DJPians in Vietnam Part 1 - Rural Vietnam
Vietnam was a blast!
For this year’s company trip we went to Vietnam, a country rich in cultural past, picturesque sceneries and really cheap souvenirs. We visited the beach, islands, jungle, countryside and the city – we wanted to see everything! We spent a total of 5 days in all. If only we had more time, then we could visit even more places and shop more!During the first few days we visited the rural part of the country. We spent the first night in Halong Bay, a small town in remote Vietnam. The second night we camped by the beachside (it was so awesome!) and third night at Cat Ba Beach. We have tons of photos to share. Here’s a peek at some of the fun we had throughout the whole trip.
DJP women arriving in style at Hanoi International airport. Mi Lin was only too happy to pose for the camera.
At Hanoi airport, boarding the bus to Halong Bay. It was a 3 hour bus ride! None of us were very tired. We were just excited that we were finally in Vietnam! As Paul so aptly demonstrates in this photo.
Just outside our hotel at Halong Bay, waiting to board the bus to the harbour. Neither me nor Mel has seen a peach blossom flower before so we thought we’d just take a photo.
The harbour was filled with junk boats apparently reserved just for tourists like us to go sightseeing. 
Our first ride on a junk boat! We spent nearly the whole day on the boat. We all sat on the top deck at first, then the captain got annoyed because we were constantly blocking his view and told us to go sit downstairs like normal tourists.
We bought fruits from this lady at the harbour before the boat took off. So we can have snacks while sightseeing!
Mi Lin wasn’t quite content to eat fruits only and wanted to eat up the fishing bait.
Naturally we took lots of pictures during the boat ride. We resort to all kinds of stunts. Here’s the ‘lie down to take a better picture and not block the captain’s view’ stunt.
Here’s a picture of us on top of one of the islands. We were so happy when we reached the top we had to take some victory photos. It was almost a great photo if only John wasn’t pulling my hat down. 
Finally a great group photo!
The view was really beautiful from the top. It is no wonder Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Halong Bay means ‘Bay of descending dragons’ in Vietnamese. The bay consists of 2000 of these limestone monolithic islands.
The boatride was so awesome. The weather was cool and, the sun was great. Since the captain didn’t allow us to sit on the top deck anymore, we decided to sit on the stairs and the front of the lower deck. Here’s Kelley imitating a scene from ‘Titanic’.
John’s self reflective shot.
John lazing around on the boat. It was a really, really good day.
Check out Evan’s ‘I’m too sexy for this boat’ photos. It was really good day alright.
Several of the islands at Halong Bay are hollow with enormous caves, such as this cave in the picture above. The limestone ceiling had pretty interesting patterns, they looked almost like man-made plaster ceiling but it’s actually the result of thousands of years of formation. The caves used to house prisoners in the olden days. On some walls we could actually see drawings and scribblings of the prisoners.
We couldn’t resist taking a few funny photos. The spooky yellow lights created just the right mood for scary pictures.
Then later in the evening we kayaked around Halong Bay to take a closer look at the islands. Tim looked like a ninja with that cloth over his face.
Beautiful scenery all the way…
Kayaking was fun, but kinda tiring. Din falling asleep under the stairs.
We camped at a beach on one of the islands. We had a campfire and told stories about our childhood.
Some of us wanted to sleep under the stars that night. How many chances do you get to sleep under stars at the beach?
The next day we stayed at Cat Ba Beach Resort. After breakfast we headed to town to do some light shopping. We decided to have lunch at this small café. Evan and Tim is seen here trying to force Mel to finish her meal pronto.
Later in the afternoon, we trekked through the Cat Ba National Park. The guide tricked us and said that it would be an easy trek with mostly flat ground. It was more like rolling hills and steep climbs. Nevertheless it was a good trek.
Evan having a little too much fun during the trek.
Along the journey we stopped to check out some interesting species of trees.
The guide also tricked us about the Frog Lake. As you can see the lake is dry and there are no frogs in sight. In fact I didn’t see any interesting animals or insects during the whole trek.
Finally, after a 3 hour jungle trek we finally reached the village. It was truly beautiful village, complete with paddy fields, small farms and straw roof houses.
The peaceful and serene landscape was really worth the 3 hour trek. I never thought I would see anything like this in my life. Reminds me of pictures from National Geographic.
The village has many of these thatch-roofed houses.
Most of the villagers are farmers who rear livestock such as chickens and pigs. Some even have small cafes to cater for tourists that come by the villages now and then.
In fact we had lunch at one of the cafes in the village. We were surprised to learn that the owner could actually speak Cantonese!
We thought all our walking was over. We had to walk out quite a distance to get to our boat that would bring us back to our resort. The scenery was really beautiful.
John trying to scare Mel with a dead starfish.
The next day we continued our journey back to Hanoi city. We first took a bus ride to the jetty, then a boat ride to another jetty and finally a last bus ride to the city. The journey took nearly the whole day! At every jetty there are small stalls like the picture here. They usually sell fresh clams. I was actually quite intrigued by the clams because they were spitting out water now and then. You’ll never know when they’re gonna spit out water. Stand next to one of the plastic pails and you’ll get your slippers wet.
Thus ends our journey for the first part of our trip. Stay tuned for DJPians in Vietnam Part 2 - DJPians in Hanoi.
Preparing packet loads of food supplies. 
The little something we did may not mean a lot but to those in need, it is God-sent. 