Monday 22 October 2012

Vietnam | My last few days in S.E.Asia

Hanoi is a spectacular City, it feels very westernised and modern yet still withholds its Vietnamese traditions. Our first day was spent exploring the City, seeing a spectacular Gothic-like cathedral, buying new make-up, eating copious amounts of cheese sticks (they are immense) and purchasing cinema tickets to the new Batman film.

Our second day in Hanoi was slightly more cultured as we went on a tour around Halong Bay (Meaning: Descending Dragon). Our journey there was long, but we entertained ourselves by sleeping and watching the spectacular scenery race by around us. When we arrived we clambered on a boat, filled with other sightseers eager to cruise through the natural beauty. It was truly magnificent and words cannot justify it fully - it's one of those things you just have to see with your own eyes to understand and appreciate. The boat ride itself was fun as we ate a buffet of seafood (freshly caught) and rice. They took us through the caves which was amazing; they are massive and it feels like you've left reality and entered a pre-historic world underground.

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Vietnam | The Journey from South to North

After saying goodbye to the teaching and forest volunteers we left behind in Phnom Penh, we took a short tuk tuk ride to the bus station and waited for hours for our night bus to leave - we found out later that the driver had taken a nap. To pass the time myself, Cat and Miri pulled faces, ate pringles and oreos till we felt sick, watched the other trail members attempt to sleep and contemplated taking sneaky photos (open mouths, drool and random subconscious movements...) which kept us entertained for the hours we endured on the non-air conditioned bus. Eventually we set off and reached the Cambodia-Vietnam border at 7:30am and proceeded through passport control and so forth.

The journey from the border to Ho Chi Minh City was over in no time and we arrived around lunch-time. As we sleepily plodded off the bus we were hounded by taxi drivers urging and pushing and pulling us to get in their taxi. Luckily for us, Miri knew they would only rip us off by charging too much for the distance we would need to go. But our hostel was a five minute walk away from where we had been dropped off so, naturally, we walked. By this point I was getting fairly good at swiftly hoisting my over-sized pink bag onto my back and trekking after the others towards our new home for the night. When we arrived in the hostel we were all ecstatic to be sharing a room altogether. Officially the trail was reunited and so we would begin our adventures again! We chilled in the room for a bit before heading down the road in search of food and exploring the City - we visited the huge central market, a Cathedral which was meant to look like Notre-dame and the post office.

Friday 5 October 2012

Cambodia | Teaching and Living in Siem Reap

And so the island shenanigans in Koh Chang were brought to a premature close as we hopped on another bus and made our way to the Poipet border.

Our crossing into Cambodia was fairly smooth, although lengthy. On the other side we clambered back onto our bus and made our way to Siem Reap. Here, in the next few days, we would begin our voluntary projects. Due to the foot and mouth scare in Cambodia, at the time, Government schools were closed. We were initially worried that our teaching placement wouldn't take place as planned and thought we would have to participate on another project  (conservation, diving or working in an orphanage). Fortunately for us, we weren't volunteering in an area badly affected by the disease and the school itself, like many of the Government schools in Siem Reap stayed open. The school we taught at is run by a charitable NGO providing additional education to the children of Siem Reap and surrounding villages.

The only dilemma we did face was that our placement wouldn't be starting until the following week as they had taken an unscheduled "holiday".