Back from Vietnam

[FightingRooster]

I got back about 2 weeks ago but while I was gone my dad decided to make my PC into a PVR without telling me so I was pretty pissed but got my PC back and he bought a new one xD Now I'm back to CS biatchez.

 

Vietnam was amazing. I was volunteering in a center for disabled kids which was two hours north of Hanoi, in a small village called Thuy An. I arrived a day late after flight cancellations and the heat just hit me right away. I probably got to the center at ~9PM and wasn't very tired, so I laid on my bed all night in ~45 degree heat (celcius, you americans), sweating balls. That was probably my only "bad" night because I kept thinking WTF have I got myself into, etc. The next morning was great though and from then on it was really fun.

 

Our goals while we were there were mainly to work with the kids (mentally challenged ones along with deaf kids, mute kids & physically disabled kids) whose parents had dropped them off at this center. Some of the kids were pretty much abandoned there while their parents dropped them off and never picked them up. The center was only supposed to be used during the school year and the kids would go home for a summer holiday, yet certain kids couldn't because of disabilities, or as said previously, their parents didn't come. And then we wanted to build a courtyard behind where the kids ate their meals where they could play or just use that space instead of it being a big pile of dirt. It was really hard work (4 hours a day, 5 days a week, 55 degree heat (with humidity, in celcius) and carrying dirt to fill the courtyard and make it level.

 

Our schedule for the work days was:

 

6:30AM - Wake Up

7:00AM - Breakfast

7:30AM - Out to the worksite

11:30AM - Finish up, take showers

12:00PM - Lunch

12:30PM - 2:30PM - Rest/Nap

2:30PM - 4:30PM - Play with the kids

4:30PM - 6:30PM - Free time, mostly going to the internet cafe

6:30PM - 7:30PM - Dinner

8:00PM - Activity with the group

10:00PM - Lights out (sleeeeeeep)

 

 

Thats what we did for 5 weeks, then the last week we spent travelling. We travelled to Hanoi, Sapa, Hoi An, Ha Long Bay and most likely a couple other places that I forgot. Sapa was the nicest place I've ever seen in my life, bar none. I've attached pictures of it that was just truly remarkable.

 

The best & the worst part of the trip was in Sapa. The worst being hiking. On our list of supplies we weren't told to bring hiking boots, just work boots. I ended up bringing some Tiva sandals for normal use, with flip flops and steel toed boots. So for hiking, I decided to use the Tiva sandals, which the leaders said would be fine. Not a good idea. We went on an option 5KM hike (that I did) the first day, then ~23KM the next day, and the last day was horrible.. probably 5KM directly up a mountain. We had two water bottles (small ones) for 17 of us and it was one of our hottest days there. I ended up having an astham attack, one girl almost passed out and another one had heat stroke. 'Twas pretty bad.

 

Other than that, it was all fun. I really loved working with the kids and playing Legos with them and I hope to go back some day.

 

PICATUREZ

 

The center we stayed in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worksite & Kids:

 

before..

 

 

after...

 

 

 

The Market:

 

 

 

 

Fooooodz:

 

 

Travelling:

 

Ha Long Bay

 

 

Sapa:

 

 

 

 

And thats it!

[Creeping Death]

cool story bro and sucks that happened to ure pc. but welcome back

[bethy]

Oh wow, that was a sweet thing to do. Looks like you had fun, but welcome back!

[PotshotPolka]

Yeah, I've heard that Vietnam is really open to foreigners, coming over for vacation, especially Americans (irony).

[Lux]

I don't think I could possibly ever do what you've done in that heat.

 

When I was in Turkey it got up to 50c at times and it was hard to just walk around yet alone work for 4 hours a day for 5 weeks ;/

 

A good thing to have on your CV for college or uni or even a job or whatever if you are approaching that kind of stuff too, but I'm guessing 5 weeks out there wasn't so cheap.

 

I've seen programmes like this for trips to Africa and they cost 2 or 3 thousand pounds for 3 weeks and considering you spend most of the time working I find it a bit ironic.

[FightingRooster]

cool story bro and sucks that happened to ure pc. but welcome back

 

Thanks

 

Oh wow, that was a sweet thing to do. Looks like you had fun, but welcome back!

 

Ty

 

Yeah, I've heard that Vietnam is really open to foreigners, coming over for vacation, especially Americans (irony).

 

Yeah, and it surprised me quite a bit. We even spoke to a couple war vets who were laughing and joking with us.

 

I don't think I could possibly ever do what you've done in that heat.

 

When I was in Turkey it got up to 50c at times and it was hard to just walk around yet alone work for 4 hours a day for 5 weeks ;/

 

A good thing to have on your CV for college or uni or even a job or whatever if you are approaching that kind of stuff too, but I'm guessing 5 weeks out there wasn't so cheap.

 

I've seen programmes like this for trips to Africa and they cost 2 or 3 thousand pounds for 3 weeks and considering you spend most of the time working I find it a bit ironic.

 

You eventually just ignore the heat, but its still pretty tough.

 

It is nice to have on a CV, but I didn't get any community service hours. 11/13 of us who went on the trip got drunk the last night and they made a big deal about it and took away our hours. Doesn't matter to me though, I don't need 'em to graduate.

 

And yeah, it was very expensive. Kind of funny tbh, you could stay in a 5 star hotel in Cali for a week or go to 'Nam for 5 and volunteer, work, etc.

[b0red]

The food looks amazing! seriously i love asian food yumm

[Red]

Any food poisoning?

[FightingRooster]

The food looks amazing! seriously i love asian food yumm

 

Yeah it was great

 

Any food poisoning?

 

Nope! Threw up a couple times but couldn't call it poisoning

[BORN A REBEL]

pictures are great