Author: chyde

Another brick in the wall

  
An early wake up of 6:30am wasn’t enough to kill the vibe of the day as we came to the realisation that today is the highly anticipated house build. After consuming an immense breakfast consisting of rice cake, bread rolls, omelettes and fruits, we boarded the Mekong travel boat and headed off. 

The site was 45 minutes away, but that did no harm to how excited we were to get our gloves dirty. Not sure what to expect in-terms of how physically and mentally draining the day would be, we got to work straight away. The build was split into many stations consisting of brick piling, brick placing, sand collecting and cement mixing. As we began building the house for Deo, the grateful owner of the house and his children, we began to realise the meaning of our exhaustion. As the day grew on, the formation of the house was present, the smiles of the villagers’ faces increasing.

The build wasn’t without some pivotal help from the Vietnamese tradesmen who would constantly laugh at us after making mistakes. Believe it or not, this laughter was constant throughout the day. As the day was coming to an end, things were taken to a whole new level. Not only did the exhaustion really become evident but we were also informed that 2 tonnes of sand needed to be transported from point A to B over a stretch of at least 100 metres. The drama throughout the day wasn’t as evident as we would have hoped but that was a problem no more when Miss Southey stumbled across a massive gecko and got the fright of her life! The day of building was concluded with a group photo and then we were on our way to the boat to return to the village. 
   
       

As we re-boarded the boat for the long journey back we filled in the time by spotting sketchy house setups and boat designs and, long chats about the tiring and exhaustive past day and the thrilling day ahead. We got back to the home-stay with a positive attitude to come home to a wonderful session of ‘journey doc’

Looking forward to the day ahead, missing everyone at home and hope to see you all soon.
Noah and Duncan.

Mekong Delta
  
After our alarms sounded throughout the hotel telling Vietnam Orange to get up and go, it was full steam ahead. A delicious breakfast was provided from the hotel buffet giving us energy to fit our last minute items into a small backpack for our trip to the Mekong Delta. After some shopping we all filed onto the bus for a 3 hour trip.

Our tour guide, Suny, informed us about the village we were going to and some of her personal experiences. Suny grew up in the Mekong Delta so it was nice to have some local knowledge. As we pulled up to the ‘Happy House’ (toilet), we were glad to have a chance to stretch our legs and as some of us sipped coconut juice, others enjoyed a small game of soccer until the ball fell into the pond. To pass the time, many of us joined in on some card games, such as cheat, go fish and uno. Seeing as the night before, some people decided to rig the playing cards which was very frustrating when we were playing cheat and 6 queens were put down. 
  
Upon arrival at the boat to take us along the river, we met our Mekong Delta guide, Han. He took us to a small island where we had some lunch. The lunch consisted of a small soup, spring rolls, rice and chicken. Suny tried to trick some of us (Bailey) into believing that the chicken was actually dog. Han also tried to tell us that the chicken was elephant. Tourists can be very easily fooled by locals. We got back into the boat and travelled to the village where we will be completing the building project. We checked out the site and met the family we were building the house for. The Deo family were very grateful and humble for our contribution. 

   
  

 

We took the boat back to our homestay hostel. After checking in and putting our bags away, we were lucky enough to take part in a bike ride around the village. Some people were thrilled about the bike ride, others not so much. We received a lot of greetings from the local children and some adults as we rode around. They were very energetic and excited to see many new faces. Whilst most of the ride was enjoyable, we found out very quickly that we were riding on a 2 way track about 1 metre wide. Sharing this path with motorbikes was a challenge but the locals were able to navigate around us with ease.

  
We are really enjoying our trip so far and even though this day is the first quarter mark we can’t wait for the next 3!

Missing you all back home, love you all (this also includes the sometimes annoying siblings).

Lots of love,

Immy and Jessi

P.S. As we are in a remote village for the next few nights our blog may not be updated regularly.

Discovering Ho Chi Minh City
  
(Image by Aunyarat Watanabe from http://www.aw-illustrations.com)

After a long night’s rest, preparation for the day began with another buffet breakfast and a few making use of the hotel gym. According to the daily brief we packed our bags and waited for the clock to tick 9:00; a slow start to a big day. 

First up on our list to-do was the Great Race; a 2 hour scurry through the dense heart of Ho Chi Minh City. We were given a list of questions to answer from points around the city and split into our teams for the day, hastily organising our plans of attack. We set off for the Post Office; an old yet well-maintained relic amidst the bustle of the crowded streets and overlooking a remnant of the French occupation; the Notre Dame Cathedral. We then boarded three-man cyclos to take us through the traffic and to the Reunification Palace for a quick photo before re-boarding and heading to a large market. Inside was a sea of coloured fabrics, cheap footwear and accessories, the overpowering smell of offal, and exotic fruits such as durian (which we tried). Emerging from a side street packed with statuettes, we craned our necks to see the full extent of the Saigon Skydeck before actually experiencing the awe-inspiring view which overlooked Ho Chi Minh City in its entirety. Although the race was more about the experience, team Penguins (Meg, Ry’annah, Jay, Rhys and Nick) triumphed overall and were awarded an all-expenses paid gourmet lunch. All biases aside, the Great race was a highlight for most and made all realise that they are in another country on the Big Experience.

   
 
Despite our short expedition to the Chinatown Markets, they provided an amazing experience for the senses due to the humidity, tight spaces and writhing colours. We weren’t able to purchase any items so this was purely to give us a taste of the life of the Vietnamese.

The War Remnants Museum was an eye-opening history lesson on the topic of the Vietnam War. Comprised of three levels, the Museum was constructed for veterans before being opened for the Vietnamese locals and now is a tourist attraction. The first level’s walls are lined with posters and protests in different languages opposing the war. Although quite tame this level shows the lack of support that the Americans had in their incursion into Vietnam. The second and third levels are all photos detailing the horrendous war crimes committed by the Americans and the effects of contaminating Vietnam with Agent Orange. Although confronting the War Remnants Museum was a very important experience in understanding the Vietnam War and its effect on the country today.

  

The finale to an epic day was a barbecue dinner which we cooked on our own personal grills in the centres of our tables. Subgroups within our group began to break apart and conversation flowed between us as we ate, unified.
   
 Big thanks to Suny our tour guide for allowing us to glimpse the culture and the life of the Vietnamese and for making our lives easier. Looking forward to travelling down into the Mekong Delta tomorrow!

By Nick and Rhys

Chào mừng các bạn đến Việt Nam

(Welcome to Vietnam!)

Yesterday’s plane trip went very well. We arrived in Ho Chi Minh at 4:30pm after a relaxed plane trip to then be bombarded with Vietnam’s humid and sunny weather. We made ourselves at home in our hotel, sprawling the contents from our suitcases across the floor within the first few minutes. We then all gathered to eat a well deserved dinner, dining for the first time as Vietnam group Orange. After eating we took a stroll around the hectic downtown streets taking in all our new surroundings. We loved seeing locals singing and playing guitars down a busy pedestrian street filled with bright lights. The jet lag was finally catching up with us and we headed back to our rooms and crashed.
Today we were up bright and early and thoroughly enjoyed our buffet breakfast at 7am. We then left on the bus at 8am and made our way to an orphanage. This experience was quite confronting at first but then we made great connections with the kids. We really enjoyed playing with the orphans and making them laugh, which was a really heart warming experience. We hope our donation will help them. Leaving the kids was difficult but knowing we had made a difference was very rewarding.

   
 
Next stop was the Cu Chi tunnels where we were put in the shoes of the Vietnamese troops. Crawling through the 80 x 60 cm tunnels was quite scary and made you feel very claustrophobic. We were all very interested by the their tactics for trapping the Americans. 

   
 

  
We took a long bus trip home and couldn’t help noticing the river of motorbikes flowing down the street. Dinner was delicious and we have especially enjoyed the spring rolls and fried rice!

  
Our tour guide, Suny, has been so helpful and is teaching us so much about Vietnamese history, culture and daily life.
WE LOVE AND MISS ALL OF YOU AT HOME ILYSM

XXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOOXOOXOXO

By Meg & Ry’annah

Smooth run to the gate