Vietnam: The Food

"But it wouldn't as awful as a summer in Ohio without cable, hot water, Vietnamese food...or you"

This is a lyric from one of my favourite musicals The Last Five Years and I gotta say I understand what Cathy is singing about. Vietnamese food was damn good.


We ate traditional Vietnamese food pretty much everyday, from crab spring rolls to rice to noodles. Some personal favourites were dumplings, beef steak and sweet potato fries with sesame seeds on. Mmmmmn.

Before going to Vietnam the closest I'd come to Vietnamese cuisine was the Asian style of Wagamamas, but now I will be hunting down a Vietnamese restaurant near me. I fell completely in love with the food.

This tasted similar to Pad Thai and was absolutely delicious. 

Street BBQ- a hot plate in which sweet potato, squid and beef were all cooked on. Absolutely delicious but the spitting oil was seriously hot when it caught your leg! 

Otherwise known as beef steak, this was brilliant. It was beef steak, chips, egg, pate and vegetables in a thick gravy like sauce which when finished you mopped up with bread. Delicious! 

Our food on the last night was delicious, especially our fruit mocktails. It was even decorated with little ducks made out of carrot which was adorable until my friend broke mine. Grr. Also enjoy T and K in the background! 

I wish I'd taken more photos of the food, I guess at the time I was too busy enjoying! We also had a food tour of Hanoi where we we tried lots of different foods from around the Old Quarter, including fried food that was freshly cooked. I had a sweet potato doughnut which was genuinely one of the best things I've ever tasted, a long with coconut ice cream and finishing with egg coffee. Egg coffee sounds gross I know but it was really more like a creamy, milky thick layer on top of coffee. It sounds bizarre but honestly it was so good! 

And finally, not technically Vietnamese but in Bangkok airline on my layover I had a green tea frap from Starbucks which was damn incredible. WHY IS THIS NOT A THING IN BRITISH STARBUCKS? But this just reminded me to mention how incredible the tea was in Vietnam. Served with pretty much every meal and served cold it was delicious and I wish I could have bottled it and brought it back to England.

If you ever find yourself near a Vietnamese restaurant I strongly advise you to go in- it's delicious!

Now I'm craving a sweet potato doughnut and some Vietnamese tea...

xxx 

Vietnam: The Other Volunteers

My time in Vietnam could have been very different had it not been for the fantastic other volunteers on the same project as me. There was 13 of us in total, 7 French girls, 2 American girls, 2 Japanese and 1 other British girl. We spent pretty much every minute of our time together, from when we woke up to when we went to sleep, eating together, working together, relaxing together and even sharing a room (two/three to a room). By the end of the trip we were all really really great friends, and saying goodbye really sucked!

Super professional hard working volunteers...

One of our forfeits was to post an ugly selfie 

Gals in green

Relaxing on our boat trip to Ha Long Bay

One of the nicest days of our trip, hanging out with everyone as the sunset over Ha Long Bay

Kayaking in Ha Long Bay with my fellow Brit

Friends that nap together stay together right? 

Projects Abroad aka how many people can we fit in a mini van

At a beautiful lake in Hanoi 

Last night with my French pals 

One of our last activities was writing goodbye messages on cards we stuck on our backs- it all got a little crazy!

I am so lucky to have made so many incredible international friends and had some brilliant girls to share this experience with. They really made the whole trip a thousand times more magical and I will never forget our many, many sing alongs on the bus, dodging motorcycles whilst trying to cross the road and discussing everything and anything with them. 

xxx

Vietnam: Volunteering

Obviously the main reason I went to Vietnam was to volunteer so that seems to most obvious place to start with my Vietnam blog posts.

The majority of our time volunteering was spent at the Friendship Village, a village for children age 6-20 who are offspring of former Vietnamese soldiers and affected by Agent Orange. We spent time within the classroom helping with the children, as well as painting and gardening to help renovate the centre. It was a really incredible experience, and taught me so much. We also had the chance to meet with some Vietnam war veterans who shared their experiences with us.

Working in the classrooms was a really fun experience. We started by helping the kids with some basic writing or number work, a lot of them would loose concentration very quickly so it was important to keep them focused on their task. Communication was also tricky at times, but I quickly learnt that whilst they may not understand "try that question again" if I put the rubber on top of their answer it meant they should rub it out and try again. After that we would do a game or something that would get the kids moving. They loved "if you're happy and you know it"! After the kids had had their lunch we would do some arts and crafts or colouring. I have to say my crayoning skills are still on point.

For a couple of days we worked on renovating the dining room, giving it a good clean and a fresh lick of paint in order to make it much brighter and nicer for all the children to work in. It was hot, heavy work but the room looked so much better after our two days of work! We also did some gardening which again was hot work (everywhere in Vietnam is hot!) and the extra team of volunteers really helped make a difference around the centre.

The highlight was definitely just spending time with the kids, whether it was playing in the playground after lessons finished for an extra hour or so, or spending the evening watching a movie with them. They were all so great and we had lots of fun being with them!

Now for some photos...

After painting the dining room 

With the war veterans

With the one of the directors of the centre

Friendship Village

Painting in progress

Arts and crafts 

One of the lovely kids in Skills class 

Selfies with one of our kids

See-saw times 

Being at the Friendship Village not only taught me so much about working with kids and in a team, but also about the Vietnam war and the lasting affects that it had. It was challenging at times but ultimately it was so much fun and I would hundred percent take up an opportunity like that again. 

I hope you've enjoyed learning a bit about The Friendship Village, to find out some more here's some links 

x, x

xxx 

Projects Abroad Vietnam

Back in February I decided I needed to plan something for Summer. I was in a bit of a rut, some crap was going on in my personal life that had led me feeling miserable and desperate to get out of my usual life. I also was vaguely aware that I should probably start doing something that will help my future career prospects, so I was trailing through countless job/internship websites looking for something in the charity sector when the same company kept popping up- Projects Abroad.

I hadn't heard of it before but after spending a few minutes on their website I was already intrigued. They offer short term specials abroad for young people age 15-19 who want volunteering experience and also to travel, which is basically me in a nutshell.

Projects Abroad offer a variety of projects in tons of different countries, but it didn't long for me to decide on Vietnam. I studied Vietnam history when I was sixteen and the country has always been on my bucket list to visit. It looked a beautiful country with such a rich history.

So before I knew it, I had paid my deposit, joined the official Facebook group, and had my jabs. I checked in my rather large suitcase, waved off my anxious parents at Heathrow and soon I was on a plane to Bangkok ready to change and get on a second flight to Hanoi.

Volunteering in Vietnam for two weeks on a Care and Community Project was 100% one of the best experiences of my life. I can't put into words how great it was, from the country, to the kids we worked at, to the other 12 volunteers. It was truly magical and taught me so much from confidence in myself, I learnt about other cultures and countries (not just Vietnam but France, Japan and the USA from the other volunteers). I tried new experiences and foods and met some amazing new people who will stay with me for a long time.

I was so sad to get on the plane home (although the promise of a comfy bed and a decent shower made it a tad easier!) but I can't wait to share all my experiences on here. There will probably be several posts, from Volunteering to Food to Vietnam as a country so look out for them!

Projects Abroad

xxx