04 Track 4

Unit 2

Going Abroad

Chapter 1

We’re in Vietnam!

Page 23

We’re in Vietnam!

Posted on April 6 by Julianna

March 24

Greetings from Vietnam! Tom and I arrived here this afternoon tired but excited.

This is our first trip to Asia and the friendliness of the people is amazing.

All the different sights and smells make us eager to try everything − especially the food!

We’re looking forward to eating spring rolls and pho for dinner. Our hotel is cheap and very clean.

The owners are friendly and helpful; they seem to like us. They gave us drinks when we arrived and have told us about some places that we shouldn’t miss.

We plan to stay here in Ho Chi Minh City for a few days and visit temples in the city, and travel to the north.

March 27

Ho Chi Minh City is fantastic! The pagodas are fabulous and the different Buddhist statues are wonderful to look at. We visited a market in Cholon, in the western part of the city, and saw an amazing range of fruits and vegetables.

Everything was so colorful. We took hundreds of photographs! later today we take the train north. We’ll stay in Hanoi for two days, then catch a bus to Sapa. Tom can’t wait to go trekking in the mountains.

April 4

Now we’re in the old capital city of Hue. after hiking around the southpaw mountains. It’s nice to have accommodation with electricity and a shower. Our trip to southpaw was long and exhausting. From there we took a van to a small village in the mountains and went hiking for three days. The people who live there are called among they live a very basic life, no electricity or telephones they don’t have many possessions that they are the kindest, friendliest people I’ve ever met. Everyone smiles and says hello, Tom, and I can only speak a few words of Vietnamese so smiling is the best way of communicating this afternoon we are taking a walking tour in a way we are going to visit the forbidden purple city where the Emperor left April 6. Hué is a unique city with lots to see. I would love to stay longer that Tom and I are both ready for the beach tomorrow will take the train back to the south and then were going to a town called Vung Tau. It has several beaches and is famous for crafts made out of seashells. Vietnam is an amazing country with so much variety big modern cities, small traditional towns, mountains, jungles and beaches two weeks here just isn’t enough