URBAN DOMAIN 2024

Vietnam Grey – Day 15: Hanoi

November 20, 2017

By Ade and Allana

Today started off with an early 4:30am wake up on the overnight train. It was a struggle, as most found it challenging to rise so early, and there was loud bustle and chaos disembarking the train. Hopping off the train gave us a quick boost of adrenaline, after which we felt fatigued. Wheeling our suitcases through the busy station also proved an unusually difficult process. Driving through the dark, cold streets of Hanoi left the students of Vietnam Grey longing to sleep in our luxurious new hotel, the Skylark Hotel.

We had a well-needed snooze until 8am, when our day properly started. After our delicious buffet breakfast, we had a short bus tour. First stop was the historical Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam, founded in 1076AD. The temple has important cultural significance; many graduates celebrate by having their picture taken there. The gorgeous architecture of the buildings reflected the importance of this area to the local Vietnamese, and reflect the importance of Confucian worship in their lives. The presence of Confucius speaks to the influence that China had upon Vietnamese culture at the time.

Next, we had a short walking tour around the picturesque lake, Hoan Kiem. It was serene and relaxing as we strolled towards the Old Quarter. Hai led us around the Old Quarter shortly before we broke off into groups to shop around small local boutiques and markets. We quickly noticed that little souvenirs were popular in Hanoi. After our little shopping spree, we ate lunch at a local restaurant, Lien Huong, where Barack Obama famously ate in 2016. The succulent barbeque pork soup, buncha, is a signature dish of the restaurant. Getting back on the bus, after lunch, we left the Old Quarter to go back to our hotel to rest.

At 5pm, we walked around Hanoi, returning to the Old Quarter to have dinner at the Little Hanoi Restaurant. We got served several traditional Vietnamese dishes that included chicken, beef and pork, and steamed rice. While eating, we read the messages written on dollar bills, hotel cards and napkins placed underneath the glass on the table by previous customers. Once we could no longer eat, the night continued with a fascinating water puppet show. It gave us an insight into the specificity and uniqueness of Vietnamese culture and their agricultural legends. After, we split into groups and explored the night market, looking at the clothes, jewellery and bags. We ended the evening by walking through the bustling streets of Hanoi back to our hotel.

Ade: To the Scallywags at home, I miss you guys so much and can’t wait to see you in a few days. Lena, congrats on finishing school and Mum I’m so proud of you and Rob. Give my love to Merlin, love Adelyne xx

Allana: To Mumma, B, jack, Tyson, indie, Dad, Maddy / long (I hope) and the rest, I love and miss you all so much and overly prepared to hear the drama that’s been going on without me there ;). Love Layna xo

Australia – Days 13,14,15 Photos

November 20, 2017

By lsu

Australia – Days 13, 14 & 15

November 19, 2017

By lsu

Day 13: Katherine

Today we needed to leave Kakadu and head to one of our final destinations before Darwin and the back home. We were heading to Katherine!

The group travelling with Mark arrived at Katherine a little earlier and went to see a beautiful waterfall. It was beautiful as the water was very clean, we could even see fish under the water. We also learned that there were many animals in the water and freshwater crocodiles were one of them. We then arrived in the town centre and went into the Australian Red Cross shop.

Finally, Ryan’s bus made into town so we decided to go the ‘Katherine’s School Of The Air’ which had the biggest classrooms in the world. The School In The Air has the biggest classrooms in the world because they teach remotely located students via the internet. They use technology such as cameras and computers to teach students and the students have classes on their computers. There were many teachers working in front of the computers when we got there. Some of them were communicating to their students – it was so cool to see! We learned about the long history of the school, for example, the school was set up in 1966 and they used to use videos to teach students. The teacher also showed us about their video rooms and the green screens of the video rooms. After that we visited the library and had a lunch in the playground.

After visiting the school, we went to buy some clothes for the dress up ‘fashion show’ and then we went to the place that we would stay at for two days. It was in the nature and we lived in some big tents. The place was very beautiful, there were many trees around out tents and there was a big swimming pool in front of our tents. What’s more, there were many animals around us such as wallabies and birds. We put down our bags and jumped into the pool very quickly. We played a football game in the pool, it was such a good game that everyone joined it and all of us were very happy.

We had a delicious dinner after swimming and then we started our fashion show. Most of us dressed up and enjoyed the party. We walked down the ‘catwalk’, showed off our costumes and told our stories about the costumes. In the end, the teachers also showed us their costumes. At last, Nathan was the winner because his performance was the best and everyone liked it.

At the end of today, we went to bed early today and relaxed ourselves. Today was such a good day!

Love,

Tommy and Elise

Day 14: Katherine Gorge & hot springs

G’day g’day,

Today we hit Katherine Gorge after a buffet breakfast of pancakes and eggs. It was very delicious! Around 8AM, we started our brief hike to a rock pool which sat under a dazzling waterfall. The pool was as picturesque as it gets. The aquamarine crystal pool was a very refreshing surprise on a 37.5 degree day. We engaged in some quality water aerobics led by our very own Ms.P! We also enjoyed the sun as we perched ourselves on some very sturdy rock ledges. We experienced a once in a life time opportunity of sitting under the serene waterfall and receiving a ‘massage’ only Mother Nature can truly offer. We then set on a 150m walk to the boat which was waiting for us to take us on our journey through Katherine (Nitmiluk) Gorge. Here we took off on a journey through the cliff faces of two gorges. There we found an unexpected waterfall which we had the honour to name (Ohta Asney Fall). We cruised down the gorge and were immersed in the natural beauty that enveloped us. Here we heard the dreamtime story of the Rainbow Serpent and hovered above the spot were he is thought to reside in.

After touring the gorges of Nitmiluk, we headed back to the campsite for some lunch. We then headed to the natural Katherine Hot Springs and were joined by many tourists around the area. We explored the path of the current and saw many small waterfalls as we climbed over them and followed on to see many flora and fauna in our paths. To our surprise the springs were not actually hot, in fact they were rather cold. After a few hours of frolicking in the springs, we decided to make our way back to the campsite for an early dinner. After a relaxing day, we headed up to a look out spot to watch the sunset over the gorge. We finished off the amazing day with a hilarious trivia scripted by Miss.P.

Love,

Stella and Gaut

Day 15: Litchfield & Darwin

Hi everyone!

Today was our final day in Kathrine. We started off the day at 7:00AM to have breakfast. After that we left Katherine at 8:00 and drove for 3 hours off to Litchfield National Park and had lunch. After lunch, we drove to a waterfall in the park called ‘Florence Falls’. We spent about 30 minutes there. We then went to a rock pool located in the park called ‘Buely’. Both the waterfalls were stunning and had crystal clear water. While we were leaving Litchfield to go to Darwin, we made a quick stop at the massive termite mounds. We saw two types of mounds, ‘cathedral’ mounds and ‘magnetic’ mounds. All the magnetic mounds faced in the same direction as the termites build their mounds to face the sun in order to warm themselves in the dry season.

After that, we made our way to Darwin which was an hour away from where were. We were singing our favourite songs on the way to Darwin because today was our last day on the bus with tour guide Ryan. We got to the hotel in Darwin at 5:50PM, we settled in our rooms and at 6:10 we got ready to go to an outdoor cinema which was only 10 minutes away from the hotel. We had dinner there before we watched the movie and we had some popcorn, and ice cream as well. At 7:30 the movie started, the movie was called “Mountain” which talks about the adventure in climbing mountains. We really enjoyed the movie and enjoyed every moment of this great day.

Love,

Amira and Victoria

China Day 15 – The Great Wall at Mutianyu

November 19, 2017

By ascott

(Rachel) This morning we woke up tired but excited for the long awaited day ahead of us. We got on the bus and rested, talked and sang for over an hour to finally arrive at the tourist area for a toilet stop. At this point we had our first glimpse of the Great Wall of China and we were all in awe at how magnificent it was. We then got back on the bus for a short ride to the base of the mountain. As we were taking lots of photos we began our climb up the mountain. We were told that we would be walking 1000 steps but as we hiked up the stairs it definitely felt like more! As we trudged up the mountain side painstakingly, it was all made better when we stopped and looked out at the amazing view. When we finally got to the top we were all buzzing with excitement at the fact that we had reached the Great Wall of China. We walked along the wall for about half an hour taking lots of photos and enjoying the view. We all felt very connected to the culture of China as this is the pride and treasure of the country. I was surprised at how it wasn’t very cold today and the views were so clear as there is hardly any air pollution in the area. Before we left the wall we gathered for a group photo and to learn a bit more about the history of the wall and about the other sections of the wall near Beijing. Today we went to the Mutianyu section but we now are all keen to visit other sections as our experience was so impressive and better than in photos. We then were told we needed to go back and were all sad but excited for the trip down. Some of us chose to take the stairs but the majority took the toboggan.

(Eddy)
The toboggan ride was inspiring and had a delightful pace; it was an exhilarating and exciting finish to the cultural learning experience on the Great Wall of China. Going on an educational visit to the wall was an enjoyable way to experience the amazing and diverse history of Beijing. Beijing has been the capital of China for a long time so it has a lot of culturally inspiring history to learn about. The long bus drive gave me a good opportunity to discuss and analyse my feelings in my learning journey document. When we got back to our rooms I was excited to experience some refreshing and rejuvenating rest to prepare for another educational and thought provoking day, but before I got to experience sleeping I decided to write a complex and interesting reflection about this day.

Vietnam Grey – Day 14: Overnight train to Hanoi

November 19, 2017

By jricketson

By Hamish and Josh

Today, we woke up to the sound of the morning wakeup call at 7 am. First, we spent half an hour of getting ready and beginning to pack. We were looking forward to big day ahead, involving shopping at local markets and the upcoming lengthy train journey to Hanoi. Then, we filtered into the buffet and dining area of the luxurious Asia hotel. At breakfast we discussed yesterday’s events, whilst enjoying the Western and Vietnamese breakfasts and fresh juice.

As we left the hotel on route to a local market, we had time to think and chat about the cultural experiences which we have been fortunate enough to have in Hue, and what we have learnt from them. We noticed the connections to the CUE program, and in particular, the urban domain. We continue to observe and question how the city’s history and people have shaped what it is today. We are becoming global citizens through this trip, and learning to place value upon understanding a place in a genuine way. After a short walk, we then arrived at a local Hue market named Dong Ba. We split of in small groups to explore. We were struck by differences between this market and those of Ho Chi Minh and Hoi An. This market was less lively, though no less busy. We enjoyed ourselves bargaining and making some successful purchases.

Afterwards, we enjoyed lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant across the road from our hotel known as Ushi. We dug into the delightful flavours of some fresh rice paper rolls, lemon chicken, crispy chicken noodles, and sweet and sour pork.

Later, as the anticipation built for the train journey, and after a lot of waiting, we made our way onto the bus to go to the train station for our train at 3:30pm. Upon arrival, we were alerted to the fact that our train would be late. Another announcement about half an hour later told us that the train was arriving. We made our way out onto the platform where we would soon board the train. As the train arrived, and came to a halt, we embarked onto the train where we were met with narrow corridors and cosy cabins. In each cabin was four beds in which we would spend our night. The train jolted into motion and a gush of excitement was instantly felt by all. We will go to sleep with thoughts of excitement for what lays ahead in the final few days of our journey, to be spent in Hanoi.

Josh: Missing you all, hope Dan’s exams went well and hope everyone is good back in Australia. Love you all, from your favourite child/sibling.

Hamish R: Hi family members, hope all is well back in Melbourne and Imogen’s final exams are going well. I am really enjoying the trip and have had some delicious food. Missing you very much and will see you soon. Love you very much, Hamish x

TLC Temples – Day 14

November 19, 2017

By chyde

This morning, after our usual early breakfast, we shuffled quickly to the bus and were on our way to a floating village. We took a beautiful slow boat ride along the lake to see all the houses built from steel and wood and how the families live on the lake. The floating village had a school for the children to get educated and a temple for the families to pray. The kids have to learn how to swim at the age of three and learn to drive boats soon after. Life in the fishing village is tough but there was a clear sense of community with people buying and selling local produce and fish, and children taking advantage of their permanent swimming pool by doing backflips off their front verandahs.

We then travelled back on to the bus where we were able to have some western food for lunch. Later in the afternoon we went off to a stationary store to spend some of our Walkathon fundraising money on pens, pencils, books, posters, whiteboards, hoola hoops and toothbrushes just to name a few. The goodies were a gift to a local school that has very little help from the government. We arrived to a guard of honour which made us feel like royalty and very special. We wondered how much English the kids could speak and understand. In the hot classroom with no walls, we split up and read books, taught basic English like abc and colours, sang songs and asked them about their daily life. Although English was their second language, they knew a lot more English than we gave them credit for. The soccer game was a highlight for both us and the school children. There was lots of laughter and giggling and we were no match for them as their sheer numbers meant they were too strong. We ended the afternoon by listening to some English songs the kids knew and we all joined in to ‘If you’re happy and you know it…’ We ended our day by having some pizza and a quick shop at the night market nearby.

Jared & Zac