Farewell to Saigon and SE Asia

Just one night to go before our group flies home to their soft beds, their favourite pizzas, their boyfriends..or whatever it is they are most craving. In Alex's case it's the 11 shower heads in her bathroom. I hope she doesn't drown!!

 

The last part of the trip seemed to go very quickly, as is so often the case. We've compared Hanoi to Saigon, and unanimously we prefer Hanoi. It's certainly much harder to cross the roads here. Our stops in Hue and Hoi An, in central Vietnam, seem like a long time ago. The Hue moto tour was great and Michelle and I had our palms read by a lovely old woman, dressed immaculately in white silk, beautifully made up and sporting a conical hat over her white hair. She was sitting under the roof of the covered Japanese bridge, no doubt to lure travellers into their future. So, as I'm apparently going to live to a ripe old age, I guess I shouldn't be too concerned crossing the Saigon roads after all. Except that she also mentioned my three children. And I can't for the life of me work out where I put the other two!!!!  Hoi An, with its relaxed pace, lovely historic buildings and riverside lit up with soooooo many lanterns is a favourite with us all. And we've all have had our wardrobes enhanced.

 

A visit to the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, the Cu Chi tunnels just out of Saigon, and ( over the border into Cambodia ) the Killing Fields and Genocide Museum in Phom Penh, were all sobering and emotionally challenging reminders of the insane cruelty we humans have shown ourselves to be capable of. It's impossible not to be appalled and upset, but also impossible not to wonder at the recovery communities and countries are able to make and the way that people are able to live side by side again and the pervading strength of the human spirit. 

 

We all loved our brief foray into Cambodia, and many are talking of returning some time. Our homestay was incredible - such lovely people and warm hospitality. I did hear a couple of the girls say that Ly, one of the family members who accompanied us around town and to our last stint of voluntary work, was quite hot! Always a bonus. Helping to build a very simple pole house for a needy family, alongside the family who would be living in it and a few helpful neighbours, was an awesome experience. We had to demolish the old one first and it mostly just came apart in our hands (along with a host of creatures!!)

 

Mekong Delta - what we thought would be a simple homestay turned out to be a sumptuous French era guesthouse. Nobody complained.There are always surprises here so it pays to be prepared for anything - treats included! Cycling along narrow paths around an island in the Mekong was great fun. Jordan tried to bring the power lines down. Or was it a house? Anyway, we all missed it! The prang of the day. Just when you need an audience there's no-one in sight. Everything was so lush (we just had to stop for a feast of rambuttans) and "Sin Chau" was heard around almost every corner. Well, there are plenty of anecdotes which come to mind but there's a queue for this computer so those can wait.

 

Janine

Vietnam is da BOMB!

Hey all,

This is Alex Woodcock and I am currently on the Vietnam summer trip and having the time of my life! Been avoiding getting hit by crazy little vietnamese dudes on motos, jumping off junks, and making friends for life!

Just some amazing memories to talk about:

1. Night trains (you really don't sleep on them) - a sleeping pill is advised.

2. Hannah got stung by a JELLYFISH in Halong bay - CRAZY stuff.

3. "You buy from her, but why don't you by from me." - One of the classics quotes of our group. The Hmong girls may look sweet but they are stalkers...it's SO TRUE!

4. Indian food in Vietnam is KILLER GOOD!

5. I am especailly stoked about the Cat Ba Langur project. I really enjoyed my time there, and the woman in charge of the project, Daniella, was very inspiring...I think her job in general basically rocks!

6. GO LANGURS!

7. I am super excited to go on the moto tour in Hue. At first I was so scared when we went in Cat Ba, but it turned out to be the most exhilerating part of that day...hydro-planing just doesn't get any better than that!

Hope this is informative for people reading at home! I think most of us are having an AMAZING time (missing sanitary bathrooms) but otherwise...TRIP OF A LIFE-TIME!

AL

New Zealand Program Week 2

This week started off with some free time in Auckland. Diana joined us from Australia, and a few of us went out to the airport to meet her. The next day we travelled from Auckland to Waitomo. In Waitomo we went on a very adventurous caving expedition. We spent about five or six hours in the caves, climbing, repelling, and crawling. After that we went to Castle Rock where we spent the next two days mountain biking and rock climbing, followed by soaking in the hot tub in the evenings. Then off on a road trip, in which we saw a giant multi-coloured kiwi bird, to Rotorua where we saw some boiling mud. Since Rotorua is on volcanic ground, there are pools of boiling mud everywhere and it smells like sulphur (or rotten eggs). In Rotorua we all got to go white water rafting. We went on a hour long adventure, complete with going down the worlds highest commercially rafted waterfall. After getting out of the chilly river we drove to some natural hot springs and soaked in those for a while. Then we continued down to Taupo where we spent the night. The following day we drove about five hours down to Wellington. On our drive down, we got to see a giant gum boot (a.k.a. rubber boot or rain boot). The next day in Wellington we spent the morning at the Te Papa Museum on a private tour going indepth in Maori culture and history followed by a Maori meal. And in the afternoon we went to the parliment building and got another private tour in which we learned about New Zealand's political system, which was more interesting than you would think!

Catba Island volunteers' close encounters

Our group weren't lucky enough to spot any Catba Langurs, but they're all sporting 'Save the Catba Langur' t-shirts. And hopefully the signs they painted and helped place will contribute to a decrease in people entering the areas within the national park where the remaing 60 to 70 of this species live. It is certainly not a magic solution, but a step along the way to better protection. Sadly, although the capture, killing and eating of the Catba Langur is illegal, there are still poachers willing to risk fines and imprisonment for the substantial monetary gain to be reaped from black market sales. If the Catba Langur becomes too accustomed to human presence, it won't retreat to safety when it most needs to, and will become an easy target. The next major task the Catba Langur Project will undertake is the relocation of a small all-female group of langur , closer to a group which has a roving male. So hopefully Pacific Discovery will be receiving emails about an increase in baby Catba Langurs before too long. This species is found only on Catba Island and the numbers are dangerously low, especially in a country where its people are accustomed to eating virtually anything that walks, crawls, slithers, flies, swims or just hangs about. Whilst mealtimes in Vietnam can be a real gastronomic adventure for travellers - especially carnivores - education is important to ensure that the recipes no longer include endangered species. And we're sure that with good nutrition, a healthy lifestyle and perhaps lots of good luck crossing the roads, it will be possible for both Vietnamese and their Chinese neighbours to live plenty long enough without partaking of Catba Langur steak for their longevity!

 

So, having survived a few mornings of scheduled 4.30am awakening (yes, even without the roosters) followed by long work days out on the national park boat in Halong Bay and on an inland walking trail, to erect the finished signs and touch up a few old ones, our group boarded a luxury junk for a bit of well-earned R and R. We even got to see the signs we'd put up again.

 

Some highlights and lowlights: 

 

Hannah drew the short straw and got to be stung by a jellyfish. And no, we're not going to add this experience to future itineraries.

 

We paddled seakayaks through a dark cave, its ceiling adorned with hundreds of little bats.

 

We all ate far too much on the junk. Dish after dish just kept appearing at mealtimes. We had to work hard to convince our cooks that not eating everything on the table didn't mean that it wasn't good!

 

A power cut while in the national park - with the threat of no fans all night in the monsoon heat and stickiness - sent a few of the group into a spin. If only they'd spun a little faster they could've provided the needed air movement!!

 

A deluge held off until we reached a little fishing village - and our lunch spot - after the long hike carrying poles and bags of cement and sand. Travelling light is overrated. Ho ho ho ho it's off to work we go. We hopped on the back of some local motos to get to the waiting park boat quicker -  to outrun the worst of the storm -  only to turn a corner and find a big fallen tree blocking the road. No problem for the local lads. Out with the machetes and, before you could say chopstick, we were on our way. The road became more of a river, and between the water below and the water above, the sweat from our labours was thoroughly drowned.

 

Dogs and chickens were everywhere. Humungous spiders, worm-sized mud vipers, stick insects with thumb-fat bodies and mosquitoes the size of the palm of your hand just added to the menagerie. Not all creatures were looked on with love :)

 

Just joking about the size of the mozzies.

 

Janine :)

 

 

First week in New Zealand

Kia Ora!

New Zealand is awesome. Here's the breakdown of what we're done so far...

The group met up on Friday and had a great time getting to know each other with a scavenger hunt throughout Auckland before heading north of the Bay of Islands. We started heading to the Bay of Islands on Saturday and stopped at a couple places along the way. One place we went was the Waitangi National Reserve which is where New Zealand's Founding Document was signed. We also got to see this sweet Maori dance, the haka, which was the male war dance, and the poi, which was a dance that the women did. Alex got chosen to be the chief of our group and had to rub noses with the main guy performing the dances. The whole performance was intense and emotional with a lot of yelling, slapping of arms, and the guys sticking their tongues out (apparently it's just way for guys to intimidate each other). It was a cool way to see some of the traditions of native New Zealanders, especially when, in appreciation, a guy from the audience stood up at the end and started dancing alone. It was impressive and left us all speechless. The next day we went to Urupukapuka Island to get set up for our conservation work. It was breathtakingly beautiful. We took a boat out to the island and got to see a lot of the other islands along the way. New Zealand is very hilly and very green. It tends to rain quite a bit but with sunshine too so rainbows are frequent. Once on the island we had to get used to living with no electricity and no hot water which was quite a feat for some of us. We had a lot of fun cooking over the stove we made out of cement blocks and had many laughs while playing Cranium. There was also the greatest climbing tree ever on the island which was definitely my favorite part. This place is really beautiful and the people are great. Everyone is friendly, and I love learning their new words. My favorite so far is chilly bin for cooler...what a logical name. We're back in Auckland now and heading off to caving tomorrow. I'm excited for the upcoming adventures!!!

Love,
Kate {and Nicole}

Morsels

Thought I'd better do another blog entry because it may be the last chance I get. Ever. We're just heading out to a Karaoke bar across the road from our guesthouse and I'm not sure that we'll be allowed out alive. If only more parents sent their children to singing lessons...

Here are a few noteworthy morsels.

Alex: As the tracks got steeper and muddier and the weather became muggier and muggier, and litre after litre of sweat rolled down our faces, her grin just got wider and wider :)

Michelle: Has been sporting some sort of cross-cultural turban and eyeballing every weird-looking bug or beetle she discovers.

Rikki: Doesn't love roosters.

Erika: Stops every 5 seconds to photograph something. Just as well she had her own personal umbrella-wallah, Hayley, to shield her camera from the rain.

Jordan: A frustrated ballet dancer. Combined descending slippery muddy trails with doing the splits. And, having been given a tip on exactly where to put her feet to avoid calf-deep mud she proceeded to put a foot exactly between those two points. Clearly loves mud.

Rikki: Hates roosters.

Hayley, Alex and Me: The mean keen running team (soon to be joined by Michelle?) Turned back at the swingbridge because we had no money in our pockets to pay the toll to the village on the other side.

Rikki: Did I say she wants to personally strangle every rooster in Vietnam?

Emily and Rikki: Quick to capture a bargain foot massage on their return from the trek.

Hannah and Rikki: Ultimately the winners of the 'muddiest trekker' competition. Recipients of a well-earned dessert prize.

Rikki: Has given me instructions to make sure her room in guesthouses is pre-booked to include no roosters in the vicinity. Needs special treatment :)

Emily and Rikki: Have yet to master the squat toilet.

Daniel: Held up with study commitments, now waiting in Hanoi to join the group when we arrive fresh as daisies off the night train at 5am on the 8th of July. Wasting no time in embracing local delicacies, the last we heard from him was that he was just heading out to eat dog. We await his verdict.

Many of the group: Would question my use of "fresh as daisies".

Hannah: After the first sleep in Vietnam - ready to roll !

Erika: Bought hand-dyed and embroidered cushion covers from the shortest, cutest old woman in Sapa.

Hayley: Loves everything. Even roosters.

Janine :)

Mud glorious mud!

Our group have just returned from the muddiest trek they've ever done, from near Sapa (northern hill town) down to the little village of Thanh Phu. Unfortunately the much looked forward to swim in a warm spring In Ban Ho, our lunch stop on the way, was thwarted by an earlier landslide. But at least the monsoon rain was warm !! And to think that some people pay a great deal of money for health-enhancing mud wraps..we could enjoy head to toe mud for hours on end at no extra cost. Our homestay was fantastic. After a quick wash and change into dry clothes, just sitting on the verandah and looking out over rice terraces and other equally lush vegetation, we all felt human again. It was fun watching our meal being prepared over an open fire and a few of us perfected our spring rolling techniques. Dinner was absolutely delicious and there was so much of it. Lucky pigs that scored the leftovers! The whole group are pretty keen on Vietnamese food, overall, and willing to try new things, so mealtimes are a breeze. Nobody has even hunted out a hamburger or pizza yet (or if they have they've kept it secret!) Our H'Mong guide was funny and, as a bonus, really seemed to appreciate a sense of humour from the other side of the world. It would be interesting to know what she tells her family about us when she returns to her own village!

Janine