Dalat

Well I'm writing belately about this adventure but I'm going to attempt to keep the writing in order of my appearance in these places!

The sleeper bus bounced into the beaches of Natrang early in the morning. This was apparently the site of one of the bigger and early beach invasions that the US took part in. There are definately no remnants of that as the curling waves and beachside resturants produced mellow hawaii like vibes. I do believe that exiting a sleeper bus is a prime example of the lowest functioning brainwaves possible. Most people are looking around dazed as the sleep you hopefully snatched in fitful spurts has been interrupted by bumps on the road and honking that never ends. Watching myself and the students wake up as we stumbled into a courtyard to begin bathroom breaks and breakfast. This organizing takes all mental abilities I have and I soon realize that I will have to treat myself to a strong local coffee...

As the sugar and caffiene surges into my body I eat a omlet and look at the beach. We shuffle along to another bus which takes us past huge hills covered with granite boulders and cliffs. Then the travel gets vertical as we begin the ascent to Dalat, a mountain town of about 5000 ft in elevation, resting in a beautiful valley. This town is also the local honeymoon capital of Vietnam and there is a lake in the middle of the city where we were told numerous times that lovers walk around.
A hotel is procured by a task force of students and we settle in for a few hours. A run around the lake by Nate and I begins and much to our surprise the lake has been drained and is now a pile of mud where locals were pulling clams from as they walked up to there waist in muck. So there went the romantic run but the rest of the city was full of restaurants and hotels but it felt different because so many of the tourists were not Western but Asian or Vietnamese.
We dined at the chocolate cafe that night which was the best presentation/meal combo we have had yet. All for the cost of 10 us $ for 3 people!
Up the next few days were some adventure activities. Day one was Canyoning. We walked down a paved path to a waterfall. There was a roller coaster above our heads, rock music playing and vendors lining the path to this scenic wonder! It seems many of the waterfalls are like this in Vietnam. Once we passed this waterfall however we entered a canyon were lush pine trees mixed with jungle vines which curled and were strung from rock precipices along the walls above us. We quickly learned that we would be rappelling down waterfalls and into pools!
This was enough of a scare for the students to cause them to bond together and form a supportive team for all the folks who were pushed to their limit. Being scared and lowering yourself down a rushing waterfall was adreniline pumping and as we watched them going down with bulging eyeballs and looks of shear delight/fear we called out and encouraged as a cohesive group! The final water fall was aptly called the washing machine and as you lower yourself into a chimmney of rock with water knocking you around you experience a disorienting feeling where you have to trust in the process and know it will be okay!
Mountain biking and more good meals followed the next few day!

Hue more

As we guided our bikes down the equivelent of a country lane in the outskirts of Hue children began screaming with delight as we cruised by. This was to be a common trend throughout the trip. Fifteen giants with helmets delighting children into fits of screaming and giggles. It has consistently put huge smiles on all of our faces!
Our final destination was a orphange where we were to spend the next five days. We immediately met with the Hue(a woman) who ran the school there. She was kind, spoke English but was difficult to understand and was genuinely very proud and happy to have us there. We also met with the founder. He was a humourous man who spoke his own language and as much English as we spoke Vietnamese. Which is not much. So far we had hello, thank you and goodbye down. At least most of time. As the owner spoke through a translator we understood that they were really looking forward to working with us. As teachers we were treated with utmost respect. Apparently teachers are as revered as much as doctors if not more in Vietnam.
We took a tour of the orphanage and were served a meal by the house mothers there. We were to be treated to these homecooked meals three times a day for the rest of our trip. It was so good. Soups with pork and noodles, sweet potatoes, rice, fish cooked whole, pho, desserts of fresh fruit everymeal and more. This was the best chance we had to eat as the people of this country do and we took advantage. After our meal we found out what we were to be doing.
A playground needed to be constructed in an area currently coved with trees and uneven dirt. There was a fish pond that was going in the middle and sidewalks and swings to be put in on a later date. check out http://www.huehelp.org/node/204 for some pictures and background.
We kept getting glimses of the intially shy children there. They would come smile and then disappear giggling. Finally it was time to head home via bicycle.
The next two days consisted of hot labour on the playground. We had huge mounds of dirt to move via shovels, picks and wheelbarrows. Our goal was leveling the ground. I worked as much as possible on the tree removal team. Being well versed with a chainsaw I was not given the opportunity to cut them down by hand. We used scyles and a two man saw to cut the big and small trees around. I don't know why it is so much fun to do but I love watching trees come crashing to the ground provided they land on know one and come down for good reason! Students were also given the chances to go and play with the orphans as they were around during breaks in school. We learned some fun games they played and were amazed at the simple tools they had to play with and how much fun they had with them. I can't imagine Americans enjoying playing jumping games with rubber bands or playing jacks with rocks but as we joined in it was relieving to see this gameboy generation of students I was helping to teach enjoy what saw the children of vietnam use.
A day off allowed us to tour the city which was dominated by the Chinese rulers for hundreds of years. Everywhere were huge memorials, or grave but not in the sense of the ones we know. They were all around and then downtown was structured like the Forbidden city in China with moats, huge walls surronding buildings with open squares and courts. We went to the Hope village that day as well and learned and met the folks there who made handicrafts there. All of them suffered from disablilities of some sort and this center trained them in ways they could make a living. It was one of the most memerable moments of our trip as our initally uncomfortable students spent two hours playing, singing songs, taking thousands of pictures and communicating with the folks there. I was seated at a table with four of our students and five people who worked there. We struggled to communicate until we discoved that one of them was deaf and spoke American sign lanuage. One of our students started to communicate with her own knowledge and they ended up talking for hours as we all jumped in. So cool!

Hue

choo choo...the nice long sleeper train was pleasant and we woke to views of the first working rice fields we've seen yet. Farmers were out planting rice in the rain. The land was partitioned off into green squares with raised earth making indistinct barriers. It was a relaxing portion of our travels and I believe everyone was happy to be somewhere with less pollution after spending five hectic hours in Hanoi.
Rain greeted us as readily as the taxi drivers who see our group of fifteen as containing the possible to ask "Taxi" upwards of 5 times per person. Ironically as we dismissed the offers the students almost told our local contact to go away as he came looking no different in outward appearance. So Khan got us to our motel/hotel quickly and we jumped into what would be a busy schedule. We went over to get bikes. Seems simple. Now take what you've heard, what i've written and imagine the nerves of the three teachers as we quickly thought about biking with twelve students through streets filled with motorbikes thick as flies and twice as noisy. Our crux was getting our students back relatively unharmed to our hotel, where the roads were less crowded and where our time would be spent. Unfortunately we were currently in the middle of a downtownish area where crossing the street on foot took skill. We had to give a crash course to prevent the previously named event from occuring. Luck was on our side and despite the numerous moped around us most of them are more aware than the average American in their car, multitasking on the way to work. As our group departed and crossed the street I held my breath and thanked the drivers who went out of their way to steer clear of the group of giant helemeted Americans who rode down on beach cruisers complete with baskets and charming bells. Within five minutes I realize the value in having baskets as you could pull a fellow biker who lets just imagine pedal fell off the bike! Despite the overwhelming odds against us we made it all the way to orphanage where we were to spend time over the next few days....We'll i'm too tired to continue so I'll have to write more later. Take care all.

Cat Ba

Bus, Bus, Ferry, Bus. That was the route to the island of Cat Ba. Looking out into the brown dingy water lapping up against a ferry which we were to walk a narrow gangplank onto, I had some doubt about this National Park of an island. After travelling from the pollution drenched city of Hanoi with several students coughing nonstop as a result of the dismal air I boarded the ship with some trepidation. However my view was changed as we pulled up to the island. A group of climber aboard our ferry lauded me with tales of Karbi, a climbing destination I am headed to eventually. As we talked I looked up at rolling hills cover with thick dense Jungle. I've never been somewhere that I would say the FOLIAGE is thick. I can now. The greenery was occasionally broken up by limestone cliffs rising up and the coastline jutting in and out. The air was humid and cool and as our bus dropped us off we were bombarded with hotel offers. Luckily we were there in the off season and managed to find rooms in a nice place for a mere nine dollars a night.
The morning routine was accented by the bad, bad trance music our hotel owner played. We weren't sure if they liked it our thought that americans must love it. Our dancing during breakfast may have reiforced the latter thought. Our view was of a floating village, streets lined with trees and limestone islands and cliffs as far as the haziness allowed you to see. A morning run revealed more of the same as we dashed across deserted beaches along roads cut into the sides of cliffs. We played on the beach in comfortabel temps but not warm. The next day a Jungle trek began. A local guide wearing flip flops and cotton was juxapozed by large fit american sporting the latest in hiking shoes, quick dry tops and high performance gear. He took us up and down the rolling hills. Once you walked into the trees there was no sunlight until we would get to the tops of the paths and were gifted with tremedous views. Now usually pride myself on staying oriented while hiking and I can comfortably say after two hours of hiking I had no idea where we were or how to get out!
After the thick green sites the next day unfolded to bring us a boat tour unlike any I've been on before. Not one of the lakes in Michigan could get me ready for the scenery of Halong bay and the island of rock and jungle. The boat had a three man crew and bean bags on the top deck to lounge on as we passed floating houses where the locals kept fish they kept in mesh tanks and there houses floated on little more than big blue barrels strapped to four by fours. Dogs barked as we floated past bobbing suburbs with million dollar views and bare feet aboard. Sea Kayaks were picked up and we were soon able to drift along on our own power free to explore caves and glide under natural arches. We ate some guiy duck that was freshly caught and cooked aboard and that was only a start to the seafood we ate. Fried squid, fish grilled and brought out whole, and so much more filled us up nightly. A first class experience all for pennies compared to the rest of the world. Top notch climbing is on this island as well and it seems to be blowing up as word gets out. I'll be back someday on my own to experience more.

Sapa

Well we were up near the Chinese border as our sleeper train rolls into the station. Normally this is when you begin waking up however we were treated to calls of "Goodmorning. Coffee." that started at 430 am an hour before the train ride ended. So all groggy like the twelve student two other teacher and I walk out to train tracks. We found our contact who was a diamond in the rough as far as tour guides go. Zihn a member of Hmong ethnic minority, who came over from China around 500 years ago to settle in Sapa. She spoke excellent English picked us up and took us to the Bac Ha market where we got our first taste of the local handicrafts. We wandered the market in small groups trying their hand at bargaining and speaking a little Vietnamese to the vendors. In addition to the local craft there were trinkets from China and other parts of Vietnam for sale as well as water buffalo, chickens, goats, and yes - dogs. The locals were dressed in brightly colored clothes that had intricate stiching and were dyed locally usualling using indigo which grew all over.
That night we ate a local cafe and were treated to a Vietnam special. Big hot pots steamed as we threw in meats, seafood and vegetables and then ate continously as we kept on cooking. Easily one of the more memorable meals I've had. Then to top it off we told the staff that one of the students had a birthday. Not know what to expect we were amazed as we were finishing up our meal when the lights went out. A intricately decorated cake with the students name and delicate frosting decorations rivalling any fancy cake boutique was brought out. the speakers burst out with the Vietnemese version of "happy birthday" there were fruits cut up with a tomato sliced in the middle which was shaped like a rose. The kindness was overwhelming as they brought us all out rice wine to celebrate and then sang along with us.
The trek the next day was through the rolling hills and mountains surronding us. Everything was green and wet. The rice paddies terraced down the hills for hundreds of feet. Years of work has gone into the agriculural system here. I can't wait to be able to post up some pictures to go along with the thousands of words I could write about all these sites. We hike a few miles that day. A student twisted here ankle and after helping here hike to a path she was able to take a motorbike ahead via another road to meet us at the homestay. Another teacher went on a different bike and both were treated to there first motorbike ride in an outstanding fashion and area. We slept at a homestay house that night and hiked back to the hotel the next day. After a sleeper train back to Hanoi we went to a water puppet show that night. Such an art form. Basically the puppets move through a small rectangle of water and along with instrument tell local stories through song dance and humourous puppetry. up next Cat Ba island!

Hanoi

This city is busy. We hopped in a little toyota immediately after gathering our luggage. Held my breath at moments wondering if it was going to make it. Luckily sleep was had on the plane and I was feeling fresh, more or less. Our ride to the hostel was nail biting excitement. I had no idea how the horn in a car could be your best friend. I was glad our driver was skilled with his. His steering wheel was reinforced with clear tape because his thumb was wearing through the brand new car's horn. Scooters, bikes, pedestrians were all part of the chaos of the ride into the old city. We drove for twenty minutes in the city before we saw a traffic light.
We went out into the city after settling into the rooms. Typical backpacker hostel. Walking across the street was crazy. There is a very zen way of walking at a constant pace so the motorbikes and cars can move around you as they predict your speed. There is food being cooked right on the streets from steaming pots and all the stores spill into the sidewalk. We escaped into Pagoda's for some Buddist moments and looked at the shrines that have been around longer than our country has existed.
The next day we walked about. Visits to the Vietnam war museum and fine arts center were both amazing. The black lauquer wood cuts were my favorite. Seeing the perspective from another country that fought against mine was grounding. I picked up such pride in the way they fought for their country that I hadn't previously th0ught about before.
We drank tea on the streets with locals and they poured us cups of fresh green tea as we sat in plastic stools three inches tall. At lunch a student ordered pidgeon and we dined on fried squid as well, i passed on the pidgeon. The specialty is pho a thinly sliced beef with noodles that is quite tasty and costs under a dollar on the streets. Off to the northern jungles of Sapa soon.