Hey everyone! Maeve here.

Sorry I haven’t written recently, the reason being we have been traveling like crazy. The last time I wrote I think I wrote about coming to Hanoi. We were in Hanoi and went to some really good restaurants including Green Mango,and Tandoor, my favorite!

We got some stamps made with personalized names on them and the water puppets and a GREAT foot massage. A few days later we went the the Museum of Ethnology

and had a delicious meal from Chocolate and Baguettes where “disadvantaged” youth work.

Mom and Dad decided we would go to Bac Ha a small mountain town. We took a train in “soft seats” that were not soft. Mom and Nina shared 2 seat, Dad took a bunk with 5 other men and I had 2 seats to myself! When we arrived at 4:45 am and got on a local bus and Mom was too tired so Dad found a taxi for 400.000 dong from Lao Cai to Bac Ha. It was 2 hour down a winding road until we got there. We asked him to go tho the Congfu hotel but it was full so we went to the Quan Tranh hotel (or something like that) and the taxi driver wanted 900.00 dong instead of 400.000 so he made a huge fuss and grabbed Dad’s arm and so Dad finally gave him 600.000 dong and just walked away. It was still early in the morning so Mom and Dad went back to sleep while me and Nina watched a movie an the Mac. At about 12:00 we went for brunch at a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet and ate a great meal. We wandered around and Mom and Nina went back to the hotel while me and Dad explored more. I wanted to see the ponies and Dad wanted to see the house of the H’mong leader. The ponies were so sweet and I could be with them all day. We found a little park and there were more ponies in it so I wanted to go there of course.

There were some young boy spinning homemade tops and Dad videotaped them. The park was really big and when Dad turned around he bumped into a man. The guy put on this big show and pretended to throw up and started pointing at Dad’s bag asking for money. Dad said no and the guy went for his arm and started tugging. We started walking away and he grabbed Dad by both his hands and just pulled and pulled and pulled! We FINALLY got away and practicly ran back to the hotel. The next day was pretty uneventful. Sunday was the market and it was really fun! We started getting my H’mong costume together.

They were selling lots of animals including water buffalo, ponies, puppies,

geese,chickens, pigs,and birds. The next day we went on a hike with a tour guide (named Tuan) for 7 1/2 km.When we first met Tuan he asked me if I was a girl! I really hope I don’t look that much like a boy! After that horrific episode we trekked up this beautiful mountain and saw three minority villages, the flower H’mong, the Tay, and the Nung. The next morning we were at the Congfu for breakfast and met this couple from the Blue Mountians, Australia. Their names were Lyne and Mark and they were very nice. They invited us to join them on there way back to the Lao Cai train station. So we met them that night with another man form Switzerland named John. The next day we all met at the Congfu Hotel and got into a 16 seater van. We drove for about two hours until we got to the Coc Ly market. We walked around and I got the rest of my flower H’mong costume. The lady who sold us them told Mom to but her money in her inside pocket. Mom didn’t take to much notice until Mark came up and told us his wallet had been stolen. It was really good that Mom had put her money inside her pocket. Poor Mark, he had over 12000 dollars in there plus credit cards, phone numbers,etc. To make matters worse they could not reach Australia to cancel the credit cards! We continued our trip by going on a boat for an hour and then being driven for another hour to Lao Cai.

It was 4 pm by that time and we had another 5 hours until our train left so we all sat in a cafe using the Internet.We said goodbye to Mark, Lyne, and John and ate dinner. This time we booked a soft sleeper instead of a soft seat. It was really really fun on the train for 8 hours!!! Back in Hanoi we stayed in the Queen of Heart hotel and a few days later booked a tour to Halong Bay. We took a 3 1/2 hour bus to Halong city and boarded a boat for lunch and cruised for 2 hours.

Then we explored Song sot cave and went kyacking. Back at the boat me and Nina had our own room which was really fun also. The next day we went to Cat Ba national park and walked around for 2 hours. Then we took a smaller boat to Monkey Island and stayed there over night. We met another couple named Innis and Daniel also from Australia and they told us about there travels. We stayed an extra day on Monkey Island and Kyacked to see the monkeys. They were adorable and viciuos.

Another tour was feeding them banana’s and oranges. After that we kayacked to a little cave and and then paddled back for dinner.

Vietnamese must think that westerners eat a lot because they fed us SO much! Today is Sunday and we are on a bus ride with our new friends Sophie and Alex. I will write sooner next time. The only reason I didn’t write sooner was because there was no wifi! Oh, and a special shout- out to Mr. Begley I was wondering if you go my email, if not do I have to use the Nelson Math book or can I use Jump Math? See you soon,

Maeve