Goooooooooood Morning Vietnam!
Since 4am yesterday, the team has already experienced
hardships, turmoil and frightening encounters. However we’re sitting in a youth
hostel in the bustling city of Hanoi and I’m guzzling a breakfast of pancakes
and honey so we’re all safe and happy and ready to go on to our project.
You (Parents) left us in George Best City Airport, not
knowing what to expect just like us, preparing for the emotional battle of
missing your dear children for three whole weeks. I however, was trying to stop
myself from dying from a mind splitting headache, so my father got a hug and
was sent back to his bed. The first flight out of Belfast was quick and clean
and we made it to the busy hub of London Heathrow. When we saw the monstrosity
of a plane we would take for the eleven hour flight to Bangkok (And as Patrick
D’Arcy keenly reminds us all too often that it was an Airbus A380) we knew that
it was to be a long ordeal. We sat on the beast in our colourful chairs,
getting to grips with the endless amount of movies, music and features of the
little TV we had at our disposal. It’s needless to say, with us being teenage
boys, (Ed. Not all of us ) we were content for this world-wide voyage. We
landed in a new world, but we had no time to marvel. We rushed through the airport
as a wave of rucksacks and busy chatter to catch our final flight. This was
spent mostly sleeping, most of us still in the same consciousness as when we
left. Then finally….. we had arrived. And it was humid….. and overcast. Just as we were ready to begin
we hit a problem. The transport had not arrived. Therefore for the next hour we
sat, slept and some of us played cards which was a great source of amusement to
some of the locals passing by. Finally we were on the bus and we arrived to our
hostel. We walked around and started to see our surroundings. The traffic was
chaotic, no laws or patterns. Buildings we had never seen the like of were high
above us and street vendors pushed their home made merchandise. We split into
groups for lunch and went in search of new tastes. My group found a wee family establishment
and we tried two of everything and it was delicious! The owners were lovely and
homely and served with a genuine smile. As we arrived back at the hostel we
were assigned our rooms and proceeded to go and unpack and shower, as we were
all a bit wiffy. Dinner was a Mexican feast of fajitas and fruit (Ed. Hostel
special). We were given the option to go to the local market or to turn in for
the night which I took gladly and was out like a light and now I’ve had a
twelve hour sleep and we’re all packed and ready to go for our project.
We’re all here, safe and happy and it’s time to go and see
this far-away corner of the world.
Robbie Marrs
Ed. Hi Parents and Friends….Not sure how much wifi/internet
use we will get over the next few days so please do not worry…we will of course
post when we can. The boys are all good
and ready for the trip ahead….may be a little tired J We will up load photos later...
great to hear you have all arrived safely.
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