T-minus 4-days to Vietnam!

I sit here today in anticipation for this incredible trip that Kyle and I will embark on in less than a week!

These last four months have been a whirl wind of trip prepping, regular meetings with the team, working our day jobs and all the while trying to rock our studies. I have a few more tasks to complete, but it feels awesome that all this intense preparation will be worth it once we have arrived in Vietnam, where we will actually get down to business in Hanoi and Lao Chai.

Neither Kyle nor I have ever been anywhere in Asia before, and we are both so excited that we have the opportunity to experience Vietnam for the first time together. I am also super eager to immerse myself in a completely new culture.

However, with a new culture comes the risk of culture shock. So, I am currently trying to mentally prepare myself for the shock of a new environment but from what people tell me the culture shock may be inevitable. I am now starting to believe my best plan of action is to just try and relax and enjoy this adventure! Although, to keep a bit of the homesickness at bay, I’m bringing a few things with me that will remind me of my life in Vancouver. Check them out in the picture below!

A few of my favourite things. 

Keep an eye out for my next post upon arrival into Hanoi to get our first impressions of the country. Until then, wish us luck on our 24 hours of travelling from Canada to Vietnam!

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First Days in Hanoi

Talk about a whirlwind first few days! 

From our smiling faces, you would think that we are having the time of life, taking in the sights, sounds and experiences of life in Hanoi…. and you would be right! 

Everyone is adjusting well and we've been maximizing our time in the city with numerous activities, meetings, and meals. Our first day was filled with sightseeing, as we cruised around Hoan Kiem lake and enjoyed a delicious meal of bun bo (noodles with beef, herbs and salad). With many photo opportunities along the way, we made sure to make our mark on this chaotic and energetic city. 

At the end of the first night, the team met up with our HOU counterparts, Ms. Que, Ms. Ly, and past student volunteer Trung, for an amazing meal at the Sen Tay Ho buffet. We were also fortunate to have a member of Vietnam's Ministry of Tourism join us for a toast. As some of the newer team members realized, Capilano University's Cross Cultural Tourism class definitely is important to our understanding of these meetings!

Tomorrow we're off to Sapa and we're spending the day gathering supplies, wrapping up some prep work and getting ready for the night train. We'll be checking in regularly over the next few weeks so please make sure to follow us along on this blog and our various social media channels.

We now have Instagram, the highly addictive photo sharing site! 

As you can see from our feed, we LOVE sharing almost every moment of our adventure :)

Follow us at http://instagram.com/cbtvietnam!

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CBT Vietnam's roots. The story of the 'CIDA Project', Phase 1 and the volunteers that helped make it happen.

Projects like the ones Capilano University have been taking part in in Vietnam include the efforts of many people, lots of effort and a little bit of good luck.   In 1999, Dr. Geoffrey Bird visited Vietnam to assess the need for community based tourism training.  Living in Malaysia at the time, he was piloting training in CBT in Sarawak, working with the Canadian International Development Agency and an industry operator, Borneo Adventure.  A chance meeting with a representative of the Dutch aid agency SNV, Ms Annalisa Koeman, led Geoff to visit Vietnam in 1999 to explore potential opportunities for training. By 2002, he returned, along with Maggie O’Sullivan, Dean of North Island College, to begin planning with Hanoi Open University (HOU) for a five-year project.  Ms. Judy Storr, a Canadian based in Hanoi, played an important role in liaising with local officials and HOU, namely Dr Ngyuyen Thanh, Ms. Ncoc Anh and Mr. Dan.

The project was proposed to the Association of Canadian Community Colleges (ACCC), with the goal of alleviating poverty in villages through the development of sustainable tourism services.  The actual purpose of the project was to develop training and to build the capacity of HOU to deliver it over the long term. Funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) through the ACCC a five-year program focused on skills based training was created. To ensure sustainability a train-the-trainer model would be adopted and implemented in the programming. 

With funding attained, a team of five faculty and five students from Capilano University and North Island College visited Vietnam and, along with eight faculty and students from HOU, toured the Sapa region. The mission was to find two communities to pilot CBT training.While taking part in village-to-village trekking the team saw an opportunity for economic development through sustainable tourism.   The teams choose to work in two ethnic minority villages: Taphin and Tavan. The villages were selected for a number of reasons:  difference in experience with tourism, and different hilltribes:  one was Red Dao (pronounced zhao), the other Giay (pronounced zai).  By the end of the five years 3 new homestays would be set up in the Red Dao village of Taphin, and nearly 15 new homestays would be licensed in the village of Tavan. In total over 200 locals would be trained.


To stay up to date with the current project visit the CBT Vietnam Project website and / or "Like" the CBT Vietnam Project facebook page. 

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One Month Countdown!

One month countdown before the CBT Vietnam Team from Cap U board the plane to Vietnam! 

When the Capilano University team met last week our arms were just recovering from the visit to the travel clinic. Now with the shots out of the way and the rest of the necessary preparations from our checklists nearly completed we went full speed ahead with completing the itinerary.

The itinerary is packed full of things including; gathering supplies in Hanoi with the help from Hanoi Open University student volunteers and funding from PATA, riding a motorcycle to Tavan with a stop in Lao Chai, continuing with the CBT Vietnam project planning and building strong relationships with the Black H'mong communities in Lao Chai, taking the night train to Sapa where we will spend the week before we host the ladies of Ta Phin back on the night train to meet with tour operators in Hanoi. We also have an exciting pottery crafting experience planned in Ba Trang village, for these amazing women, that will ensure they return to their own village inspired with a special self made souvenir in hand.

Let us not forget that we have planned many meetings including community meetings and meetings with the Sapa Government, tour operators, teachers, and follow up meetings with the homestay owners and village CBT Management Board Members.

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Into the schools of Lao Chai

Nic and Ms. Huyen heading to teach at the Lao Chai Elementary School

After some great relationship building with the Lao Chai Elementary and Secondary Schools we were invited to come into their class rooms to teach the children. Nic Alder (CapilanoU) and Ms.Huyen (HOU) went to the elementary school where they taught English to two classes. The language in Lao Chai is H'mong. The children are learning to speak Vietnamese, and have only just began learning the basics of English.


Hard at work!

Rachael (CapilanoU) and Trung (HOU) went into the secondary school to teach the grade seven class. The children were eager to learn and excited to work on the team activity Rachael and Trung had planned. It took a lot of team work and communication, and the students performed above and beyond their expectations.


Trung and a student hanging the class drawings

Rachael, Trung and the English teacher, Mr. C.

The staff at both schools were excited to have us there and can't wait for the next CBT team and HOU team to come back. We are very much looking forward to our next opportunity!

Practicing their new English words with Rachael

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Phase 2 begins: First trip starts in 4 days!

The CBT Vietnam slogan for this month is: "if you're not running, something is wrong!" We're joking, of course! But seriously, Phase 2 of the PATA Foundation funded project in Northern Viet Nam is underway and it is going to be a busy one!

Returning to Vietnam will be Dr. Chris Bottrill, Dean of Global and Community Studies at Capilano University, Instructor Stephanie Wells, and students Jase Wilson and Taryn Bodrug. Once again we will be joined by Ms. Ngoc Anh (Vice Dean of the tourism faculty at Hanoi Open University - HOU) as well as a team of HOU student volunteers.

It is going to be an exiting, ground-breaking trip for our learners and community leaders in Ta Phin. We will be working on the following:

• facilitation of a business trip for 12 entrepreneurs to the big city of Hanoi;
• here our entrepreneurs will meet with private tourism companies to begin:
• partnerships will be created;
• and, negotiations will ensue.

Tourists to the region would usually book a hill tribe trekking tour that lands them in Sa Pa -visiting villages such as Ta Phin and Lao Chai for merely an hour or two. The home-stay operators from Ta Phin are collectively working towards creating packaged experiences where tour guides bring visitors directly to Ta Phin home-stays. This will be a fantastic development for our home-stay owners and the village of Ta Phin. 

In the village of Lao Chai, the CBT team will continue delivering training on entry level skills. Our goal is to help residents of Lao Chai to increase their capacity to pursue their own brand of successful community based tourism. This is not cut paste here - what works in Ta Phin can serve as a model for success but every case is different. The CBT team will sample what Lao Chai has to offer and connect with local stakeholders.

Our whirl wind two week schedule will start on Thursday September 27th and end October the 9th, 2012. Readers will not want to miss out on what is happening! Over the next few weeks we will be releasing new media and performing regular trip updates. 

So get onto twitter @CBTvietnam and facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cbtvietnam, let us know what you think! We want to hear your voice!

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Work, work, work!

Yesterday we had an exciting day again! Taryn and Louise met the Footprint family for the first time and we all had lunch together (some duck for good luck - viet?) in a restuarant that overlooked the Red River.

Following that meeting we had a great meeting with Ngoc Anh from HOU. We're all looking forward to working together in Sapa next week! In addition to working with Hanoi Open University, we are very happy to accept the invitation to attend this years graduation ceremony starting tomorrow!

Today we'll be working on honing our activity and lesson plans, and staying hydrated in the 38 degree humid heat of Hanoi - we are definitely not in Canada anymore!

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