Just arrived in the Mekong

Hey everyone! This is the Blue Group updating fair the past couple of days.

Yesterday we arrived in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and went to our hotels. After we went to a really good noodle place in the city. A few of us have been feeling unwell so they stayed back while the rest of the group went to the War Memorial museum. It was very confronting but also very fascinating. We then visited the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame, or at least the Vietnamese version of it that the French built in 1700's. The architecture was amazing and it was really beautifully designed. We came back to the hotel for a few hours and then had dinner at the KOTO restaurant which was super delicious. Sadly we didn't see any of the friends we made in Hanoi but it was good to see what all the hard work was going to. We explored the night markets for a little and then made our way back for our early start today. We visited the Agent Orange orphanage and helped to feed and play with the kids. Although we were only there for a short time it was worth it to see the smile on their faces. We then travelled towards the Mekong where we visited the Cu Chi tunnels. Just like the War museum it was quite intense (especially when they were crawling through the tunnels and she told us they would of been almost half the size they are now). We had some lunch on a riverside cafe and are now travelling towards our home stay further along the river.

Just as a side note I'd like to mention how unbelievably privileged we have been on this trip. Even in the past few days we have travelled thousands of miles, met lovely new people and have had a few eye openers which has taught us just how lucky we are. I think I speak for everyone when I say this has been one of the most inspiring and fantastic trips ever.

Hopefully we can update soon but until then stay awesome!

Love the Blue Group

Saigon

The day started at 6 o'clock in the morning, with a friendly ring on the phone saying "Hello, wake up call please!" We drove to the airport, met the other group, and boarded the plane to Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived, then drove to the Cu Chi Tunnels and scraped our backs off in the spooky underground passages, before watchng a documentary full of Anti-American propaganda, we got drunk (not true) and fired massive guns into an innocent hillside (true). We then got onto the bus again and drove to another orphanage.

At the orphanage, we 'helped' the kids to colour in pictures of Ariel the mermaid and dinosaurs. We then spoon-fed the kids pasta and pudding, played with Lego and balls, then left to cheerful waves, escapees and friendly punches to the stomach. 

Jack and Jamie made some gr8 memes.

CHINA BEACH - DAY 8 - RED GROUP

This morning after we had a yummy breakfast we went on an adventure, we rode some cute bikes to China beach which was about a 30 minute ride... It was pure perfection. The heat is incredible, even though you get super sweaty it's still lovely. 

Half way through the ride Jacks bike chain fell off so he went on Hai's bike with Hai screaming like a little girl on the back (Hai is our guide). After what felt like 5 minutes we had arrived at the beautiful beach... our day was filled with swimming, eating food, splashing around and just chilling. We had such a relaxing time at the beach, until Katie lost her Go Pro under the water for 10 minutes (it was filming the whole time). We all got burnt today, some worse than others. 

After we had finished up at the beach and were all nice and relaxed we hopped on our bikes and did the whole thing back, it was fab. Once we had travelled back to our luxurious hotel we had a fair bit of free time so we all hopped into our magical pool. We splashed around and played volleyball in the water, oh me oh my the water was gorgeous. Our free time also consisted of riding our bikes down to the markets and chilling over there. The markets were incredible. While we were down at the market area we went into a cute little restaurant and had a cooking class. We made spring rolls, chicken skewers and a papaya salad. They all had chilli and peanuts which made it even yummier. 

Vietnam is so so soooooooo gorgeous, everything is perfect and everyone is well. We hope everyone down in Adelaide is having a good time :) Don't miss us too much.... 

Syrenna (with a bit of help from Amelia) xxxx

From China Beach in Hoi An

Hello families,
At the moment we are in Hoi An, the weather is very warm and sticky. So far we have been to Hanoi, SaPa, Loi Chai, Da Nang and Hoi An. We are writing to you from China beach, the water is crystal clear and the sand is really white. The beach is lined with sun beds under straw sun umbrellas shaped like conical hats. There are beautiful mountains in the background.

So far our trip has been AMAZING! The weather is a little hot for our liking but we are getting used to it. We are beating the heat with three ice creams a day, it evens out though with all our activities.

We recently went to KOTO and there we interacted with the students. We had a master chef challenge, the kitchen had no air conditioner so it was boiling but it was worth it. Later we played games with them in small groups and we got to know them more. That evening for dinner we went to the kids houses and experienced a traditional meal with them. They were very welcoming and friendly. After dinner we played games with them and bonded more.

We then flew to Da Nang and went to the Agent Orange Centre. There we played with the victims of Agent Orange. We then travelled to a bakery for lunch and the bakery only employed the deaf or speechless. They had the best milkshakes in the world.

We then went to marble mountain where we climbed 658 stairs up then down. Finally we got to Hoi An and went to the night markets and we also had a cooking class and dinner then we explored.
Today we had free time until 2:30 so we all slept in and had a swim in to hotel pool. We also went to the tailors to pick up our tailored clothes. We just finished our bike ride through the villages to the beach and we are now chilling.

Bye bye for now

Written by Ash,Ruby and Zoe K

Hoi An

Was an amazing day in Hoi An. Will get the kids to fill you in when at the beach but the last two days have been inspirational and the students just rising to every occasion. We are very proud of them all as you all would be as well... Will try to post tonight above is the orphanage and below is China beach!!!!

Koto

Photos of both groups are on the stream on the blog.....

KOTO day 6

Hello everyone, this is Kiara and Amy updating today! Today we had a awesome time! At about 9:30, we went to the Koto training centre in Hanoi. At first we met the students in a cooking challenge (master chef!) which combined Koto and St. John's students to cook together to make an entree and a main. It was super fun and we learnt some skills from the Koto trainees. After that we met some classes and played some games like wink murder and Marco Polo which was a bunch of laughs. There was a bit of a language barrier but we soon came past it and had a brilliant time. After that we went to their house and cooked dinner with them. I (kiara) met a student called Tai who tried to teach me Vietnamese which I was extremely bad with. We then played games and had just an awesome time. But too soon it was time to go back to the hotel and it was really sad. But we did exchange contacts!

Day 5 - Sapa

Hello! For the last two days we have been trekking through the hills of Sapa. It has been raining a fair bit and very humid. The rain has made it very muddy and slippery. Katie fell over four times and arron had the muddiest shoes. Jamie attempted a ninja mountain descent. We had many stupid questions for example, what is grace amen. Are there pandas in the bamboo forest - Georgia R and in our Q & A session aaron Thomas said when asked who are u closest to at school Aaron was quoted to say

I generally don't like people. In the afternoon some of us went for a swim in the river IT WAS AWSOME. We also had a really fun dance party before we all went to bed. The next day we set off for another walk. We started along a main road then we went down a smaller road and across a bridge. The bridge went over a massive river that was really wobbly. We walked through two waterfalls and then ended the walk at the bus.

Georgia and Catherine

Pictorial update from the SaPa trek

It's been a wet couple of days, but the experiences have been great - here's a few shots to give you an idea of what we've been up to:

 The boys with SaPa valley in the background

 All set for a big trek throughout the valley

 We helped the home stay family prepare dinner, this is a local green similar to morning glory and it was delicious! All the food has been, we're so lucky!

 Halfway there and still smiling!

Rachel, Zoe and Amy with gifts from the Hmong hill tribe

Zoe taking what should be a great snap of her new friend

After almost 10 km, we're still looking fresh!

Sunira and Gracespeaking with the friendly Hmong locals

Bryn negotiates for a good deal with the Hmong tribe

Admiring the view at our Ta Van home stay

Our local guide Kang prepared a tea made from local herbs on our arrival

Quick blue group update!!

A quick word to say all is well with the blue group - we've been non stop since arrival and there's no time to update!! Also, the hotel Internet was down so ive snuck out to a local cafe to use the Internet!

We leave to go to sapa in 15 minutes and will try to update when we return from the overnight home stay with photos and student blogs.

Everyone is getting along and being good, the boys didn't even stay up all night watching soccer! Food is simply amazing and lots of shopping has already been completed. Happy days. Full days!

Ok, chat soon!

First day in Sapa

Today we woke up on the on the train to the lovely green view of Sapa. We then paked our bags got off the train and waited for the bus. As we were waiting we all bought some really nice baguettes to eat. We drove for an hour up into the hills of Sapa as we went it got foggier and foggier. When we got to our hotel we all got our bags off the bus and went into our rooms. The room I stayed in was really nice and we had a window onto the roof. We all then set off for a nice walk around Sapa. As we walk the tribal women followed us all the way and tried to sell to us. After that we walk up a very pretty mountain and we all bought Sting a really nice drink. At the end of the day we all went off in small groups to buy souvenirs and eat dinner. Hamish became friends with one of the tribal ladies named Anna and Katie and I barted from the roof of our hotel. We ended the day with a really fun game of cards. 

Hope you are all great, Catherine!

First Two Days

Day 1

As you would all know, our first day started at around 4 o'clock-ish in the morning. We were dropped to the airport, where after many embarrassing hugs and photos with parents, we departed for Melbourne. Upon arriving, we went through check in again, where we found out that instead of flying direct to Hanoi, we would first be passing through Ho Chi Minh City. Mrs Manning forgot to mention this slight detail in all of our meetings. After our 8 hour flight, which was basically movies, lots of Tertis and badly done Space Invaders, we landed to find that our next plane was late. This, coupled with Hamish's lost-in-transition baggage and Jamie's motion sickness, made for an annoying and tiring time. 

We got there in the end, and took a 30 minute bus ride to our hotel (the Superhotel, what an original name), where we all died of exhaustion before falling asleep. We were told to get up at 6:45 in the morning to have breakfast.

Day 2

We started off the day with an early start of 6:45 and then went up to breakfast at 7. We had a range of things to eat for breakfast such as traditional Vietnamese (noodles, dragon fruit, omelettes) and western food. We went back to our hotel rooms and got our bags ready for a trip to the mausoleum at 8. Why all through that ho chi minhs body wasn't going to be fully on display and everything was very strict. Mrs manning thought she wasn't going to get told of for something this year but she unfortunately did.

We then went to the lake house and then the temple of literature where we saw statues and lots of people praying to the kings so that they might have better luck of going to university. 

We were all pretty hungry by lunchtime so we went into a nice restaurant and had some pho. 

The rest of the day was pretty fun but walking around the old quarter in the rain wasn't the best. 

Catherine, Emma, Aaron K and I (Katie) were walking down one of the streets of the markets when we had free time and 2 ladies came up to us with 2shoulder baskets and put them on our shoulders without our permission. Instinctively we took photos of each other with the baskets and as we started to walk off they grabbed our arms and handed us 2 bags of pineapple that didn't look very appealing. We tried to say no and tried to walk away but they kept following us and trying to make us feel guilty and in the end we had to buy them but we just ditched them in one of the other streets. Btw Hamish's bag turned up in adelaide and is being sent here.

Aaron and Katie

BLUE GROUP -- DAY TWO :

Hi everyone :)

We are currently waiting at the hotel before we get on the train to Sa Pa. We had a pretty long day today but it was fun. We are all pretty tired from the flights yesterday. We have had a few people wanting photos because I think we stand out. We saw a really giant snail too - that was fun. We met out guide Vinh and  he is really helpful and nice. (He bought us ice cream...)

This morning we went to see Ho Chi Minh's body at the mausoleum and it was a little creepy... There was a lot of people (like a lot). We then went around (we weren't allowed inside) the presidential palace and all the other houses that Ho Chi Minh had.

Then we went to Temple of Literature and the Hao Lo prison. We then went to Pho24 for lunch and had our first taste of pho for most of us. Sunny says it was amazing and Kiara says you had to try the sauce. We took a few PHOtos.... Ha.

We then had an electric car tour around Hanoi's Old Quarter and saw some pretty interesting things (like a really small dog and chicken). We walked around for a bit in smaller groups and bought some really awesome pants (we being Sunny, Amy, Grace, Zoe and Rachel).

It rained a lot today and a little yesterday, so we are all kind of gross already. It has been pretty hot all the time and I think the most successful purchase today was hand fans. The traffic is pretty crazy and goes ALL night... Apparently pretty quiet here is equal to Adelaide's fairly busy. Everybody has motorbikes and only a few cars and buses.

Rachel and Zoe J ;)

Have arrived

Both groups have made it to Hanoi. We might be minus one bag, hot and wet from the rain but spirits are high and we are all ready for the journey to begin. Students are already leading and setting a high standard.....

Group T-Shirts

With only 5 days to go the groups received their shirts today. Looking forward to seeing the students wearing these to the airport at 5.30am on Saturday morning.

See you all there, Tara

Welcome

Welcome to our St Johns Grammar blog for The Journey 2014

Both the red and blue groups will be posting on this blog periodically throughout our journey, so please check back regularly to follow us while we are away.