Sumner

Oh my!!! I have so much stuff to tell you about!!! Ok I am going to start where the last real post stopped.

When we got up we started to get ready to go on a trek to Tavan at ten o’clock. When the time came we left some of our bags at the hotel and then went with our guide whose name was (and is) Sume (pronounced like sue-may.) Then we climbed into a van and headed off to where we were to start our trek. We walked along and enjoyed the scenery. The going was easy because it was just a dirt road. We walked and walked until we stopped in the shade of a big rock. Then we headed on. We walked through some villages and passed many terraced rice paddies during the trek. The rice paddies were beautiful things to see because they literally just covered the mountains (look at the pictures to really see what I mean). We walked for about two hours before we stopped at a village very close to the home-stay and had lunch. Then we went on the last couple hundred yards and got to the homestay. We left our bags and wandered up the road a little bit and arrived at a cave. We went in a little bit but it was to dark. There were two boys with flashlights and we gave them money to borrow one of the flashlights. We went left and went just a little bit until we came to the end. Sume said that if we went the other way we would come out in another village near the Chinese border but it would take an hour to reach the end so since we were already tired we went back to the homestay.

We made it back from the homestay safely. It was very fun but I can’t tell you about it now because we are going on another trek to Tavan to a mountain lodge. Bye

Sumner

Read the last post (the end at least) and this will make sense. I didn’t wake up until about 5:30 in the morning on the train. I slept very well but couldn’t go back to sleep so, I looked out the window. We seemed to be stopping but I guess that we were just passing a train on a side-rail. We then sped up and went for a while. We kept on going but before we got to the station the crew came by and knocked on our door to tell us that it was time to pack up and go. So we woke up Hannah (mom was already awake) and packed up our stuff.

Sumner

Today was our last day in Hanoi. We started the day as normal with breakfast. Then our driver picked us up to go to class. We did class and learned more about present perfect tense (I don’t even know what that is in English so it was very difficult to do in Vietnamese.) Mr. Tan works on very complex stuff that may or may not be practical, such as present perfect tense, instead of doing things like where is the bathroom or I need a hotel but he is a very good teacher. After that we summarized what we did during the class this week.

Sumner

Today we had a day off from class so we did things around Hanoi. Breakfast was as usual and then we went to our rooms to work on the blog. Hannah and I were getting restless and we wanted to go do something. So we decided to go to the army museum which was about 25 minutes walk away. When we arrived at the army museum the sour faced man said that it was closed. So we decided to go to lunch we started out for a place that mom’s book said was good but when we arrived it was closed! Then we tried another restaurant but it looked like a nightmare to even get in. Next we tried another but it too was closed. Then mom said that we needed to go to the hotel that we are booking our trip to Sapa with so we headed in that direction trying to find a place to eat. We didn’t find anything so we just gave up and went to the Kangaroo Cafe. I had the same thing that I had last night, chicken and rice in a clay pot After lunch we walked all the way back to the army museum. We went to the first building and looked at the exhibits there. There were bazookas, rifles, cannon, swords, and all sorts of other weapons. Then we went and looked at some ancient cannons all rusty and old. Next we saw some anti-aircraft guns that shot down french planes in Vietnam’s war against the French. Then we saw a hunormus (huge and enormous mixed together) missile launcher that shot down American B-25’s during the Vietnam war and an anti-aircraft gun like the one that shot down John McCain’s plane. Beside those guns there was wreckage from a plane that had been shot down. After we saw that we went to the second building and saw the tank that burst through the hedge at the presidential palace at the fall of Saigon. Next we went to the flag tower. The flag tower is a tower that was constructed in the eighteen hundreds to fly the flag and I think to serve as a fortress. Mom stopped after the first set of stairs, but Hannah and I wen all the way to the top. we went up some stairs that a man dad’s height probably would have bonked his head on but there was no warning sign no nothing. You then had to climb another set of stairs that led to another level and then you had to go up some spiral staircases that in the US we would have not been climbing up because there were no handrails and very skinny steps. Once at the top we saw another way down and we went down it. We weren’t sure where it led so we decided to explore. All it led to was a little altar and a window. We headed back up looked around and then started to go back down. We made it to down the spiral staircase but and then tried to go down the next set of stairs. We were unable to because all the exits were blocked off and we couldn’t escape! Luckily we were with someone  and we wandered around with them they went one way to go find an exit and we went the other way. We didn’t find an exit but finally a woman came with the key to let us out. With that saga over we headed back to the hotel because the museum was closing in about five minutes. We headed back to the hotel and were just going to settle down and rest until bedtime but when we arrived at the hotel they told us that there was a message from Miss Joy. We were going to just get a piece of bread to eat but Miss Joy wanted to go out to eat. We decided to go to get some street food that Miss Joy had recommended. The restaurant is a hole in the wall place that you go in and there are skewers that you can put in a plastic bin and then they barbecue it for you. It was very smokey because the exhaust from their grill was jetted out onto the sidewalk where we were sitting! The food was excellent! We had okra with bacon, many different meats and a few vegetables. We had almost finished when everyone started screaming and yelling and the owner of the street stall ran around like a chicken with her head cut off grabbing chairs and tables (the tables were things like pizza trays on little stools and the chairs were the little stools) we didn’t know what was happening but our food was swept away and our chairs from under us. Then the moment of truth came when the police car came into view obviously the restaurant had “been serving too many people” And had gotten busted! So the police just sat there and didn’t leave. When we left they still were there. The police here in Vietnam are most of the time not here to help, they are here mostly to arrest people that can give them money and then get their money so if someone scratched you don’t go to the police to help thy could arrest you for something ridiculous like frustrating a policeman! When the excitement had gone down the lady asked us to sit down and finish we just wanted the bill so we asked how much it was we paid and left. I think that some people just left the place didn’t pay. During that sort of confusion it is easy to do. We went back to the hotel and went to bed.

Hannah:

O.K. I think that this day was the best day I have had at my language class. Why? Because usually the language class is very difficult, with all of the grammar and stuff. But today there wasn’t as much grammar so that I had  fun. Before I tell about our class time, I must tell you what we did for our field trip. Our group (including the driver this time) went a pottery village. The people there made bowls, pitchers, and humongous vases, some reaching up to 8 feet tall! That is taller than our Family room! AND people at the village put the huge vases in their homes. Do you know why they put those vases in their homes? They would put water in those vases, because water, to them, is very important in their lives, so I guess they will always have water!

Hannah

Oh, am I tired. Today was a huge day! Now today at the language class, we all started in the classroom for conversations and stuff. After 2 hours of sentences and phrases and words etc. our group went to a temple. The temple of West Lake. It was a very sacred temple. Actually, I don’t know if it would be called a temple or a pagoda. But it really does not matter…to me at least. After the pagoda temple thing, we attempted to go to the Army Museum. And of course, the interesting things were closed. So on to plan B. We had decided to go to the Hoa Lo Prison. If you do not know what that is, you might know a famous person who was kept there- John Macain. It was kind of cool to go there. At the museum there were SOME disgusting parts at the museum that I will not tell you about. If you want to know the details, I will tell on my own. Before all the touring and walking, we went to a local street restaurant. The food was called bun.You had to make your own variety. You could put spring rolls, noodles (vermicelli), vegetables (don’t eat the uncooked vegetables, you can get sick), pork, and pork fat, sauce and all wrapped in yumminess. So do you guys want to come to Vietnam sometime? Come along!

Hannah

Can you believe that we have been here for three days already?! Time is flying by, so we better get our plans in. O.K. I will tell you what we did today. You probably are thinking, same old routine, eat, go to class etc. No! It is new stuff today! If you want to know what we did, go right on ahead and read on. I sure hope we always have breakfast, but today’s breakfast was exciting. The manager at our hotel told us to speak some Vietnamese to him, but we forgot, so he told us to to study last night, and if we do not say some stuff to him, we would not get any breakfast. Ahhh! I would starve if I didn’t get any breakfast! This morning I said my thing to the manager. LUCKILY! We ate this curious fruit called Dragon Fruit. It was very good.

Hannah

     What a day! You could never imagine what happened. Well first I NEED to tell you. We (my mom,brother and I) had our first Vietnamese language class. It was hard, but I made it through. What I mean is that the language of Vietnam is very, very, very difficult. It may seem easy to you if you listen to them, but really you need to do all of the right tones. In the Vietnamese language there are 6 different tones. I will not tell you them because they are hard to write out.

Sumner

Today was our first day in Vietnam. We got up and went to go eat at the hotel restaurant. We ordered our breakfast. I had an omelet, a pancake, some bacon, and a little bit of Hannah’s toast. We were talking about what we wanted to accomplish today. The manager must have overheard us talking about getting a phone, and he said that he could escort us to a place to purchase a phone. We said that we would like to go with him to get one. We went back up to our room then we went back down. The manager asked us to follow this other guy. We went with him to a lady on the sidewalk who had all sorts of cigarettes and used phones. They had a conversation and then she left and got a new phone somewhere else down the sidewalk. Then she gave it to mom and they set it up there on the sidewalk, something that is not found in the U.S.