Although I only spent a few weeks at this small family run hostel I felt that I learned a lot. My daily chores were few, mainly interacting with guests, teaching people to drive motorbikes or helping at the reception desk. But they gladly took me in as part of their family and we all sat down together for lunch and dinner everyday. Vietnamese are a tough type of people, seemingly working for life and don't long for a holiday like ourselves. During the last few weeks the staff arose at 6.30am daily and didn't get to bed until before midnight with only a short break for a siesta in the middle of the day. They didn't have days off or even a few hours to themselves, so days turned into one and suddenly the weekend was meaningless. They were a gentle family and extended cousins and grandparents all seemed to chip into the smooth running of the hostel and restaurant. The Vietnamese are a very happy bunch of people and seem to enjoy the little things in life, finding joy in the people around them. Although they had little, the generosity of the family was overwhelming, sharing everything they had with people they had just met. The food was a highlight of my time here, with a vast array of different dishes for lunch and dinner. They offered me pancakes for breakfast but after a couple of days on the trot I realised I'd be as fat as a fool in no time so found a bag of rolled oats and made myself porridge instead. They found my vegetarian diet a little strange and often tried to sneak a bit of meat into a dish and pawn it off as tofu. I soon learnt to check the dishes thoroughly before digging in! Meals were shared around a small table sitting on the floor, a small bowl of rice and chopsticks in hand, sharing the plates of food between us. I quickly managed to control the chopsticks, although they often laughed at my desperate attempt to pick up some vegetables.

During my time off during the day I spent time teaching English to the 17 year old cook; Fuh. She came from a ethnic minority community called Nung people, her family too poor to send her to school any longer so she started work at the hostel at the age of 16. She was eager to learn and we had many a conversation through Google translate when I wasn't teaching her. Guests came and went, some staying for a few days and I sometimes joined them for afternoon trips. After five weeks travelling I was glad to stop up and have a base, taking the opportunity to do yoga again and read or write.

I spent one morning visiting the local orphanage with an organisation here called The Ha Giang Project - Check out 'thehagiangproject.org'. The orphanage is especially for children of ethnic minority groups and children cannot be adopted internationally unlike usual Vietnamese orphanages. The children are enrolled in a full programme which readapts them into their own communities once they are of age. The charity has done absolute wonders for the past few years, working on renovating the rooms, creating a sustainable farm with their vegetables and animals and a multitude of other projects including gathering educational supplies, toys, and clothing for these children. When we arrived the 70 children at the orphanage came running up to Doug, whose been volunteering there for three years. Within a few minutes they were climbing all over us, hugging us and playing games, desperate for some individual love and attention. We spent the few hours there teaching English through a mixture of games, all the children eager to engage and learn. While we were there they also had a visit from Buddhist Monks who arrived with lots of food for them. Although i was reassured the food is of good quality, The quantity wasn't sufficient. The orphanage only receives $1 per day per child which doesn't even cover food costs. The age group ranged from 3 - 16 but they teenagers were very underdeloped from being malnourished, none of them taller than my shoulder height. It was hard to see but I was glad to be able to help them by teaching English. After feeling a bit unsettled about the idea of so easily walking into an orphanage I read up on the consequences of short term volunteering in them and realised the detrimental effects of short term volunteering on the orphans completely outweigh the benefits of teaching English etc. Embarrassed to not have realised this sooner I vowed not to visit one again.

I visited the local general hospital where Liem, the owner of the hostel's brother worked as a consultant in the emergnecy department. He showed me around the emergency department & we spent an hour or so discussing the healthcare system in Vietnam. Himself and his colleague were frustrated with the poor equipment and lack of skills. Patients lay 10 to a room, with no air conditioning, and no curtains or dividers between beds. Trolleys were simple, some didn't even have a mattress, just a basic bamboo sheet to lie on. It was a world away from St Luke's Hospital where I worked in Dublin. 

On the 24th of June, the province of Ha Giang suffered the worst flooding in history caused by heavy rain and a burst dam. Over 20 people died. Floods pulled down 200 houses, damaged 600 and have submerged 1500 others. More than 3000 acres of rice or crops were destroyed, washing away 200 cows and 6000 chickens or ducks. Total damage was estimated at 17 million euro here in Ha Giang and the neighbouring province. The affects of this natural disaster were horrendous, entire villages whiped away leaving nothing behind. The Red Cross provided clean water, food, clothing but each family only received a mere €100 per person from the government. This won't even scrape at the surface of what they have lost. The majority of the people affected come from ethnic minority groups who had little to begin with and then we're left with nothing. The family that I'm living with had many connections whose entire home and livestock had been washed away. I felt I couldn't leave without doing something so I organised a fundraiser for these families. In Lung Tam Village through To Fund Me online and managed to gather €1700.

On the morning of July 1st we travelled to Lung Tam village, only 50km from the main town of Ha Giang yet it took us over two hours to drive there because the roads were left in poor condition. Everywhere we looked landslides caused by the heavy rain and burst dam had rolled down the mountains. When we arrived in the village we were brought directly to the shelter where ten families now resided. It was a basic brick building, no bedding or cooking facilities to be seen. Families were crowded outside awaiting their share of rice, food and other resources. We met a representative from each of the ten families who lost their entire home in the floods. Nine of the ten families were given 3,000,000 VND (€112) in cash each. The tenth was given the remaining 7,700,000 VND (€287) who also lost his wife and child leaving him with their 18 month old baby. The rest of the money which was donated late was brought The following week by my family in Ha Giang. The money will go towards rebuilding their lives, towards the building materials for their new homes & basic necessities for their young children. They brought us to where their homes once stood, nothing left but rocks. Children bathed in the new rock pools and families washed their clothes in the newly formed streams. The devastation caused was surreal but there was a strong sense of resilience in the people and we left knowing that the strength of the community together with the money donated will pull them through this disaster.



I noticed lots of differences in their culture these last two months, it would be impossible to note them all but some of the most striking were the following. Dogs are a common sight, whether pet dogs, guard dogs or those bred for consumption. They didn't seem to have the same affection for dogs here, possibly because they are commonly found on the menu. Driving is incomparable. Rules of the road are a mere suggestion as the cars and motorbikes seamlessly intertwine. Orange lights mean speed up and red lights can be broken when taking a right turn. The horn is like a third brake here, with buses and trucks commonly overtaking on the bends only to warn oncoming drivers with their horn. The day seems to start a lot earlier here, the streets and markets are busy long before the sun has risen: life starting at 5am or go to Saigon in the South, where the city doesn't sleep. The alcohol is different too. Although the Vietnamese can give the Irish a match for their money when it comes to having a few beers, their love of rice or corn 'wine' is something that sets us apart. The wine that is better described as liquor is served in shot glasses, before during and after the meal. Made from fermented sticky rice and often infused with exotic ingredients, such as herbs and flowers, rice wine is almost as common and widely consumed as tea is some parts of the northern highlands. It’s not unusual to find a bottle on the table at breakfast in the countryside. It's a bewildering country, the length of it comparable to the distance between London and Madrid so of course differences are striking. From language to landscape or climate to culture, the list is long and fascinating. I'd recommend anyone to travel to see this country, it seems to have something to meet everyone's interest or budget. Next stop Laos!