17/3/10 DANANG to HANOI
In the afternoon we boarded our train . We stayed on the train and sat and slept on a seat.
18/3/10 HANOI
That morning we woke up when it was really dark. Then it got lighter and we could see better. We walked and walked until we saw our hotel which was called the Bamboo Hotel. It had a lot of bamboo in the rooms. I had a nice breakfast. We saw some shoes that were pretty and pink . That afternoon we saw a puppet show that was under water. It was great and I liked the lion dance.
19/310
We went to Vietnams first University called the Temple of Literature. We bought postcards for Asher's class and my class and Shirley. On the street we had some lunch - it was yummy! We had soup with some rice and some pork that was flamed across the road. Then we went to Fanny's - I had a Fairy Ice-cream . It was nice but I did not like the chocolate ice-cream. In the fairy ice-cream there was banana, mango and dragon fruit. I did not like the dragon fruit (white one).
20/3/10
We went to see the dead body of Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi. Then we had lunch on the street and we got a taxi to the Museum of Ethnology. We had lots of fun running through the Ethnic houses. We called Ma and poppy because it was my Birthday. My Mum bought some converse thongs for me - they were cool. Then we had donuts instead of a birthday cake on the train. The donuts were yum yum yum but they looked better than they tasted. Daddy didn't want one but he wanted one when we were eating ours! On the train to Lao Cai I tried green mango - it was sooooo yummy! It wasn't my best Birthday because we were traveling and there was no nice food where we were.
21/3/10 SAPA
When the train came in, we took a minibus up to Sapa. It was 30 kilometres up a windy hill which made Asher vomit. We had breakfast in a bakery. Lots of girls were following us. We got a hotel which was called Cat Cat Twighlight Hotel. It had a nice cat inside! That night we had dinner next to Luke Nguyen from Terri's favourite TV show.
22/3/10 SAPA
That day in Sapa we walked to Cat Cat Village and met some Aussies. We talked to them. We went to the waterfall in Cat Cat Village and then went up the hills to get back to Sapa. That night Asher got sick and the lady at the trekking office gave both of us a ginger and lemon drink.
23/3/10 SAPA
Trekking day! That day we did a trek with San. It was 17 km's to the home stay. The dinner was really good . When you went to bed you had to take your shoes off to go upstairs to the beds. This is what we saw on our trek:
* rice fields - I like the patterns made by the rice paddies
* gold dust was awesome - the local women used it to make gold caps for their teeth
* babies on their mother's backs through the villages and people working and going up hills
* we crossed lots of bridges with holes in them - they were scary
24/3/10 SAPA
For breakfast we had pancakes with sugar, honey, lime and chocolate sauce. Banana was put on too. We went to a ladies hut with a dirt floor. We visited a school. The kids in school are rough. We went down this steep hill then it kept going. San helped me because he had done it before. The we went to a waterhole at the bottom of the hill. It was nice but we couldn't put our heads under. Then we went up the hills and through the rice fields. After lunch we were taken down the hill back to get our bags from the trekking office.
25/3/10 SAPA
This day we had a lazy day - it was a rainy day and San did not turn up for Daddy's climb up the mountain because ti was raining.
26/3/10 SAPA TO HANOI
Daddy climbed the biggest mountain in Vietnam called Mt Fansipan. The we had some pizza when Dad was away. When we were waiting for our pizza then a friend of ours - she found us and Dad had some food too. That night we slept on a train.
27/3/10 HANOI - HALONG BAY
We had to sneak off the train at 4am. The we took a bus to Halong Bay. This man was a bad driver. Asher lost his diary and Daddy's fruit. Dad was sad because Asher put the bag on the ground.
28/3/10 HALONG BAY
The taxi took us to the dock and we got on a junk boat. We couldn't find a seat to sit down so we went upstairs and lay down until our lunch came. We had a fish head - I didn't eat it - and rice, choko an a lot of other things. The boat sailed to a cave that looked like cauliflowers lit up inside and above us - they were stalagnites. Then we sailed to a fish farm with fish, baby sharks, prawns, big squid and starfish. It was in a village that was on water. We anchored and we kayaked with Daddy and Asher. I also jumped off the lowest level and Asher jumped off the middle deck and Daddy jumped off the highest deck. We were talking to some people and we were given microphones and we sang. Other people sang as well. We sang karaoke. We slept on the boat in a little cabin but we paid more than other people. It didn't look like the pictures.
29/3/10 HALONG BAY TO CAT BA ISLAND
At the dock we got off and went and sat down and then we got on a bus and then were made to swap buses! We went and stopped to do a tour group up a hill. We got to our hotel and then we walked around the beaches. It was fun.
