From March 15-21 I was fortunate to supervise a group of students traveling to northern Vietnam for the schools' annual Experience Week. We arrived in Hanoi and then traveled to Halong Bay the very next day to experience the beautiful limestone formations that are found there. The scenery is stunning and has made the bay a UNESCO world heritage site. Our camp was on a small beach on one of the over 1900 islands in the bay. We spent two half-days kayaking around the islands as well as time collecting garbage from one of the more secluded beaches (as part of our community service initiative).
Our trip also had us travel to Lao Cai in the very north via a night train (a very interesting experience) and from there we continued onto to the village of Sapa where we did a home stay. The trek into the village took 90 minutes and there we spent time at a local school helping them construct a new roof for part of the school. We also met many students and staff, and in the evening we were invited to watch (and take part in) some local music and dancing.
The village itself is beautiful and the people there live a very peaceful and simple existence. Some of the high lites here included the food (awesome), the coffee (strong but so good) and the amazing scenery. One and a half days were also spent in Hanoi which allowed us to see another part of Vietnamese life as well as to enjoy the great shopping there.
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