Back to school Blitz- Question one

 What are these?(6pts 1st, 4pts 2nd, 2pts 3rd and 1 for correct)

These are solid fuel (charcoal briquette) used for cooking food at the street restaurants and in homes.

Caves in Central Vietnam

 We had two great days in the interior of Central Vietnam, learning about the the "American" War and exploring the caves.  We took a one hour flight from Hanoi to Dong Hoi, then a 40 minute taxi ride to the Phong Nha Farmstay - a hostel in the countryside, run by an Australian and his Vietnamese wife.  Rooms were basic and cheap $25/room/night.  When we arrived Chuck and I sat outside looking at the rice fields, drinking beer and watching the cows come home while Kenna and Cole played pool.  Pretty relaxing.  Lots of interesting people there - met a family who is living in Hoi An and some travellers from Germany, NZ, Australia, Canada and the UK.  The next day we rented bikes and rode through the fields and along the river past lots of cows and water buffalo to the National Park. We rode on these boats through a really big cave - it was quite impressive.  The setting is amazing - huge mountains everywhere.  Right beside the mountain in the picture above is part of the Ho Chi Minh trail.  The Ho Chi Minh trail was a network of roads throughout Vietnam used to move ammunition, supplies and soldiers from the north to the south.  At this site every night during the war the Vietnamese would create a floating pontoon bridge so the trucks and people could cross the river.  Before dawn they would dismantle the bridge and hide it in the nearby caves.  Eventually the US dropped parachutes at night that were lighted up and after taking photographs they were able to see the 'night bridge'.  Later the caves and the bridge was bombed, interrupting the trail until a new section could be built. 



Kenna and Cole in the cave.  Caves were utilized during the war to store ammunition, soldiers and supplies. They were also used a staging areas and hospitals. 



















We rode the boat for about 1.5 kms in to the cave - past many stalactites and stalagmites.  The cave was about 50 feet tall in some areas but the opening was only about 5 feet high and 10 feet across. 



























The opening to the cave.

The next day we went on another tour through the park.  We drove along Highway 20, a road that was created in 5 weeks by the Vietnamese Army when the Ho Chi Minh Trail was shut down by the Americans.  Highway 20 went through the jungle into Laos, down through Laos and Cambodia before entering back into South Vietnam.  It was called Hwy 20 as the majority of workers who created the road were only 20 years old.  Every day the US would bomb the road so soldier would hide in the caves beside the road and clear the road every night to ensure the route was kept open.  The US successfully bombed Highway 20 killing 8 women, who provided food and medical care to the soldiers, as well as 5 soldiers.  There was a small temple in the cave where they were killed.  It is a popular temple, with many visitors coming to recognize their contribution to the war.  The day we were there, a bus full of Vietnamese arrived to visit the temple.  I find this so impressive that 40+ years later the Vietnamese still actively honor their heroes.  Usually people are buried in their village, in their rice field, but during the war the Government created "war cemeteries" in each village where all heroes were buried to remind everyone the sacrifice and price of war.  Below is a picture of a "war cemetery" for a very small village.  The caskets at the front are of "war mothers" - they represent the mothers and the sons that have died.  The first casket on the left represents one mother and 3 sons that were lost during the war.  The pillar states "your country will remember you". 








During our tour we also visited "Paradise Cave" - it was only discovered about 10 years ago.  The British Caving Association continues to explore the area and find more caves; many of them immense in size. 

We walked through the first kilometer of Paradise Cave , where is was at least 200 feet high in some areas.  The stalactites and stalagmites are amazing!  Pictures really don't show how impressive they are.





































Kenna, Cole and I met 2 girls from Coquitlam.  There are very few Canadians travelling through Vietnam so it was great to spend the day with them.










After we visited Paradise Cave we went for a swim in the river to cool off and then hopped into kayaks to paddle over to another cave.  This cave was not on the tourist map - there was only the 20 of us from our tour there.  We began to walk through the cave, splashing through the knee deep water.  It was pitch black - our headlights were only able to illuminate small areas of the cave as we walked along.  The water got deeper and deeper and then we were all swimming through the cave.   We swam for about 200 meters through the cold, dark water - it was such a surreal experience. It was unexpected and a great way to end our adventure - everyone agreed it was super cool!!!!!

Back to school blitz! Cole's Question of the day 8,9 and 10!

Mini tourney

Cole's Question of the Day has been brought up a notch to help you kick off the school year with a bang! Get your answers in quickly as we will be checking them every three days! Not only will you be awarded with regular points for answering single questions but you will also have a chance at our hardest question yet. We are picking our 5 best competitors and asking them to try to find out what the story behind the object in our mystery photo is. Stay tuned as the Back to School Blitz is starting soon! - Cole McEwan

Trip to Sapa - Northern Vietnam

Here we are on the night train to Sapa in Northern Vietnam.  This is a 4 person "soft sleeper" - a tourist standard, the locals usually book onto the "hard sleeper" - with six people to a section - which has even less space.  The train left at 8:30 pm and we arrived in Sapa at 4:30 am - we did get a bit of sleep.  It was pouring rain when we left Hanoi and it was still raining when we got to Sapa.  This was the most rain I have ever seen!  It was the tail end of a typhoon which caused a number of landslides in Northern Vietnam where we were and over 30 people were killed.  We were ok but we did see some evidence of landslides on our trek. 

As the rain was so bad we bought some really light ponchos ($1 each) to try to hold back some of the rain.  We felt like locals - everyone wears them here! 






















We spent a day on a guided trek with a lady from the local village.  It was about 5 hours long as we walked through the mountains along the rice fields and the river through 3 local villages.  Sapa has 4 seasons - it can get as cold as 5 degrees in the winter and up to 35 degrees in the summer.  Rice does grow here but only one crop a year due to the weather.  The scenery is fantastic and the air is really clear - a great break from Hanoi.  



















































Colleen (me), Cole, Chuck and Kenna on our trek. 



















The local houses are very basic - wooden walls and roofs.  During winter a wood fire is burnt within the house to keep the family warm(ish).  As it was Saturday we saw lots of children playing with sticks in the mud - and many of the small children were running around without pants (no diapers) and the other children had very old/worn clothes .  The Hill tribe people are very poor as was evident that day on our walk. 















This is our guide - Zee.  She is a mother of 3children.  She is demonstrating the use of the loom that is used to make the fabric for the traditional clothes, bags and pillow cases that can be bought in Sapa.  Zee is wearing the traditional clothes of her village - everyone wears the same pattern on their clothes to distinguish where they are from.   During our tour we learnt a lot from her about family life and school.   In the past the men logged in the mountains for the family's income, but this is no longer allowed by the government so now the women make crafts to sell in Sapa and lead treks while the husbands stay home and take care of the children.  Zee's English is surprisingly good - she has learnt it from speaking with tourists when she sold her crafts.  English is not taught in the schools at all here. There are only elementary schools in the villages so children must commute up to an hour each way to go to highschool.  In the past most girls got married at 15 or 16, the new law stipulates that they must wait until they are 18, after they finish high school, to marry.

We saw many of these contraptions throughout the villages.  The water, which is from the run off of the rice fields, fills the bucket to lift the hammer, and when the bucket overfills and empties the hammer crashes down to grind the rice into flour.  I'm sure these were around 100's of years ago, maybe even longer.  Cole wants to build one in our backyard!

 

While we were on our walk these 3 ladies joined us for several hours before asking us if we wanted to buy anything.  We ended up buying an indigo bag, pillow case, glasses case and some bracelets.  We now need to soak them in salt water to set the dye before they leach over all our other clothes.  The lady standing beside me was very chatty - asking me lots of questions about Canada.  I was teasing her - telling her I felt like a giant beside her. She told me that she was the smallest in her village.  I think she was being polite as all of the Hill Tribe ladies are very small and all the westerns look huge!!











Sapa was truly impressive.  We all really enjoyed our couple of days here and the children loved seeing the countryside of Vietnam and witnessing the living conditions of the Hill Tribe families.  We all felt very fortunate to be living in Canada.

 

Hanoi - Vietnam

We have been busy in Hanoi seeing the sights.  Hanoi has a population of 6.5 million, a very busy city, traffic everywhere.  We are staying in the "Old Quarter" - it is full of shops, restaurants and hotels.  On our first day we did a bit of a walking tour, around the Old Quarter, visiting the temples and walking the streets.   The area retains the old organisation - with each street specialising in a product, we visited a number of different streets: toy street, tin box street, straw mat street (bought a yoga mat), herb street, linen street, Buddhist altar street, sunglasses street, shoe street - the list goes on and on.  While doing our walking tour we ran into a number of soldiers who were also busy being tourists.  Here is a picture of Chuck and Cole with one of the soldiers. 

They were a lot more interested in getting their picture taken with Kenna - 5 of them lined up for a photo shoot with her!






















In Hanoi motorbikes are used to transport people and goods through the narrow and crowded streets.  We have seen a number of bikes carrying 4 people!  There are also products piled high on the back of bikes - I really like this one - so colourful.




































There are a number of temples in the "Old Quarter" - this one is decorated for a special event.























We spent a day on a tour with two University Students - Yen and Ha - who volunteer through the "Hanoikids" Tourist Group.  This is an opportunity for them to practise their English and share information about Vietnam and learn more about different cultures.  They were excellent tour guides.  We spent the day visiting Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, the Presidential Palace, HCM's home, and the Temple of Literature - the first University in Vietnam, opened over a 1000 years ago. 


All official buildings in Vietnam are painted this colour to clearly show they are official government buildings.  This is the Presidential Palace - HCM never lived in this building, so it was only used for official meetings/business. It is still in use today.  HCM lived in a much more simple 2 room house on the same grounds. 

There are many guards around the HCM complex.

























This is "Uncle Ho's" home.












Yen, Cole, Ha, Kenna and Myself (Colleen) at the HCM complex.
















Kenna and Cole at the Temple of Literature - the tablet behind them is dedicated to a top student from the original class.  The tablet is standing on a turtle to represent longevity.























The gate at the Temple of Literature.




































Confucius and his best students are immortalised in the shrine at the Temple of Literature.  Schooling in Vietnam continues to be based on memorising facts.  Exams are all related to being able to remember the learnings from teachers/masters.  Kenna shared the education philosophy of Canada with our guides - they were very interested in the different style of education that we have at home.








Cole is rubbing the head of a turtle for luck.                                                                   
















St. Joseph's Cathedral - built in 1885.  Evening mass is occurring right now - we were at a restaurant beside the church and were able to hear the singing and bell ringing during the service. 





























Hanoi's growth has been incredible over the past 10 years - infrastructure is struggling to keep up.  This is a typical sight throughout the town.  The speakers are used in the morning to announce the news of the day to the citizens of the city.

In Hanoi there is a vibrant street life. During the day there are a variety of temporary shops set up on the sidewalks - you can get your shoes shined, keys cut, motorcycle tire fixed, a pedicure, a haircut and buy snacks, drinks and meals all on the sidewalk.  In the evening the stores close and the little chairs and tables come out - the sidewalks becomes restaurants and places to gather.  Our guide Yen told us the most profitable job in Hanoi right now (without a University Degree) is to run an ice tea shop on the sidewalk as the costs are so low and the young people in Hanoi love to hang out on the street and watch the action.  Here is a photo of a temporary restaurant just by our hotel.




 

Cole's question of the day #7

This is an object from the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam. What is it and what is it used for?(7pts 1st 5pts 2nd 3 pts 3rd and 2 for the late ones)


The correct answer is a bronze brazier used to burn incense

 

The best of Australia

Here's a summary of the best things about our trip down under.

Cole's top 5: Ekka (An Australian Amusement Park and exhibition), Thunderegg fossiking, Rainbow Beach, Byron Bay, Sydney Walking Tour.  Favorite food: MEAT PIES (goal was to eat 10 - accomplished no problem!!!!).  Favorite Australian Slang: Pull your head in, we're not explaning that one.

Kenna's top 5: Holding a Koala @ Lone Pine Sanctuary, hanging with Uncle Peter and Auntie Gayle, exploring Rainbow beach, Ekka and the Sydney Opera House. Favorite food: Bugs* Favorite Ausralian slang: give you a knock down ... = Introduce you to someone

Colleen's top 5: Rainbow Beach, Sydney Opera House, Australia Zoo, Tambourine Mtn. shops and driving through the country side. Favorite food: Espresso Coffee. Favorite Australian slang: We are not here for the shade = we're here to drink.

Chuck's top 5: Maritime Museum in Sydney, Rainbow Beach, Fossiking, Aussie Rules Football, Byron Bay. Favorite food:  Kangaroo pizza.  Favorite Australian Slang: how you goin'? = how are you?

* commonly known as lobster