It was another early start on the Mekong, woken by the roaring engine of boats. As usual we headed to the breakfast area for a traditional Vietnamese meal. After a solid feast the boat arrived and we all piled on ready to get our hands dirty and do some hard work. Today would be the last day before we would finally hand over the house to the family and head off to explore the other vast environments Vietnam has to offer. When we got to the site there were only a few tasks that had to be completed and we were finished by 11:30am. We then gathered at the front of the house to admire the hard work, sweat and effort that we had put in. The family was extremely grateful and it felt amazing to do something so good for the less fortunate. We gave the children of the village lots of gifts that we brought over from Australia. The looks on their faces were better than any thank you I could have imagined. With their new gifts we headed over to a small clearing a few houses away from the building site. It’s amazing how the Vietnamese don’t need a billion dollar soccer field to play a game. They improvise with the spaces they have and use it to their best advantage. After playing a quick game of soccer and tug of war, we got back onto the boat and headed off to collect gear for a bike ride. We rode along beside fruit trees and lots of children came out of their yards to call out ‘Xin Chao’ (hello). Nick had an interesting encounter with a cactus on the way.
We headed back to the Home Stay to have an amazing dinner and then be greeted by some locals to perform some traditional music for us. It was a great thing for us to experience as it allowed us to hear something new and opened our ears up to a new kind of music. This was a great experience over all and a great insight into the Vietnamese culture.
By Nick I and Zoe H