Van Hai Hotel Halong Bay

... beer bellies on parade....<br><br>Later Simon and I decided to try our hand at kayaking again. It all started well and we seemed to be going at a good speed and taking in all the beautiful scenery. Little did we know that we would be led on a 2km row for a whopping 2 hours. Cue very sore arms and a huge need for the toilet! All being said it was a great experience especially kayaking through a cave to get to the sheltered lagoon on the other ...

... They do not use email. They live in the village during the week and go home to their families on the weekend. Because they don't see their families often, they don't have time on the mainland for the Internet and until now, I don't think they had any need or desire to use it.<br><br>The teachers help with the cooking and island chores too. Huong, Nam, and little Mai were my host family. Huong and Dung, one ...

... every day of how the country works and gaining a better understanding of it&#8217;s tough people mainly due my teaching role. It&#8217;s a little strange - I&#8217;m supposed to be the teacher and yet I am constantly left in awe with how much I am learning about the culture from dealing with a complete range of ages and abilities of English. 3- mid 30&#8217;s at the moment. Also living where I do now helps enormously. I will leave it there for now but will continue with tales of life in Hanoi very soon!

... time. <br> <br> When we arrived, I was surprised to see a banner thanking the Contributors Program and me. Mr. Dung and Tuyen did a lot of preparation. The teachers and a few of the schoolchildren were waiting. There was not a community space large enough to include all of the children. The government leader of the village, Mr. Dung, and some other people said very kind things (in Vietnamese). I spoke for a few minutes from prepared remarks that Tuyen ...

We spent a day in Halong Bay taking a private junk out to see the limestone caves. The boat was really quite luxourious with dinner tables downstairs and a desk with chairs upstairs. We were very very lucky with the weather as it was blue sky and baking sunshine all day. Was so nice to finally have a day of relaxation with some drinks in the sun. We also has lunch on the boat which was fresh prawns, crab, squid and fish. The sights ...

... one, with the help of a nice cab driver that must have taken pity on me. <br><br>As a result of all this, I missed the DMZ and the Vinh Moc underground tunnels where the Viet Cong hid from the US soldiers during the war. I also didn't get to go to the orphanage in Kon Tum because the flight I needed was not available for another three days!<br><br>BUT, I did get to see the army bunkers on top of the hill in Hue, along with tombs and<br>temples and in ...

... of the ocean ! Pretty impressive none the less though. Our boat stopped off at one of the rocks/islands and we got out and went inside the rock and walked around the caves, then got taken back out to sea where we had a seafood lunch which consisted of King prawns, crab, squid and snapper. Very nice indeed ! After Lunch we got dropped off at a beach on one of the islands where we got out and where able to sunbath and swim in the sea. We had to get back on the boat at about ...

<br>So Lai totally hooked us up with a tour going to Ha Long Bay &#8211; an UNESCO heritage<br>sight &#8211; the area has one thousand nine hundred and sixty nine small<br>limestone islands. This is our first overnight cruise and we're<br>excited. Lai helped us pick a boat that Mike wouldn't get seasick<br>from as well since she also suffers from the motion on the water,<br>too. Today was hot and hazy but on the bay with a nice wind blowing<br>it was quite pleasant. And our ...

... tout penaud mais cela ne change pas le probleme que l on ne sait pas a qui faire confiance pour organiser un tour decent.<br>C est alors que je propose que nous nous adressons a Sun, un Vietnamien rencontre le soir meme alors que Mat lui apprenait a confectionner des chapeaux avec des feuilles de cocotier. C etait la seule personne vraiment heureuse d apprendre a faire des chapeaux a la mode des caraibes depuis qu on apprenait la technique aux locaux depuis le ...

... was on order that night. I was jumping of the boat into the water. Jumps were about 5m up to about 15m. REALLY hurt my nuts on the first attempts.. OUCH! It so funny around here as these women on rowing boats just shout up at you to buy something from their floating 7-11 (Spar). They have everything from beer to snacks. <br><br>We got up early this morning and transferred to a smaller boat to take us deeper into the islands while the big boat sailed back ...