Goodbye Viet Nam and Hello Again Home

During my last weekend in Viet Nam I headed up north for a few days. I spent a couple of days in Hanoi to do some sightseeing. I decided to stay in the Sunshine Hotel to round out my other 2 hotels - Freedom, Dreams and Sunshine...it sounded pretty good to me.

I also went out to Ha Long Bay, which is about 3 hours away from Hanoi. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The limestone islands are covered with jungle vegetation and rise up out of the ocean. Ha Long Bay means “Bay of the Descending Dragons.” Legend says that when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend them. The dragons began spitting out jewels and jade, which turned into the islands, linking together to form barriers against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam.

Anyway, I spent the night on a beautiful boat, went swimming and kayaking at sunset and ate dinner under the stars on the deck of the boat (they were suppose to have tai chi in the morning, Will, but it got cancelled for some reason...so sad). I woke up to this massive storm at 2am because I had left my window open. The water looked so amazing swirling all around while the rain fell down and the lightning lit it all up.

As for my internship, overall, it ended up well. We’ve made some positive adjustments in some of the products and have 3 training programs running in 3 different provinces. I finished the informational brochure for area hotels, etc. and the product catalog. We’re currently working with Heifer International Gift Shop to figure out exporting issues. After we get a set protocol set with them, we’re hoping to distribute the catalog to some more organizations and eventually pursue fair trade certification.

I am back in the States now and indulging in lots of chocolate and Diet Dr. Pepper. I just wanted to thank everyone for reading my silly ramblings and for all of your posts and emails. You have no idea how much they meant and how much they made me smile. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you very soon.

Picture 1: Junk boats in Halong Bay. I stayed on one of them overnight.
Picture 2: Fishermen in Halong Bay.
Picture 3: Lotus flower at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi...the first university in Viet Nam.
Picture 4: The red bridge over Hoan Kiem Lake, which leads to the Ngoc Son Temple in Hanoi.
Picture 5: Dragons and incense in front of a pagoda in Hanoi.