Halong Bay - Day 2

On the second and last day of our cruise, we went to see the cavern at Halong Bay. I have never heard this listed as one of the 7 wonders of the world. But apparently in 2012, the "New 7 Wonders Foundation" officially named Halong Bay as one of the New 7 Natural Wonders of the World. 

It was pretty amazing To see inside of this cave. It puts Indian Echo Caverns to shame! I didn't really get any good pictures because of the lighting inside but here are a few:

This is the picture of the ceiling. Typically you would see stalactites hanging down from the ceiling. And in many parts, there were (see above). But here, the ocean (at some point in time) filled up this area and made the roof smooth from the waves. I found this really incredible because it was such a contrast to all the sharp pointy stalactites that filled most of the cavern. 

Eek! Bats!!

This is a view of the cave entrance:

If you haven't caught on yet, Alisia really likes ice cream and will eat it anywhere and at any time!

Halong Bay - Day 1

This is a much delayed post because apparently there are better things to do during a 37 hour return trip than to write a short blog about our last adventure! (And we didn't have wifi during the cruise to write these posts!)

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Our Vietnam trip was amazing but by this time, I was really missing my kids! I asked mom to book me an earlier flight so we could arrive in time for their end of year celebrations and Jared's award ceremony for his science and math grades. I got a phone call at 1am with mom in an urgent voice saying "I have no idea what time it is there but I need you to tell me if you can leave on Tuesday at midnight!" At first I said I needed to talk to Mai Lynn, but after laying in bed thinking it over, I realized that all of the group activities are done by then and the timing would be perfect. I called mom back around 2am and told her to book it. Then I slept for another hour before getting the much-anticipated FaceTime call to watch Lillia's second recital and Gavin's first recital! I love modern technology because I was able to easily see them and watch their amazing performance! I was so very proud of both of them!! 

Such determination and focus on their faces!

Lillia and her BFSBWWB (best friends since before we were born) waiting for their moment to shine!

The next morning (after a very disrupted night of sleep!), we boarded the bus for Halong Bay. The 4 hour bus ride allowed me a little time for catchup rest. Alisia also slept pretty much the entire trip!

We boarded our personal cruise ship which only held the Brittany's Hope crew. Alisia loved the freedom she had on the boat because I didn't make her stay by my side the entire time! (Although we still stuck together for most of it!)

Here is a picture of some of the amazing views on our cruise!

First up on our cruise was a boat tour to visit the fishing village:

That's the north side of town. And here's the south side of town:

I'm not exaggerating! That's it!! They fish and eat off of what they catch. It's incredible!

Then we had a chance to swim off the side of the boat and go kayaking:

I couldn't take my camera but we kayaked over to this huge, tall rock jutting out of the water: 

See the shadow to the right of the rocks? We paddled into that small cove and found a treasure of a beach! It was only about 30 feet wide and the sand was the softest sand I have ever felt in my life! We parked the boat in the sand and collected some seashells and coral for Alisia to take home as souvenirs.

 We were excited to get back and tell everyone about the beach, but by the time we got back we had to return the kayaks and get ready for dinner. 

But first, a cooking class! They taught us how to make spring rolls. Then they made it into a competition for the nicest looking spring roll. Of course, I love a competition! Especially when I win!!

Alisia learned how to make cool carrot flowers:

We had our farewell dinner that night. Complete with gifts and certificates of thanks! Have I mentioned how much I love Brittanys Hope? They truly appreciated each and every member of our service trip. They made us feel special and reminded us how important our work was in Vietnam! Thank you for being awesome, Mai-Lynn, Carrie, Hong and all of Brittany's Hope!!

The beautiful and kind Mai Lynn, who has the biggest heart of anyone I know!

Me and my travel buddy, Liana! This girl knows how to have fun and always has a huge smile on her face! She added a lot of joy and laughter to our trip!

At the end of the night, Alisia did a little squid fishing. The cook told us if we didn't catch anything we wouldn't have anything for breakfast. We didn't mind skipping the squid!

But Alisia did take the challenge to eat a fish eyeball with Shane, the lone male on our trip. Does swallowing the eyeball count if she couldn't even taste it??

And with that, it's off to bed!

Leaving Ha Tinh and Hoang

We returned to Ha Tinh Orphanage for a 10 minute goodbye before heading to the airport. Alisia and I both wrote Hoang a note about our wonderful time together and how impressed we were with his sweetness. When we arrived, he had also written us a note.

I was holding it together until he took us to Hong (The Vietnamese employee of Brittany's Hope) for her to translate. I will write the entire message when I can, but the line that really hit me was when he said he wished he could freeze time and we could stay there forever. His note was so thoughtful and heartfelt that I was moved to tears. (This picture was before I had the card translated! No tears yet!)

His sister, pictured above, (I need to figure out her name!) also left us with a beautiful gift of these handmade stars in a box that she lined with origami swans. 

She seems to take good care of Hoang and we felt a special connection with her at the end of our time there. 

We gave one last tearful hug as Hoang sobbed and Alisia and I climbed on the bus. The hardest part about leaving is that I have no idea if we will ever see him again. Maybe he can study here in high school?? Or college?? Or just spend the summer with us?? However we do it, Alisia and I decided that we will have to see Hoang again somehow. 

Through spending time at the Ha Tinh Orphanage we have really connected with Hoang and his sister, and our sponsorship will be even more meaningful than it already is.  This was an amazing experience for both Alisia and I, as well as Hoang. I truly hope that he will be able to come to America and spend some time with us if that is allowed by his orphanage and the government of Vietnam!

With leaving Ha Tinh orphanage, the service portion of our trip is over. We are destined for Hanoi to do some shopping and go on an overnight tour of Halong Bay. 

Once we arrived in Hanoi, we spent the afternoon buying souvenirs on the streets around our hotel. Alisia's favorite store was the one where the lady asked her how old she was. When Alisia said "11", she said "Wow! You are very tall!" That made Alisia's day!!

Here's a cool picture of a tree that was growing on the sidewalk:

We discovered a Catholic Church two blocks from our hotel. (Yes, they allow Catholicism here because it has been around for so long. But no other Protestant religions exist in Vietnam.) we set off to attend 6pm mass, arriving around 5:30. When we got there, there was a ceremony of some sort. From what we could make out, they were honoring Mary. They put flowers at her statue and did multiple dances including a traditional Vietnamese fan dance. Ironically, we had googled "fan dance" to try and find a performance but couldn't find anything around. We were so excited and lucky to stumble upon this dance! (Notice the Mary statue in the back)

While standing there, Alisia got hot and agitated and the sweet nun standing behind us began fanning us, and she continued to fan us the whole way through the celebration! At the end of the dancing, the choir began singing and the priest and other members of the church lined up for the processional. 

This was the longest processional I have ever seen! They looped the entire way around the front of the church before filing into St. Joseph's Cathedral. We followed inside and kneeled down to say a prayer. After about 5 minutes decided to sneak back out because we had no idea what was going on. The priest hadn't even made it up to the altar yet! 

Of course we ate ice cream (Kem) afterwards! This time we were at a Baskin Robbins. When we walked in it was completely air conditioned and cool with all the flavored tou would see in America. For a minute it seemed like we were back home in America! 

Sunflower bags and Ha Tinh Orphanage

As I spoke about yesterday, today was the day we hand delivered the Sunflower bags to the poor children of the region. These bags included clothes, blankets, wash clothes, towels, scarfs, hats, gloves and toiletry items. We took some older children (including Hoang) from the orphanage so we could model and teach them about giving back to the community. They all pitched in to help deliver the bags. 

At one point during the ceremony, a woman came up to me (I was sitting in the back row) and started speaking in English. I learned she was the English teacher there and had been speaking English for about 5 years. 

Once we started talking, about 30 girls crowded around to listen. The teacher told me they only see Americans on TV or the Internet. Well, they must have thought we were celebrities because they grabbed us and pulled us over for pictures. Eventually the boys came over too and began posing for pictures. Alisia and I must have posed for over 100 pictures with these teenagers! I don't think I've taken that many pictures since my wedding day! Here is one of many!

Ok, one more. This girl is in her graduation garments:

After the sunflower bag delivery, we ate lunch and went back to the hotel for a little bit. In Vietnam everyone naps in the afternoon so there was no point in going to the orphanage before 3:00 because everyone would be asleep and we would disrupt their schedule! And I don't just mean the young kids...EVERYONE naps!

In the afternoon we returned to the orphanage and played with frisbees and soccer balls, painted cards, made bracelets, rollerbladed with their new skates and jumped rope. 

As the day wore on and it got slightly cooler (95 instead of 105 or so!), we gathered in front of their recreational area and held a ceremony to "hand over" the soccer field. Again, they mentioned Alisia and Hannah. The important government official  from Ha Tinh was in attendance and posed for at least 15 pictures with Alisia! 

Alisia was included in the ribbon cutting ceremony and the field was turned over to the orphanage.

You will notice that the field is a sandy field with no nets on the goal. It would be very expensive for upkeep of a grass field so the soccer field is a cleared out section of land that the kids are able to play on. There are no nets because people might steal them and use them as hammocks (or so we are told) but the kids didn't seem to mind chasing the balls if they went outside of the field.  

Hoang by all the new gear:

We distributed gifts to all the children at Ha Tinh, including many bikes. (Thanks again to those who generously donated a bike!)

All the children we have seen on this trip are overjoyed as they ride their bikes away after we distribute them! (Obviously, I was partial to my son, Hoang, in all my pictures!!)

Hoang loved all his gifts. I went a little overboard because I forgot I had given him gifts at Christmas time and I brought additional gifts for the trip. So he was spoiled a little bit!

I also met Mai, the sponsor child from our Church group, CCW. She couldn't stop crying because she was overcome with joy at the gifts. What a sweetheart!

Of course we ended the night by sharing our dancing. The girls at Ha Tinh wore gorgeous dresses to perform. They obviously worked hard on their dances and they were beautiful. 

Unfortunately, it got to be too dark to play a soccer game together. We did kick the ball around for awhile but it wasn't a full blown soccer game. 

We left that night with the promise that we would stop by in the morning before we left town. It made leaving tonight a little easier.