ok, so I've been a bit lax wit the blog again... but with good reason, we've had a really busy (and quite stressful) week, and at the moment we are volunteering in Hanoi until the Saturday after this one, so not so much to tell day to day, but I do have a few things to update you on so here goes..

First of all, the day after I last blogged from Yangshuo, our last day in China, our attempt to cycle to Dragon Bridge was again thwarted as I spent most of the Tuesday night up and down to the loo, which is fairly ironic since I'd been great health wise for all of the rest of the time in China!!So we just had a chilled out day, did a wee bit of shopping and relaxed before we caught a bus to Guilin in the evening, went to the hostel we'd been told to go to by the travel agent we'd booked the bus to the border with and left our bags before going out for one last chinese meal, which I was pretty upset I couldn't eat much of as my appetite was complete gone and my tummy still not so good (I was a bit anxious about involuntary bowel movements on the overnight bus to come, so I had to pop some immodium for the first time in my life!!). Then we waited...and waited..and waited at the hostel for the bus to come, and at just before 11pm (when we were told the bus would come) the two of us, and the one other person who'd booked the same bus, an american guy in his thirties called Onlso, jumped into a van driven by a crazy chinese guy who kept beeping his horn at everything moving, and promptly brought us to a lay-by on the main road where he parked up...so far, so dodgy!!After another few minutes, he flagged down a big coach and gestured at the by now bewildered westerners in his car that we were to get on, and quick!!The bus was nearly full of only chinese people, most of whom looked like they'd been on the bus for several hours previously, and all of the 'beds' (basically really tiny reclining foam mattresses), including the empty ones had been used!!Jade and Onslo got beds, but I couldn't find one and the conductor gestured for me to squidge into the area at the back of the bus where 5 people sleep on one big mattress (and there were already 4 people sleeping there!)- there was no way I was going to spoon 2 strangers for 8 hours!!I eventually found another spare bed, which stank of smoke, and settled in for a really bad night's sleep...

We were woken at about 6am when we'd arrived at the border and everyone got off the bus to a chorus of electric car drivers trying to get us to take lifts to the border checkpoint. Vaguely aware that it didn't open til 8am, the three of us headed to a hole in the wall cafe for some breakfast, before catching a cart later on to the border building. By this stage, tiredness, illness, the heat and carrying about about half my size was having a pretty bad effect on me and I had to basically lie on the immigration forms where it asked about whether I had symtoms of illness, for fear they were going to try and quarantine me in the s***ty border town on the chinese side!!A short (but pretty hard for me) walk later through territorial no man's land, we got to the Vietnamese border building, and I stumbled through again but made it into Vietnam!!Onlso (who was originally from Guyana, is a US citizen and currently lives in Vietnam) runs an adventure and climbing company called Slo Pony on Cat Ba Island in Halong Bag (about 3 hours from Hanoi, we are planning to go there for a few days after we finish volunteering as apparently the scenery is amazing) and can speak a bit of Vietnamese, so after a bit of haggling managed to get us a taxi to the bus station, where we navigated ourselves to a bus going to Hanoi. Surprise surprise, things of course weren't as simply as we'd hoped, and the bus actually was going to take 7 hours instead of the 3 hours we'd expected as we were at the WRONG border crossing!!We weren't at the Friendship Pass, the most commonly used crossing for travellers, but in fact at Mong Cai, which is in the far North Eastern tip of Vietnam!!We didn't have any choice but to get on the bus, and to be honest I was just glad of a sit down and some air-conditioning, though we were a bit worried when Onslo informed us it would in actuality probably take about 12 hours to do the 7 hour journey!!

The time did pass relatively quickly, as I was falling in and out of sleep after two bad nights' sleep the days previously, and after several extremely dodgy toilet stops (for example one where people were literally squatting and peeing in the middle of the floor, and Jade and I had to pee shoulder to shoulder into a gutter running round the edge of the room, oh the humanity!!), we finally arrived in Hanoi, about 10 hours later!!Also, being the complete amateurs we are, Onlso was our Knight in Shining Armour, as neither of us had changed any money before we crossed the border, nor did we have any dollars (we'd tried to night before in Guilin and no where was open), so he kindly lent us money for the bus and taxis. We shared a taxi with him to where he was staying, though the taxi driver took the long way around and then proceeded to get lost, and then wouldn't accept the money we gave him, even though it was way above what we should have paid, as he wanted what was on the meter. He wouldn't open the boot to give us our bags, but after Jade went to get someone from the hotel to help us (who lent us the extra money, as apparently we had to pay him the full price), we EVENTUALLY were able to go and settle in to our room for the night, which was a double as the dorm room we'd originally booked had filled up (though they gave it to us for the same price which was good). After a quick dinner, and dropping off the money we owed Onslo to a nearby travel agent, we collapsed into bed!

The day after that, last Friday, Jade's boyfriend Chris, his sister Katherine and her friend Milla that she's been travelling with (Katherine has been away on a pre-uni gap year for about 9months) arrived, and we spent a really nice couple of days just chilling out with them. It was fun to be in a group, as although we are still getting along great we both miss having other people around, though what with still not feeling 100%, it did really compound the homesickness I'd been feeling for the few days before that, especially as with Chris around it was hard to ignore how much I miss Gary, as Jade got to have a brief spell with her beau that I was unfortunate not to be able to have. I decided to just suck it up and get one with it, no point moping about, so I made the most of relaxing for a bit, exploring the Old Quarter and the nearby lake until we said goodbye to the guys on the Sunday morning (they were heading off on a 1 night 2 day tour to Halong Bay, which we'll probably do when we go as it was only $25pp), then took the taxi the hotel had booked for us to our volunteer accommodation, which they assured us was 10minutes away...sure enough, three quarters of an hour later and the taxi man was still driving around completely lost, and we couldn't get hold of 'Mr Tung' whose number we'd been qiven by the company we booked the volunteering with, Real Gap, as the local co-ordinator. Eventually after we'd just given up, and were heading back to the hotel, the taxi man got through to him and got directions, though when we stopped we got into an argument as he refused to take the (very reasonable, considering he got lost) amount of money we offered him as he said the hotel told him the wrong address so it wasn't his fault, and insisted on us paying the full price on the meter... Hien, the local volunteer who came out to meet us, didn't know what to do and rang Tung, who told Jade that we should just pay him!!So, fuming that we'd just paid a ridiculous taxi fare when we were the ones who got screwed over, we headed to the Short Term Volunteer house.

It's pretty basic, with bunk beds and thin mattresses in the room, no a/c and only fans which provide minor relief from the sweltering temperatures day and night here, and a small kitchen area with no working fridge, no oven or microwave and a two ring hob, but it's our home until next Saturday!! We met some other volunteers though who are all really nice- Melissa (who's English and has been volunteering for a couple of months), Eda (who's Danish and leaving on Monday after 6 weeks of volunteering),Anna (who's Korean and just started this week, she sleeps in our room too) Amandine (who's french and has been volunteering three weeks) and Claire (who arrived the week before us, but had been travelling in Sapa with the others so started volunteering this week), as well as Tung, the Vietnamese co-ordinator (who even though he is 23, looks like he's about 12!) . Elspeth (Els), the other new volunteer who is from Hertford arrived shortly afterwards. She's really lovely and we've got to know here pretty well as we share a room, but after a long flight she was a bit overwhelmed and tearful. We headed out with the others to Papa Joe's, a western-style cafe in town, and ended up heading for dinner in a hole-in-the-wall buffet place and to the night market with Amandine and Claire (Eda and Melissa headed off for a week's travelling which they've just got back from), where we all got pretty dresses for the equivalent of about 2 pounds which was cool!!I think it helped Els to keep busy too.On a side note, the money here is really confusing, as a pound is about 30,000 dong, so everything is in ten and hundreds of thousands, and sometimes stuff is put in dollars as the dollar is a second currency so we've had to ge used to that quite quickly!!We got home and settled in to bed, but because it's so hot we all got a pretty crappy nights' sleep. It's not quite so bad for me as I'm on a bottom bunk, so the fan gets to me a bit more, but Jade and Els pretty much get no air movement in the top bunks, and having to use mosquito nets is a real pain (we need the outside door open just so we get some air in) as it prevents any breeze getting through too!! That night there was also a really loud thunderstorm (that's what we get for travelling in the rainy season!), which didn't help matters. We didn't have much to do on Monday though, except meet some more new volunteers, Sylvain, Manon and Anne-Lore (who are all french and travelling together) and Song (who's a Korean guy), and Tung gave us our 'orientation' which basically consisted of a power point presentation about SJ Vietnam (the charity that runs the volunteer projects , and has actually very little to do with Real Gap) and a couple of ice breaker activities. We took a brief trip into the centre on the bus to see the Youth House where we were to be volunteering (Els is at the Pagoda orphanage, but pretty much everyone else is at the Youth House), though it wasn't actually open as classes has finished, then we waited for about an hour and a half for Tung to turn up and take us to the 'fisher village' where the children all come from, but he was running late and it was raining really heavily by the time he arrived so we just went to another Vietnamese place to have our 'Welcome Dinner'. It was so delicious!We had fresh spring rolls (with pork and mint), duck, and a beef and vegetable dish with little fried puffy things, sweet potato french fries and iced green tea. Tung kept joking that we were eating dog meat though which was a bit unnerving!! After that the other guys went for a coffee, but Jade Els and I headed to meet Chris etc at their hotel as they were back from their trip and in Hanoi for the eve, and we needed to pick some Vietnamese sim cards up from them. Was cool to hear about their Halong Bay trip and see them again, then the three of us got a taxi (no arguments with the driver that time!) back for an early-ish night before our first day of volunteering.

We got up bright and early on Tuesday, and the 8 of us going to the Youth House (myself, Amandine,Song and Anne-Lore were put in 'Group 2' and Jade, Sylvain, Manon and Anna were in 'Group 1' with each group either doing cooking and cleaning or helping to teach on a day rotational basis) grabbed a quick breakfast of bread before getting the crowded number 31 bus and making the short walk from the bus stop to the centre. We expected the long term volunteer teachers to be there and be able to tell us what they wanted us to do, but only a few local volunteers who don't speak much english, and Hai (who lives at our accommodation and is a leader at the Youth House) were there, as well as the kids. There had been some crossed wires, and the vietnamese volunteers were actually supposed to be taking a vietnamese lesson with the children (who range from 4-16 in age, and get taught in two classes depending on their age), but hadn't understood that when Tung was explaining to them at orientation the day before so they weren't doing anything and neither of the two long term volunteer english teachers (sara who teaches the older kids, and Eureka who takes the younger ones) would be arriving until after 11, so basically the younger kids were running absolutely wild, the older kids were watching tv and wouldn't do anything with us as they were bored, and the 8 of us were all stuck in the middle, bewildered!!Great first day!! We just hung about doing nothing for the most part (my team should have been teaching as we were told there was an English lesson in the morning but there wasn't, and the other team didn't get to do much cooking as Hai is pretty much able to do it all by himself)until the kids got their lunch, then we got taken to have ours at a little noddle place down the road. In the afternoon, Song and I were helping Sara with the older kids, but the boy I was trying to help, Bang, is a bit of a trouble-maker and just kept swearing at me in vietnamese and mutterin under his breath which wasn't so great! The week before us there had only been two volunteers helping, who hadn't really been able to cope, so the place was really really dirty, and after the children left my group pitched in with the cleaning team to make the place slightly more bearable. The worst thing is that in Asia you have to take your shoes off before you go into a house, temple or school, so we had to be in bare feet, but the place was caked with dirt,one of the older kids had spat on the floor and the younger kids trample water and pee onto the floor after they've used to toilet, so I was feeling pretty physically uncomfortable. An hour or so later, sweating buckets and caked in dirt, we headed home, dejected and demoralised...

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much the same as that, with us suffering a bad nights' sleep because of the heat (and on Tuesday and Wednesday night we also had thousands of annoying flies in our room too), then having to head in to the Youth House, in fact Wednesday and Thursday were worse because there are so many of us that we were often just sitting about doing nothing and getting in the way, rather than actually being able to help the longer term volunteers and the children. on Thursday morning my group didn't have to go in until 2 as the English class of the day wasn't until after lunch, so I took the opportunity to speak to Tung about how unhappy Jade and I were with the situation, and ask to be moved to the Pagoda Orphanage, which is run by buddhist nuns, and is where Els is, as she said it was a lot better and there was more to do. The two of us went yesterday, and although there were far too many volunteers there too (with the two of us there were ten in total), there were lots of kids wanting and needing care and attention, so we are going to stay there for next week, which is good for the others at the Youth House as they might have more to do and get in the way less, and it's good for us as we actually feel like we can do something tangible to help out.

The whole situation has been pretty frustrating really, and we've both shed a few tears over it. It's also made me feel quite homesick again, not for Ireland but for my family and Gary, as in situations of hardship and frustration I usually turn to them for help and advice, but I'm feeling a bit better now. Els, Jade and I have actually moved into a hotel with air conditioning in the centre, just for last night and tonight, so we could get two good night's sleep instead of battling against mosquitos, sleep sheets and the constant and ever present heat. It's a shame to be away from the others though as the volunteers, and Tung and Hai, are a great bunch of people, but we'll be seeing them tonight for dinner and a night out (for Eda's leaving and Jade's birthday on Monday), and we've had fun with them throughout the week at the Vietnamese Culture evening on Wednesday night where one of the local volunteers made us a gorgeous meal of spring rolls (followed by dodgy bean flavoured jelly pudding similar to what we had in China), and another new volunteer, Stephanie from Hong Kong, taught us some hilarious games!We also went out on Thursday night for dinner in the centre, and then to Fanny's (the name has given me, Jade and Els endless giggles- I know, we're like children), which is an absolutely amazing ice cream parlour that does unbelievable sundaes. So, there have been some good times, but it's been a very emotionally draining week too!!The thing that makes me most annoyed is that in the grand scheme of things it's a bit s*** for us to not sleep for a few days and be a bit upset, but it's the children who ultimately lose out due to the lack of organisation. We did learn from Sara that the Youth House is in disaaray at the moment because they recently had to move from bigger premises after their neighbours complained about noise, so the building they are in at hte moment is woefully inadequate as it is really small, which only makes the problem of too many volunteers more acute. It's just such a shame that with so many people available and ready to help, we can in reality do very little as we're constrained by the lack of organisation and resources. That in itself makes me upset and angry, as Jade and I paid a fair amount of money to Real Gap, which is supposed to include a donation to the project, but the children at the Youth House have pretty much nothing at the Youth House, on top of coming from poor families where they have nothing. They get a hot meal for lunch, and have access to a shower in the toilet as their homes don't have running water, but all they have by way of stimulation at the place is the exercises in their exercise books that the long term volunteers painstakingly prepare, and even the younger children don't have any toys or proper games to play with. Sadly, it is similar in the orphanage, as the children only get washed maybe once a week and there aren't spare clothes for all of them, so they are quite dirty, and there are only a few toys and books for them to play with, even though they are based in the same play room everyday. It's heartbreaking to see actually, and has really opened my eyes. Places like the Hope Foundation of China are a real model to be held up of how it should be done (see my blogs from Beijing), as the Hills do an absolutely amazing job of looking after the children there and making them feel really special, but I guess it's hard when there just isn't enough available money to go around, and you are constantly fighting just to get a little something to go around. I will certainly be making a complaint to Realy Gap about what we've experienced so far regarding having too many volunteers and not providing adequate facilities so we can actual get a few hours sleep, and I would also say that if you're reading this and thinking of volunteering please take heed of what's happened with us and try to go directly through the charitable organisation involved if you can, I've certainly learned that lesson!!

Anyway, sorry it's not been a more cheerful one, but it's been great to just write about it all- quite cathartic really. Also, the only way is up and I'm definitely feeling more positive, looking forward to the week ahead playing with the kids at the orphanage, another week to travel to Sapa and Halong Bay (hopefully) then back to Hanoi for the following Thursday 24th when our boys arrive!!I can't wait to see Gary and go on new adventures together with Chris and Jade, I've been looking forward to that aspect of the trip ever since Gary got the flights booked so it's amazing that it's now less than 2 weeks away. I hope you are all keeping well at home, what with exam results, graduations, summer holidays and the World Cup (!!). Every day I think of home and all the pople I love, so look after yourselves until I get to see you again please!!

lots of love from Hanoi xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

p.s. Don't forget it's the lovely Miss Harris' 22nd birthday on Monday- if you have any birthday wishes then I'm sure she'd love a facebook message or text to 00447924243601 to let you know you are thinking of her.