My trip to Vietnam. #Part two.

Note: I do not intend to brag or show off my experiences at all. I am very fortunate enough to be apart of World Challenge and go on a month long trip to Vietnam.

So where did we leave it?

After the acclimatisation trek we took a bus to Dalat. Wow, was that an experience or what? It was amazing, Dalat was so different to the other places we went to and boy was it beautiful. It was very built up and it seemed like the Vietnamese government had invested a lot of time into the city.

After a late lunch I decided I wasn't going to go back to dinner, and I think it was because I was missing home a little also. So I was in my room alone and then at about 9pm the girls came back. Then my lovely teacher brought be back two Kit Kats, oh she is wonderful. We then, that night all the girls got together again and we started packing for the 5 day trek that we were about to endure. Luckily for me, I had packed my bags while they were out for dinner.

Amy preparing her water bladder for the trek.

The Walking Dead was on multiple times while I had been there. I don't know why, but when I am at home, I don't find it all that appealing. But it was pretty good, if I can say myself. I would always ask Jade, "So what does it mean if they did this?" "Or this" "Are they a Zombie yet?" I think she got sick of me by the end.

Here are some photos from the trek that I hope you enjoy:

Me, you know chilling on a mountain view

Due to the river crossing that we had done, our shoes and socks were wet. No dryers, so fire was the best option

Oh, isn't this cute.

Blowing our mattresses and putting up our tents before dark.

The trek was amazing, I would do it in a heart beat. Maybe not the actual walking part. I think that was pretty hard with a back back on. Mind you we all had to carry food and water, because some places we couldn't get water from a running stream or the van wouldn't be able to reach us. So taking food and water was obviously essential to survive. 

While on trek, Chloe had sprained her ankle, so I lent her my walking poles. So the boys had offered to take her bag from her to relieve her of some of the pressure placed on her ankle by her bag. 

After trek we also had found out that our Scottish expedition leader's birthday was on the last night of Dalat, so the girls, Jade, Jess and Amy went to the bakery, (Sorry, I forgot someone!) and brought Ali a cake. He didn't know that we knew his birthday. Thankfully to Simon, he looked at the Challenger Manual which had everyones date of birth and their citizenship and saw that his birthday was then.

That sexy face.

Chicken Schnitzel, taste actually quite amazing.

Happy Birthday, Ali.

I know it is only a short entry, but after this, I'm trying to recover the photos that I lost, luckily the majority of my photos, I have. But the other 400, not so much. I will most likely write but with no photos, sorry. 

I hope you enjoyed! 

S x

My trip to Vietnam. #Part One

This is my recollection of my adventures with World Challenge when we travelled to Vietnam for a month.

On the 23rd November 2013, at roughly 10:30am we boarded the plane to fly to Kulala Lumpur, our first stop over before we officially fly to Ho Chi Minh City, also formally known as Siagon.

Waiting at Melbourne airport was hell, for many reasons. Normally I wouldn't mind waiting for my plane to arrive. But there happened to be a bit of a lost and found game to be played... with my passport. The story is as follows:

Usually, I have everything on me at all times, but we had just passed customs and we followed Belinda, our teacher and Immy, our assistant guide to the gate that we had to board the plane on, that was all good. No hiccups there.
"Okay guys, make sure that you're back here by 15 past nine at the latest," Cool, we had time. The girls and I went to the bathroom. I think I was the last one out, I dried my hands and walked out.
When we were nearing Hungry Jacks, I realised I didn't have my passport on me at all, I flipped and I am pretty sure I had an anxiety attack while I was standing right in the middle of the walk way. Freaking out some more, my friend said that we will back track where we walked from. So we did. And you guessed it, it was sitting on the floor, face up in the bathroom near the hand dryer. What a great start!

So it was an all up 10 or 11 hour flight, that includes the stop over flight from Malaysia to Vietnam, which was 2 hours. I didn't sleep at all on the flight, but maybe that is just me.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city at 8:30 their time. They are 4 hours behind Australia. So getting used to the time difference was difficult. I think all up I was up for about 2 days, acquiring for the time difference also.

For the next three days we just adjusted ourselves to the climate and it was fun. It kind of reminded me of  if Bali and China and a baby, Vietnam would be there.

Visiting markets, staying up late, watching the english music channel, were few of our favourite things that we did at every single place.

While we were in Vietnam we caught over night trains. They were most definitely not anything flash. We had 2, 10 hour trains and one 21 hour. But after we had finished at Ho Chi Minh City we caught the 10 hour train ride to Nha Trang. We didn't stay very long, I believe it was an hour all up.

The train ride to Nha Trang. - You can see me top left.

The bus ride however, took way longer than expected. I think it was about 5 hours. It was not the most pleasant bus ride. People got on and off the bus like it was public. But we had to make do with what we had.

Sleeping on the 5 hours bus ride.

We arrived at Buon Ma Thout at about 2:30pm and I wasn't particularly fond of this place, I called it creepy town. It was very weird. We retreated to find lunch after we all found some food!

Note: As part of World Challenge, all the students organised the transport, the accommodations, the food, everything. We even had to watch our own budget. I believe the total budget for the entire trip was $11,000 US.

We had one night at the hotel, before we set off to our first trek, the acclimatisation phase.

Getting ready to head off!

We stayed in a house that because I didn't bring my mosquito net, because you know, you gotta have those so you don't get malaria! So I shared a tent with my good friends Jade and Teagan. But we slept inside a room in tents... odd.


So we trekked for a while more, then that next night we stayed in a traditional long house. I stayed with Jess, Jade and Grace, and it couldn't be better. This was my favourite day, mainly because I got to see many, many elephants. I got to ride one too! I took a selfie or two with an elephant. It made me smile so much. So here are some photos for you to smile at too!

Our World Challenge Group!

Ah, my selfie!

Grace, with her head torch.

I loved the trek, but I don't think it fully prepared us for what was to come. We walked back to the bus that took us back to our hotel room. We had one more night into creepy town, then we would be off to Dalat!

After the trek, we were all VERY desperate for showers and things that made us feel clean, such as washing our clothes. Normal people would hire people to do that for them, like the boys did. But no, we though we would be cheap and wash it in the bath.

This is like an Eclair that we get back home. It has chocolate custard  inside and it is probably the most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my entire life! 

This is Me, Teagan and Jade washing our clothes after trek. Then me being smart, had either the hair dryer or I stood in front of the air conditioner to dry and dry my clothes. I think I did that most of the night.

Mind you, this is only the first half of the experience, more is to come.

I hope you enjoyed the first instalment of My trip to Vietnam!

S x

Welcoming me!

This is my fifth attempt in actually trying to write a blog. I think it's because they aren't structured...

Anyway, coming on 18, I am going into my final year of school. With anyone reading this knows what it feels like to be stressed out the the max. If you know me, I stress about everything! But school, they put a heap load of pressure on normal kids, and that sucks!

Which brings me to another topic, the heat. That sucks also. Why do I have to live in Australia where the hottest summers happen here! Does Australia have a sign on it saying, "Sun come here, the people hate you but we don't care what they think."? I am a heat person but not when it is smouldering in a room, or outside where you get blinded just at the sight of light. But I am also a cold person, one that can curl up in bed with a hot chocolate and watch my favourite television show on repeat.

Being one of three, I am the eldest. I have a job, which I have had for nearly 2 years. If you are wondering, I work in a Pizza shop. Mmm pizza. I am also an assistant dance teacher, from kids that are 3 - 6 year olds. I couldn't think of anything better.

This is only just a quick post.

I have so much to write!

S x