Trying out this popcorn shop at the recommendation of Shaunna! I got the Garrett (Chedder & Carmel), Buffalo Ranch, Candied Pecan, and Butter. \240Let’s gooo!

We arrived. \240Finally.

The view from where we ate breakfast.

After breakfast we went over rules and expectations and soon after got our stuff packed from our rooms and met downstairs at 11:00am to walk about .5 miles to lunch. We ate a Vietnamese restaurant that had amazing food. I don’t know what I was thinking not taking pics of the food. I have to get better at that 😅. But here is the menu of food we had.

Menu at the first restaurant we went to for lunch.

I didn’t try the seafood items but from this list, the chicken papaya salad and Vietnamese pancakes were really so tasty! \240The Vietnamese pancakes were like these really thin puda (made out of chana no loat) with some chicken inside. \240The way to eat it was you take one piece of rice paper, put lettuce, thin cucumber slice, thin slice of pineapple, and thin carrot slice, mint leaves, cilantro leaves, and coriander leaves, and the put a piece of the pancake and roll the rice paper. \240Then you dip it in fish sauce (which I skipped) and then you eat it. So good and fresh!

Here are some pics of our walk to and from the restaurant.

After we got back to the hotel, we packed into 3 different vans and drove to the village where we will spend 3 days for our service trip. \240We saw some beautiful views of mountain peaks both far away and up close.

Being in Hanoi though? Total India vibe. \240The sound of the scooters, traffic, the beeping, shops along the street, and smell of burning diesel/petrol etc.

The route from our hotel to the village. (79miles).

After getting to the village we unpacked and got a little settled. I’m in a bungalow with my own bathroom and walk out patio that over looks a creek with a water fall!

The view outside my room.

Our service project is the build/pave a road which we start tomorrow (Friday March 22nd).

We met for dinner at around 6:15pm and in the menu was rice, spring rolls, pork, chicken, French fries, and watermelon. After eating, I crashed. I had a really bad headache so I took a shower and went to sleep.

Getting ready to get to work!

Students broke into 3 teams.

Team 1 was mixing concrete with rocks, water, and sand. This involved students using shovels to pick up rocks and sand and put it into the concrete mixer. One of the local villagers was dumping the bags of concrete into the mixer and the water. \240

Team 2 was using the wheel barrows to transport the mixed concrete to the area where the road was being paved which was maybe about 100 feet away. \240

Team three was paving the road to make it nice and smooth.

Our starting point.

End of day 1

And finally, \240Dinner is served.

After finishing the project we got cleaned up and played this game called Nuke’em which is like volleyball’s cousin.

Need to try this hot sauce!

View on the way back to Hanoi

After getting back we checked into our hotel and soon after walked to a restaurant to eat dinner and then go to a night market. \240I was able to find some good deals after negotiating and I’m hoping we can find some mire time for shopping.

This cafe was very very popular amongst locals and young people. \240Yesterday there were tons of people here sitting outside but we didn’t have a chance to go. \240Next time I come back to Vietnam, this place is on the list