so after a very bad night of sleep we decide to go south to the town of ninh binh (i hope i am spelling that correctly). the 2 hour bus ride ended up being 3 hours on the way there, but it was well worth it (it was over 5 on the way home because of a traffic jam... wait till you see it!). we went to see the stone cathedral which was beautiful, but it is what a group of us did afterwards that made the trip so amazing. tony, jake, lori, and i decided to take a look around so we went over a little cannal into what looked to be a residental part of the town. we walked down dirt roads (that had turned into mud from the all day rain), passed little tents suppended over the water, and made our way past windowless houses. down one of that back dirt road a little girl ran out yelling "HI". being the very cultured people we are we yell back Xin chao (seen chow... its means hi). she giggled and ran back to her house. i asked if i could take their pictures and they agreed. after i showed them the pictures and they thought it was so cool. tony took a video of them and showed them and they giggled in delight. the mother invited us in for tea but we did not have time! i was so upset! how amazing that on our first real day of treking we got invited into someones house!!! the people here are so amazing and friendly. they all smile and wave and are just so adorable. well after we left the house we started our walk back to the bus and the little kids ran onto their dirt path and started waving goodbye! breaks your heart at how adorable these kids are and how little they have. hopefully we dont go to an orphanage or i might come back with a couple!!! well i am off for another adventure around hanoi. they were not kidding about monsoon season... its been pouring for the last 2 days here!!! wish me luck!
