Nearly a week in Vietnam and it feels like alot longer by the values that I feel I have learned, not to mention the experiences! The family running the guest house we arrived at in ho chi min city were our first taste of the beautiful and genuine nature of the Vietnamese. The lovely father introduced himself with a warm hug and spent much of his time, patience and humor teaching us some language essentials! These hugs later evolved into a gleeful chuckle before reaching out for a hug and stretch up for a kiss on the check everytime i would walk in.
We learned so much about the devastation of the war and had so much more of an understanding of the people after visiting the war museum. The pictures of the victims of agent orange, the chemicals bombed from helicopters by the us to destroy the civilians, left me with a heavy heart and alot of appreciation for my situation in life.
The next day was an amazing trip to the tunnels which the Vietnamese comrades built by hand to live in and survive the American bombs. Crawling through them was extremely claustrophobic even though they had doubled them in for the tourists! We were blessed by an amazing tour guide who had served in the war himself. He gave, in rather broken English, the most heart warming and inspiring view on how life should be lived. No books could top his simple philosophy that valued the power of simply smiling. This, he swore, could guarantee success in every aspect of life. He also wisely argued that a wide smile would be much more effective than throwing your money away at a beauty parlor! The way he told each heart wrenching personal tale of loss and tragedy gave me so much gratitude in the way that this man viewed his life; I vowed not to b****, complain or take life for granted. As we got off the bus he reminded us just to live life and enjoy every possible moment.
Last night we made our way to the Mekong delta and stayed with a family on the river, cooking us the most delicious dinner and showing us so much kindness. On the ferry there an older lady looked up at me and spoke to me like I could understand her. We just laughed and smiled at eachother and she continued to hold and caress my hand for the whole journey! Everyone is so friendly, waving and smiling as we rode down the streets. Grant took off to fly down a hill and was puzzled why his bike would not move.. 2 men had snuck up on him an held on to his bike!
There are so many experiences that I don't want to bore you with in detail so I'll stop there! Some other brief highlights - having tea and cake with a monk and staring out of the bus window in amazement at the pure and simple life of villages passing by. Just leaving this lovely river of floating markets and amazing fruit and continuing out way down south to an island famous for its clear beaches.
I hope you are all well, let me know how you are and what's going on!

Lots of love xxx