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Showing posts with label Mai Chau. Show all posts

27 April 2011

Mai Chau!

A few photos from our bike trip to Mai Chau earlier this week - it was Iain's fourth time there and my third, and I'm happy to say that it's just as awesome as it always has been. This was the second time I've gone there from Hanoi (the other time was on the loop back form our bike trip) and I definitely love the drive out - you pass through some seriously crazy truck-congested Hanoi roads through scenery that just gets prettier and prettier before you finally end up here:

The drive to Mai Chau marked my first attempt at driving on a motorbike since returning to Hanoi. I was incredibly relieved to find it still as much fun as it used to be, and no more harrowing than it was when I left - which is to say, a bit harrowing while dodging trucks trying to ovetake buses on the wrong side of the road, but nothing too traumatizing. I am definitely extra excited for Iain and my longer bike trip in two weeks.

I was also weirdly excited about roadside pho...

... and roadside coffee breaks! Roadside coffee breaks are probably one of my favorite things about bike trips, since you can sit back and take in more of the scenery than you do on your bike. Also, any excuse to drink yet more cafe sua is always welcome.

Mai Chau itself is one of my favorite places in Vietnam. We never do very much while we're there, just relaxing and taking in the scenery. As before, we stayed at Guesthouse Number One in Lac Village, where, amazingly, the super friendly owner Hoa actually remembered both me and Iain from our previous visits. If anyone going to Mai Chau doesn't already have a favorite guesthouse, I definitely recommend Hoa and Thu's place - I can't think of a nicer place to sit back and watch the rice grow.

We ♥ Mai Chau.

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31 July 2008

Mai Chau, Part Three

A rare non-sunny day in Hanoi; was woken up at six by the sound of rain pounding on the windows and - as always happens when it rains hard - the drains in my bathroom bubbling ominously (whenever it floods, the bathroom fills up with mud despite the fact that I live on the second floor). At any rate, there was no mud this morning, so the rain couldn't have been that bad, and I'm at Cafe Smile theoretically preparing for classes but really just playing on the internet. Work this week has been busier than usual - I have three classes every day, which is the most packed my schedule's ever been, but I love my students, even the bad teenagers (who stopped drawing penises on everything). My classes are mostly adults of all levels, though I have two teenage classes (yesterday we sang a Hilary Duff song SIX TIMES; no one warned me teaching could be so harrowing. Also, do you know how hard it is to invent follow-up questions about the deeply concealed meaning of her lyrics?) and one classes of tiny, ridiculously cute kids who speak extremely limited English, which means we play a lot of Simon Says, and color a lot, and then I bribe them with candy to take their midterm.

At any rate, a few more photos of Mai Chau: aside from the drive itself, the town of Mai Chau was probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I lost a sandal swimming in the river and my helmet was stolen off my bike, but it was the most fun I'd had in a long time and these pictures in no way do it justice.

left: lots of bricks; right: cutting through a paddy.

Rice paddy ducklings!

30 July 2008

Driving to Mai Chau

Mountain cow.

A few more photos of the drive up to Mai Chau; I had never driven my motorbike outside of Hanoi, and it was the most fun I've ever had, on mostly empty roads through the mountains and rice paddies, I can't wait to do it again sometime.

Leaving Hanoi

Storm clouds over Hoa Bihn on the drive home. Amazingly, the rain wasn't that intense.

Kids on the side of the road who started waving like crazy when we stopped to take photos of the sunset.

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28 July 2008

Bike trip to Mai Chau

Sun setting over the rice paddies in Mai Chau.

I am, as ever, sitting at Puku Cafe abusing the free wifi and running late for work, so more photos of my awesome (if too short) motorbike trip from two weekends ago to come (I know I always say that, but no, really, it's too beautiful there not to show off a bit). I've been busier with work lately - I'll be up to six classes this week and starting work on Saturdays soon - but things here are going really great, as always - so great that I'm most likely signing another contract to stay here through February '09, as it happens, which will round out what was meant to be a 3-month stay into a full year and which means all of you have that many extra months to come visit (hint, hint).

Green everywhere.