Loving Vietnam

Sitting cross-legged in my cabin, typing on a laptop while listening to Sigur Ros. If I turn ninety degrees, the view through the window is from a movie - golden ocean, limestone islands, distant boats and the sun on fire, a few fingers from the horizon. One week into a Vietnam trip for 20 students from Nelson College for Girls and loving it! No hitches or glitches and the most arduous part of the trip behind us.

We started with a long flight to Hanoi, the same night boarding a sleeper train to the mountains along the Chinese Border and specifically the tourist resort town of Sapa. From Sapa, half the group at a time went on an overnight trek to the mixed Dzao and Tai village of Ban Ho to homestay with a Tai family. Sapa turned it on for us with two days of fantastic weather for the trekking. A marked contrast to two months earlier, when it was only two degrees and I could barely see an arms length through the wet fog. Instead of huddling to get warm like in February, we were trekking between patches of shade and swimming in the river.

Like the dramatic change in the weather, the pace of change in Vietnam is phenomenal! Tourist numbers, construction projects, and inflation, are booming, along with almost every other measure! I read somewhere a comment, that Vietnam had changed more in the last ten years than the last one hundred. I believe it. The country is transformed from when I first visited in 1997. As a visitor it is easy to look at this pace of change negatively but the reality is not that black and white and there are tangible benefits for the majority of people in this country. A lot of visitors feel that change will ruin that which makes Vietnam special but I think the Vietnamese culture is far too strong to be eroded in this fashion.

Banging doors and laughing along the corridor is audible above the music and sound of water lapping against the hull. It's time to end this and join the others jumping off the top of the boat into the ocean. Everyone is ecstatic because we've been upgraded onto possibly the best boat in Halong Bay. Attentive staff, fantastic food and acres of space are ours for the next two nights.

Scott

Sunrise kora

Tashi Dalek - It is a peaceful and cool morning. I am several km's out of Kathmandu downtown at a famous Buddhist site - Bodhnath. I've been doing a sunrise kora, clockwise perambulation, around the stupa with hundreds of Tibetan and Nepalese buddhists. Very awesome. And certainly beats last night's adventure when I went visited Swayambhunath stupa (possibly most famous site in Kathmandu), and on the way down from the hilltop, got caught on the perimeter of a rally that was being dispersed with tear gas. I hightailed it in the opposite direction, but not before being momentarily blinded. Caught a taxi away pronto, and was soon back 'home' at the Utse savouring a plate of Tibetan noodle soup - a little more excitement that I'd been hoping for!

I've met some lovely people and discovered great places to eat, stay, wander in the last few days, but am now definitely ready for some time in the mountains - Khumbu trekking here I come.

Rachel

Kathmandu impressions

Kathmandu is pretty amazing. The old city where I'm staying is like an ancient labyrinth teeming with life. It is hot and dusty at the moment which makes everything more intense. I love the tiny wooden intricately carved doorways that open in expansive squares and temples - hidden cities within the city

On the flight here, from Singapore, I met a group from who are on a 23 day/10 country round the world globlal scavenger hunt - crazy! Just imagine the carbon footprint - not to mention the jetlag. They boarded a flight in San Francisco and are getting off in Toronto in 3 weeks, and have no idea where their next destination is. They only found out at 10pm last night that they were coming to Nepal. Then I wandered up to business class to see if I could get a better view out the window at the spectacular himalayas as we were coming in - Everest...tick.

I've been traipsing the narrow streets chockfull of pashminas, felted wool items, Tibetan art and knock-off North Face mountain gear. In a few short hours I've tried a papaya lassi, apple strudel, sweet mint tea (really good) and lemon soda. Am heading 'home' to the Utse Hotel shortly for a big plateful of momo (tibetan dumplings), and may try the yak butter tea, before settling in for an early night, and an some escapism (started reading Eat Pray Love on the plane and am loving it!).

Internet is pretty slow and there's a daily power cut (actually twice daily for 4-6 hours each time with a rotating daily schedule), so I should go before this gets lost in the ether.

Rachel-loving-Kathmandu

New website under development

We're working on developing a new website at the moment. It's exciting, challenging and a lot of fun working out how to make it super easy to navigate and have all the information at your fingertips...but still look really inspiring. Scott's brother Glen is coming down for the weekend to give us some techie advice on the 'back end' - that's database stuff. Not sure exactly when it's going to go live, but hopefully sometime in June (trips to Nepal and Vietnam before then put it on the back burner).

Let us know if you've got any great suggestions or ideas.

Rachel and Scott