Camp Champions Blog

Hello everyone, and welcome to the First Annual Vietnam Cultural Oddities Awards.  Texas Monthly has the Bum Steer Awards.  Think of this as the Bum Yak Awards.

During our show, we will recognize the most noteworthy of traditions of the people of this fine country.

As we are halfway through our trip in Vietnam, I find myself wanting to compare it to China.

We are in our last day in Hanoi.  We came back for one day after our northern Vietnam homestays.  Sadly, Hien is not with us.  She has been pulled to escort a 3-day trek.  The tour company had a guide pull out of the trek due to a family emergency.  They were able to secure a substitute for one day, but not all three, so we have the substitute.  The replacement is a lovely woman from the Red Zao ethnic group.  She has taken us to see lacquer-ware and embroidery factories.

Yesterday, we joined eight other people on a Vietnamese junk (boat) for 2 days and a night in Ha Long Bay.

After the bike in the cement day, we stayed at a guesthouse/noodle factory (after being in Asia for 9 weeks, this combination actually makes sense to me) and had another massive meal.

After our homestay with the carpenter/farmer, his family and Cousin McLiquor, we had a travel day.

Note: we are back in cell range for at least a couple of days, so I am posting at least 2 blogs per day to catch up on the ones I wrote over the past 4-5 days.  Please read this one and the one that follows.

Yesterday, we left Hanoi for the mountains.  A friend recommended a travel company to us that provides encounters with authentic Vietnamese people.  We started in Hanoi with Hien, our guide.  The first day is designed to orient us to the people and the country, thus visits to Ho Chi Minh’s mauseleum and the Museum of Ethnology, where we learn about all the indigenous people.

We are all enjoying our guide Hien, our guide for this trip. I think she is enjoying us.

Note: I did not realize that we would be without Internet for multiple days during our tour of Vietnam.  As a result, I have combined multiple blogs into one and asked our guide to drop us by an internet café.   Since we are pressed for time, I have only one picture to accompany these articles.  They are forthcoming in 2 or 3 days.  Also, Susie did not get a chance to proof this, so it might have a few errors.  It makes me appreciate both the remoteness of our travel, but also a good internet connection.

Children learn in interesting ways.