We had to reach the airport by 6:30 in the morning and most Scouts, who were not willing to part, came with their parents. By 7am, all the Scouts had already
arrived and the Scout Leaders brought us to check in our luggage. Soon, we walked through the gates, got our passports stamped and were eagerly waiting to board the plane. We boarded the SIA plane and which took off soon after. It took 3 to 4 hours to reach Hanoi from Singapore and there was a 1-hour time difference between the two countries. The food that the plane serves was okay and there was even ice-cream.
We reached Vietnam at about 11:00am, Vietnamese time and met up with the
tour guide after checking out of the immigration. The tour guide introduced himself as Mr Ling and we boarded the tour bus which brought us to a restaurant where we had some traditional Vietnamese noodles. The soup was salty but the chicken was cut into small shreds and was very tender. After lunch, we visited a temple which used to be an university for the royal family, which the Vietnamese takes pride in being the first university in Hanoi. Currently, it serves as a temple for Confucius believers and also as a popular tourist attraction.
The next place we went to was the Ho Chi Minh Memorial. We were not able to enter the Memorial but we knew that many tourist as well as Vietnamese came to pay their respect, to the late freedom fighter that brought victory to the
Northern Vietnam communist during the Vietnam War. We visited a Shrine known as Lotus Temple and learnt about the story behind it. In order to go to Sapa, the next destination we are going, we had to spend a night in a train. The train ride lasted for 6 to7 hours and there was only one toilet in each carriage. We had a sumptuous dinner before boarding the train which left at about 9pm.The train arrived at 6am the next morning and we boarded a bus to a hotel.
Unfortunately, we were not staying in that hotel as we were only there to bath and have breakfast. We had to eat as much food as possible as we were about to trek 14kms to a village for home stay. We started trekking soon after breakfast.
The Sec 1s were not experienced and they had trouble keeping up so the seniors had to rush them and keep a watchful eye to ensure our juniors don’t get dehydrated. While trekking up the mountains, the cool fresh breeze and the great green scenery kept us company all the way. Of course, fatigue kept us company too, but we managed to overcome it in general. As Vietnamese depend heavily on agriculture, we saw many rice terraces along the way. Hills were cut into rice fields and pipes made of bamboo were used to transport water to enable good irrigation for the land.
Although it was a very challenging trek throughout, with some of the trails
rather narrow and muddy making it easy to slip and fall into the mud, we managed to finally reach safely the house that we were supposed to stay in, at around 12pm. We washed our shoes and feets before placing our bags next to the beds we were sleeping. The bed was simply a mattress with a mosquito net above to keep out the many insects that fly into the house at night.
The next thing we did was trek to the river to have a good swim in fresh pool. The water was extremely cold and the current in the middle of the river could sweep anyone of us away. But under the watchful eyes of our Scout Leaders, who were ensuring our safety, we had a refreshing swim and went back to the house to bath again in hot shower, just before nightfall. For dinner, they served us traditional Vietnamese food. Most of us have not eaten Vietnamese food and were not use to it. After a Scout’s Own led by the Scout Leaders, we were ready to sleep.
We woke up the next morning at 6:30am and had a simple breakfast of bread, biscuit and, coffee or tea. We packed our bags, thanked the host and left for the
next village. As it had rained the previous night, we were lucky to be able to walk on a road rather than the planned path which was too muddy to walk on. We trekked about 9Km, learning new campfire song as we walk and looking at the scenery. We stopped for lunch at a picnic ground and had sandwiches. We had to prepare the sandwich by ourselves with the ingredients that were given to us, such as eggs, cheese and chicken. After lunch, we continued our journey to the next village. We took a shortcut which was filled with mud, on which some of the Scouts slipped and our shoes became very dirty. We finally reached the
house at 4:30 pm and had to wash our shoes with a pipe and a sponge. After a bath, we walked around the village; to see what was village life in Vietnam was like, before trekking to another waterfall nearby the village. . We did not swim in that river but rather, clean our shoes and socks in it. Thereafter, we were served dinner which consisted of the same Vietnamese food we had yesterday but we had French fries made with butter as well. It tasted saltier than the normal French fries and had a buttery taste (obviously!!!). We had our usual Scout’s Own before going back to our bedside to pack our bags and sleep.
We woke up early at 4:45am the next morning in order to catch the train back to Hanoi. We had Vietnamese noodles for breakfast which were
rather salty. A jeep came to take our bags and the Scouts sat in a coach. The ride was bumpy but the views of the mountains were great. We reached a hotel next to the train station to have dinner. There were plenty of Vietnamese in the hotel as they were watching the world cup in the restaurant that we were having dinner. The food was better than the past few days and we had a great time. We boarded the train and spent a night in it just like the first day. We arrived at the Hanoi station at 5:00am and had a walk around a park with a huge lake. We had the
same traditional Vietnamese noodles as the first day and after breakfast, we visited a market. The market sells things like coffee filter, bags, shoes and Vietnamese coffee. You can bargain for the price you are willing to pay and the shopkeepers give special discounts when you buy more of their goods. After shopping, we went to the airport, bid farewell to our tour guide, and went back to Singapore.
Reported By,
Jason Tan
Troop Scribe
