and finally got some decent food and some beer at a street place. The train food was inedible as far as I could tell, but the spring rolls at this place were ... read more

So we held our successful "Workshop: Community-Based Tourism Potential in the Phong Nha Ke Bang Buffer Zone" on the 7th with representatives from the three communes and local and regional authorities. Wow. I'm still kind of giddy a week later. I'm somehow light years ahead professionally of where I thought I would be one year ago right before I started this Master's program. I was waiting tables at the time. And I just planned and ran an all day workshop attended by important people and introducing a revolutionary idea, assisted of course by the capable workshop-running pros at Counterpart. However, I was the tourism "expert" and I designed and gave many of the presentations, and I planned out the workshop activities for the participants. And it worked! The objective was to create a clear and unified ... read more

After flying back from the wedding, I spent a few days in Hanoi wandering around, exploring, and getting lost in the maze of Old Quarter streets. The Old Quarter dates back to the 13th century and has little nooks and crannies that can make you feel transported through time. I stumbled upon the old Co Luong Communal House down a little alley where the motorbike traffic disappeared and sat by an elaborate alter and had tea with the residents. Later that day I sat on a kid-sized plastic chair at one of the many sidewalk Bia Hoi (draught beer) places and chatted with some Ausie soccer fans. Australia was playing Japan in the Asian Cup football/soccer finals (or semi-finals, I don't really know), and the match was in Hanoi. The group had tickets to the match ... read more

Saturday night we took the night train back to Hanoi, had some breakfast, and then sat at a cafe drinking much needed coffee for about an hour before hopping on an ancient bus to Mai Chau. Chi Sen commented that the bus looked older than she is (which is late 40's) as I pried open an antique window to get some relief from the oppressive heat in the bus. A woman came aboard trying to sell fans and fanned me in an effort to get me to buy. Normally I will make it clear that I am not interested, but the fanning felt good and I might have cruelly strung her along a little before refusing to buy. As soon as the bus got going the breeze took care of the heat. There was a ... read more

On Sunday I hiked to Da Ban waterfall, one of the areas that we may develop as a community-based tourism site. I took my cue from Chi Sen and the others as to what was appropriate hiking attire. I should really know by now that the Vietnamese are much more agile than me, and the fact that Chi Sen was not in her usual dress heels should have set off warning lights in my brain not to wear flip flops. I wore the flip flops for maybe half an hour before retiring them to my backpack and gracefully slipping and sliding over the slick creek boulders in my bare feet. Pretty early on I fell and landed in a sitting position in the middle of the creek, soaking my clothes to my chest. The commune ... read more