Sapa with Juliette

On the weekend of 18/19 April, my sister and I travelled to the mountainous township of Sapa. in Northwest Vietnam. Juliette had been in Vietnam for one week and she would be leaving in a couple of days. So far she had visited Halong Bay but apart from that had mainly stayed in Hanoi to hang around with me and experience all that beautiful Hanoi had to offer!

Sapa is located very close to the Chinese border and the easiest way to get there from Hanoi is by overnight sleeper train. Both Juliette and I had a good nights' sleep and we were awoken by the train attendants at 5am as we pulled into Lao Cai. From there it's a 40 min mini-bus ride to Sapa and and we arrived for breakfast at our hotel overlooking the town lake.

The Sapa township itself is small and very cute. You can walk through it in less than half an hour but we spent the entire first morning strolling the streets and its markets. It's very touristy obviously, but still very chilled out and the tourism industry here obviously benefits the local community.

Sapa became somewhat of a retreat for the French in the late 19th century and the general layout of the town as well as the architecture of many of the buildings is reminiscent of villages in the French Alps - there is even a catholic church in the centre square of the town. But that's where the similarities end, especially as there are so many local people in their tradional dress walking around and going about their daily activities. Most of the local people are Black H'mong ethnic minority - the 'black' referring to their traditional clothing. However, there are also a few other ethnic minorities, including the Red Dzao people with their distinctive red headwear and a small percentage of Kinh (Vietnamese majority), Tay and Giay people. Although most of the local people here are obviously quite poor, they seemed quite happy and it is pleasing to see these groups retaining their culture so successfully.

In the afternoon of our first day there, we went on an organised walk to a nearby village. The scenery was beautiful and the dominant features of the area are rice terraces built along the hillsides. The hords of uninvited H'mong ladies accompanying us the entire way were slightly annoying though and their mission becomes clear at the end of the day. "Mister, I walk all the day with you, now you buy something off me". Refusal is not well received....

On the second morning, we used our free time to walk into the nearby forest. The walk includes strangely named points of interest like Heaven's Gate, Ostrich's Garden, and Cloud Yard (no idea what's behind these names!). But if the walk itself was a little confusing, the viewing platform at the top of the mountain was definitely worth it - fantastic 180 degree views of Sapa town!

In the afternoon, we went on another organised walk down into the valley and to the nearby village of Cat Cat where we watched a tradional dance performance - another pleasing initiative of the local people in the area. I really hope that the local culture in this part of the world is retained for many years to come!

So what do I do in Hanoi anyway?

I've now been living in Hanoi for 6 months and I thought it was high time that I wrote about a typical week of mine. For me, establishing a new life for myself in a new city which is so different to what I am used to back in Australia has been more interesting than visiting the tourist sights in or outside of Hanoi.

My typical week day would begin by waking up around 7am, having breakfast while watching the ABC news on the Australia Network and maybe playing a bit with our dog, Vau. I then head off to work on my my 1970's style, women's, single-geared, suspension-less bicycle. It's actually rides pretty well, especially considering the treatment it gets (lots of bumpy roads and no maintenance). On the way, i'll often stop in at bakery for a croissant. Hanoi traffic is crazy, really crazy, and driving etiquette is non-existent here. But somehow the traffic flow makes sense when i'm riding in it and i'm generally not worried about getting hit (too hard!). Having said that, I'm happy that the trip is only 2km!

I'll then settle into my work day which I have written a bit about before. Although the work is not exactly what I had expected, I am generally happy with the progress of my assignment. I am working on a wide range of projects - including environmental and tourism issues at Ha Long Bay, community livelihood issues in a national park central Vietnam, and some additional review work relating to climate change studies.

Within the last couple of months, my official counterpart, Huong, has left on maternity leave and my team leader resigned and has not yet been replaced. This makes my role as the Science Officer more challenging as I now have less technical support in relation to my science activities. Having said that, I have recently helped to create a small new sub-team within the office called the Sustainable Development Team (SDT). The team is comprised of another overseas volunteer (an american/spanish guy called Jesse), a vietnamese programme assistant (Chi) and myself. The three of us share an office and help each other out with our projects.

When I don't bring in my lunch, i'll generally go out to a local restaurant (like Cafe Smile which trains underpriviliged youth to become waiters and cooks) or street food like "Pho Bo" (beef noodle soup) or "Bun Cha" (BBQ pork with noodles).

I have a few different activities in the evenings, including social soccer, running, going to the gym, vietnamese lessons, Skype sessions with friends and family, and ofcourse eating out. I try to cook at home as much as possible but a 20,000 Dong ($1.50) Pho or stir fry from a local eatery is often very tempting.

I try to keep myself busy on the weekends as well and there's always plenty of social events to choose from. There are quite often film or music festivals and they are generally free to attend! Otherwise, I often catch up with friends at a bar in the Old Quarter and maybe end the night with some karaoke!

When the weather's fine, I might go for a bike ride or a swim, take Vau for a walk in the nearby botanical gardens, or play social competition frisbee or touch football. My sister is visiting me in less than 2 weeks so hopefully I can share some of these experiences with her!

New Year's on Phu Quoc Island

Following my very enjoyable, but slightly hectic visit to central Vietnam, it was time for some real relaxation and so I spent the next 4 days on Phu Quoc, a tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand, south of Vietnam. It was also a chance to catch some sun as Hanoi entered the cold and wet winter months.
Phu Quoc Island is famous for its beaches ofcourse, but also has claims to being the fish sauce capital of the world!

The Island also has a very interesting history. It's actually a lot closer to Cambodia than it is to Vietnam and the island has been a disputed area for much of its history.

As usual, I was with plenty of other AYAD's...11 actually! It was great to spend time with all of them away from hectic Hanoi and enjoy a range of activites as a group.

We stayed in the main town, Duong Dong, on the western side of the island. On our first full day, we hired motorbikes and drove north up the coast. We stopped at a secluded beach on the way for a swim and frisbee game and then drove further north. Phu Quoc is famous for its great seafood and we had lunch at a tourist resort at the northern end of the island.

We booked a boat tour for the following day to take us to the southern part of the island, which apparently has many beautiful islands to explore. Unfortunately in the morning our guide told us that the boat would now be heading north as the seas were too rough in the south. This was annoying given that we'd headed up exactly that way the day before on the motorbikes.



Still, it was a very enjoyable day and we managed to fit in a bit of sightseeing (the same coastline but viewed from offshore this time!), two snorkelling dives, some fishing (not very successful), another nice seafood lunch and a few warm beers.

That night was New Year's Eve and we celebrated with a BBQ seafood dinner on the beach and then danced the night away. We also watched people releasing traditional lanterns into the night sky to wish for good luck in the new year. We finished up at about 3am with a quick swim in the warm ocean water.

The final day on the island was mainly spent on the beach recovering from the festivities of the night before. Although we did manage a few games of volleyball and another delicious BBQ seafood dinner at the night markets in town. A very relaxing day to finish off a very relaxing holiday!


The flight home was not without incident though. It turned out that Vietnam Airlines had left the entire passenger luggage cargo in Phu Quoc due to the plane being overloaded. I ended up getting my luggage delivered to me that night in Hanoi and I hope everyone else did as well.

Christmas break in Central Vietnam

Over the christmas break, i travelled to Central vietnam to get some much needed R'n'R and visit some more world heritage sites! It was also an opportunity to hang out with an AYAD friend of mine who lives in Danang.

I flew into Danang on christmas eve and caught up with the resident "Danang-ian" AYAD, Amy, as well as some other Hanoi-based AYAD's who had also headed south for the winter. Danang is a cool river-side city and it was just nice chilling out at Amy's place and hanging out with some friends. We all woke up on christmas morning to bacon and eggs, and spent the rest of Christmas day hanging out at the beach. I enjoyed my first bodysurf in a long time before being whistled out by a very worried looking Vietnamese lifeguard wearing jeans. After we'd got out, the lifeguard then made his point again by pulling out his no-swimming sign from the main part of the beach and sticking it in the sand right in front of us!

I then visited Danang's main tourist attraction, the Marble Mountains. These are a group of five marble and limestone hills located close to the beach and named after the five 'elements' of metal, water, wood, fire and earth. The area is famous for stone sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts, but thankfully, chipping away at the marble mountains themselves was banned recently. That night, we booked in to a western restaurant and had a traditional christmas dinner: roast turkey and pudding. And ofcourse, no Vietnamese christmas celebration would be complete without a late-night karaoke session!

The next morning, we headed out to the famous ancient town of Hoi An. Even though it rained all day (it's pretty much been raining there for the last 3 months!), this day was probably the highlight of my time in Vietnam so far. The old town is a really well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century and the site was recognised as World Heritage in 1999. It's such a beautiful place to walk around - it's clean, has beautiful old buildings, great cafes, no cars, awesome clothes shopping, and happy local people with comfotable tourism-based livelihoods. Hoi An seems to have thrived in its World Heritage status which I think is in stark contrast to what has happened at Halong Bay. I definitely want to head back at some stage to get some clothes made although I did get time to buy a custom-made pair of sneakers (made in 4 hours at a cost of AU$25!).

We then travelled 3 hours north to another World Heritage site - the city of Hue - which is famous for its heritage monuments. Hue was the imperial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty and was the national capital for 150 years until 1945 when the communist government was established in Hanoi. The city suffered considerable damage during the 'American' war but some of the monuments have now been restored. The city was declared a World Heritage site in 1993. The main attraction of Hue is the old fortified citadel which is surrounded by a 10km long moat and high wall. We spent a couple of hours walking around the forbidden palace inside the citadel.

We also visited the Thien Mu (Heavenly Lady) Pagoda which is located not far from the city centre along the Perfume River. This is the largest pagoda in Hue and is also the official symbol of the city. I also took the chance to sample the local brew, Huda, which is probably the nicest beer in Vietnam. Now if only i could get some brought over to Hanoi!

The next day we headed back to Hanoi in time to watch the "game that stopped the nation", the final of the ASEAN Footbal Championship - Vietnam vs Thailand. Vietnam is soccer mad, but their national team hasn't ever won much. So just making the final was a big deal.

The normally busy streets emptied out and we watched the game in a street cafe. With the scores level and full time approaching, tension mounted as the Viets started tiring. But with the very last play of the game (3 minutes into injury time), an amazing goal secured Vietnam it's first ever international title. The whole of Danang (and the rest of the country for that matter) went crazy! Thousands spilt out on the streets wearing red and yelling like mad. Those who had motorbikes drove round in circles and those who didn't lined the streets and cheered them on. I couldn't help getting caught up in the excitement and it was a great thrill to see such a mass outpouring of emotion from a nation who lives and breathes football.

PS: For this blog, i've posted 3 separate Picasa photo albums (Danang, Hoi An and Hue) so click on the photos at the top of the page to check them out.