Today we went on a flight from Japan to Vietnam. Once we landed it was whizz through immigrations,customs and baggage collection. We then got picked up by someone from our hotel who took us to our hotel. We checked in almost immediately and got given juice and cake. We were then showed to our room which was on the third floor. After we checked in we went for a walk to check the place out. Crossing the roads is like a video game. The drivers don’t stop and technically everyone is on motorbikes. You have to just walk out and don’t stop whilst hoping that you don’t get run over at the same time. We looked at a few markets then went for a quick drinks break. After that we went back to the hotel roof top bar then went out for some dinner. We had a traditional Vietnamese cuisine called pho. Which is these really thin noddles with broth meat and some veg. I didn’t really like it so only ate like three mouthfuls of noddles. We were eating in an alleyway with motorbikes coming past and some teenagers cooked the meal. It was very fun but that is how everyone eats here apparently. After that we stopped at the supermarket then went back to the hotel and stayed up for a bit then went to bed.

 

The next morning, we had a lovely buffet breakfast. Once our stomachs were full and our energy was charged we set off to the national museum of Vietnamese women which is based around women’s lives and what they did to get bye during when the United States invaded.  It was very interesting and made me feel more proud to be who I am. The clothing that was being showed about what they wore was very pretty and Hatty would have loved to try some of it on. One part of the museum you got to experience making the rice by using a model of the machine they used. You had to get a good ruthenium because it was quite heavy.

 

After that we went to the cafe we went to yesterday and had another traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Banh mi which is basically a baguette with cooked pork, salad and some chilli but Hatty and I didn’t order chilli. Everyone in the restaurant was a tourist not a single  local. Once we had eaten yet another traditional dish, we went home for some chill time then some blog and schoolwork.

 

That evening we went on a food tour trying lots of weird and occasionally wonderful food. We ate in the most random of places down alleyways and up stairs, places that we never would have found on our own. My favourites were egg chocolate which is really sweet, creamy almost marshmallow hot chocolate. My other favourite was some crab and pork spring rolls which I thought wasn’t going to be nice considering I don’t like crab but it was very nice. Some of the food we got from people in the street and looked a bit sketchy so I didn’t eat it.

 

The next day we got a two and a half drive with a tour to halon bay. We got on the boat and had lunch. I had lots of chicken and rice, lots of rice. Our first stop was to go kayaking through a tunnel land out into a lake. It was very peaceful if you went in the sun (because everyone else was in the shade) and some people were jumping in. It was very fun and I went with mum to even out the weight difference. Every time you paddled you would get some water dripped on your leg. After 30 minutes which seems like a long time but time but it went by very quickly. Our next adventure was a walk through a cave. It had three chambers and third one had lots of stalagmites and stalactites that looked like animals or people. I found one that looked exactly like the head of Neptune the sea god. The next part of the day was a swim in halon bay. We had lots of fun and I swung Hatty up and down and threw her around quite a lot in return for that she did a bit for me. Once the fun was over we went back to the boat and we got some biscuits and some coke. On the drive back we all fell asleep but luckily we were one of the first to get dropped off. We ordered a pizza then went to bed.

 

The next day we were on a mission to find thin long sleeve tops for the jungle, water shoes for walking down a river and swimming in the sea and getting crafty stuff for the kids in Indonesia. Finding the shoes and T-shirts seemed to be a problem in all the little shops so we gave up and got a taxi to decathlon where we found the T-shirts and water shoes. The shoes weren’t the exact size for my feet so I may have to were socks with them but that doesn’t matter. The T-shirts were very skinny so we tried multiple sizes before we finally found ones that fitted. By the time that was all sorted it was half past eleven so we went for a quick drinks break. It was very unsuccessful drinks break but afterwards we went to go on a VR rollercoaster simulator we saw but you had to have a local card not a normal card or cash so they wont be making much business. We found a crafty shop and bought some felt tips, pencils, stickers, crayons and ticker tape. We also bought a ruler for homeschooling.

 

Lunch was coming soon but first we made a pit stop to get a look at the street that has a train that runs through the middle of it. You had to pay to go on the actual street and track but we didn’t pay so we just took a  few photos then we were on our way again. We went back to the same place we went to the other day to have banh mi again it was delicious. In the afternoon,  we had a snooze then I had the best part of the day. I did a zoom call with my new form teacher and form class. I am in Pankhurst, the colour teal. I learnt that I will be in the same class as my BFF kitty. Also another of my friends Tilly is in my class. My teacher is miss Blaker who seems very nice and looks very young.

 

In the evening we went to see a water puppet show. It was amazing and the puppeteers were amazingly talented. The music was being played by live band that were at the sides of the stage. The only instrument we recognised was a drum kit. You could get an audio guide that spoke English but we didn’t because it was fun making up the stories in your head about what was happening. My favourite seen was  when this man was in the river trying to catch fish jumping about everywhere and he accidentally caught the lady’s head. It was very entertaining. But there was a person with flash on their phone that was a bit annoying. At the end all the puppeteers came out and got a big round of applause. For dinner we went to traditional Vietnamese barbecue restaurant but we didn’t do barbecue. Hatty had a different dish to the rest of us but mummy, daddy and i all had the same dish. Dad was very clever in saying that I have a mild allergy to chilli which I don’t but I can’t eat anything with spice or chilli in it because I absolutely hate it. After a successful dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed. 

 

The next day we had one last breakfast before getting a taxi to the airport ready to fly to Singapore. More when we get there.