Sarah Wallocki am currently sitting in a coffee shop in da nang, vietnam. i am working on my homework for my anthropology class on monday. on wednesday we were supposed to move into our homestays in hoi an, but due to provincial governmental complications our next two weeks got scrambled up and rescheduled. rather than staying with families and biking to class daily, now we are going to three cities in two weeks and continuing our hotel-based city-lifestyle. for me, it was not a huge adjustment because i came in with close to zero expectations regarding our accommodations, but many people were quite upset by the government’s decision to cancel our homestays and visit to the UNESCO world heritage site. considering, i am writing my final paper on ecotourism efforts, this tension is going to add an important and fruitful discussion to my paper.
we had an incredibly fun weekend- kayaking and boating and camping in ha long bay. known as one of the most beautiful spots in the world! i got to know my peers better. some cool stuff we have done and seen: a very nice bridge in da nang with a large yellow dragon wrapping around it (imagine that!), grilled our cuisine on a table top charcoal fire grill (rachel burned her eyes with hot sauce and we all cried a bit due to the intense steam/wind combo), beautiful beaches on the coast of da nang, decent italian food, many-a scenic bus rides accompanied by beyonce, clubbing in hanoi and meeting some vietnamese friends, exploring vietnamese gyms etc.
i am very thankful to spend the semester traveling and learning and seeing and doing. the days are going by faster but all is good and the weather is warm on the vietnam coast!
