Ha Long City

The past two days have been amazing! They have involved a lot of bus time for the group, but the stops along the way have made it worth it. Yesterday we checked out of the hotel and drove through the countryside to visit a farmer outside of Nanning. This area was much less developed and apparently was one of the main battle areas during the war between China and Vietnam (according to Janet).

Once we drove down a few wrong roads and our bus driver did some amazing three point turns on one lane roads, we hiked through the leeche farm to arrive at the much awaited citrus groves. One of the photos of Charlie and Ray is in the citrus grove outside of Nanning. They were very excited. Afterwards, we headed back towards the village to visit the farmer's home that had been showing us around. Another picture is of her, her father-in-law, and her 12 year old son. She allowed us to come into her home and see the living conditions in that area. After hearing her story, class VII was very moved and appreciated her generosity, so they all pitched in and gave her a nice donation which she plans to put towards her son's education fund.

From there, we began our drive to Dongxing, the port city that we crossed the border into Vietnam today. Again, it was a much less developed area than anywhere we have been. We ate dinner and began our first (and probably only) official reflection session for the trip. It was a great time for everyone to really think about where we have been and what we have seen.

Today mostly involved traveling. We left our hotel for the quick five minute drive to the border. We got off the bus, grabbed our luggage, went through the checkpoints and literally, walked across the bridge from China into Vietnam. I don't think any of us had ever imaged walking across the border. From there, we boarded a new bus with our tour guide Thai. The drive was about 5 1/2 hours from the border to Ha Long City. It was amazing to see the beautiful countryside along the way. There were many pictures taken by the group the entire trip. Ha Long City is located on Ha Long Bay. Our hotel is about a 5 minute walk to the beach area where there is another night market and recreational areas set up. We were amazed by the cultural differences already. In China, it seemed to be all work and no play for everyone. Already we have noticed that the people here seem to truly enjoy life. There were children playing all along the beach, which is not something we saw much of in China.

On another note, the pictures I have attached are just a few from the past few days that I haven't been able to upload until now. The group photo was taken at the Terracotta Soldiers Museum. Clearly, the one of Richard May is from his birthday. And the picture of Matt Webb and Joe was at the water puppet show we watched tonight.

Tomorrow we will be touring Ha Long Bay by boat and then begin our drive to Hanoi. Hopefully the internet access will be readily available there as well so we can post some Ha Long Bay photos. I hope everyone is doing well at home and has a great day!