VIETNAM SERVICE & TREKKING

Spend a week trekking to three Hill-tribe Villages in amazing PuLuong Nature Preserve

Welcome to Vietnam
Come join us on a service adventure that will carry you from rural villages hidden deep in the mountains to the bustling city of Hanoi during an immersive week exploring both sides of this fascinating country. Vietnam is a country of contrasts, where traditional culture runs up against the frenzy of modern life. You will leave this program with a great understanding of both the lives of rural people and a great feel of this fast-paced yet traditional northern capital.

Rural Tribal Immersion
Outside of the glittering cities of Saigon and Hanoi, Vietnam's landscape melts into a sea of green rice fields punctuated by small hamlets that are home to friendly villagers, laughing children, and a peaceful way of life far from the bustle of modern society.

Your trip will begin as you journey deep into the rural countryside of Vietnam. Just a few hours outside of the city, you will feel as though you have entered another world entirely. For our traditional home-stays we will travel high into the mountains of PuLuong Nature Preserve, where ethnic minority villages are scattered throughout the jungle. This is a rural place with towering cliffs, dirt roads; homes built on stilts, and terraced rice fields galore. Here you will become fully immersed in rural life as you move in with a family, share meals with local people, and give back through rewarding and meaningful service.
Your home stay accommodations will be basic (expect to sleep on a mat under a mosquito net) but comfortable and clean. Each family will host about five students, and they can't wait to meet you! They will introduce you to the kids (who will be your new best friends after a few short hours!), show you around the village, and teach you a few words of Vietnamese. You'll be living like a local before you know it!

Your service projects here will most likely focus around the village children. You may hold impromptu English lessons, help out with maintenance at the small village school, or sing songs and play educational games with them. You also might have the chance to head out into the fields and try your hand at nurturing Vietnam's most important crop – rice! In the evenings you can join in village-wide games of soccer, practice your Vietnamese with your host brothers and sisters, learn to cook the local cuisine, and let yourself groove into this relaxed pace of life. After just a couple of days, you will have become a part of the village!

Mountain Trekking
Get ready for an adventure, as we'll be hiking through the jungle to three different Hill-tribe villages. We will take plenty of detours to appreciate the beauty of the rich nature surrounding us. Our journey ranges from easy to moderate trekking connecting us to the Tai and Muong villages. Be sure to check out our packing list so that you don't end up bringing too much. All students must be able to carry what they bring. You don't need any major backpacker gear; a simple backpack is plenty for all you'll need for the week.
After we return from the jungle, you will have time to explore the fascinating city of Hanoi. Check out the Old Quarter, where whizzing motorbikes, vendors selling everything from chicken feet to handmade leather shoes, and the intoxicating scent of the local cuisine will overwhelm your senses. You will also explore the Temple of Literature, learn about the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War at the Army Museum, and visit the Ho Chi Minh Museum.

Who Should Come?
This program is perfect for adventurous students who really want to immerse themselves in local life and experience both sides of this fascinating country. You can combine this program with our Amazing Vietnam program for the chance to see even more this fascinating country, including HaLong Bay! This program also connects with all of our other great trips in Southeast Asia. Questions? E-mail Vietnam@rusticpathways.com.

Day 1 (Tuesday) Relax and prepare for a world-class trip on Singapore Airlines. Prior to your departure, you will have received your pre-departure packet, which includes your Rustic T-shirts, airline tickets, and important contact information. Once you arrive at your international departure city, our flight liaison will help you get checked in to your international flight. Working with our flight liaison will be your flight leader, who will escort you all the way to Vietnam! Our flight leaders are most often schoolteachers or good friends of our organization who happily fill this role for us each year. Once you're checked in, feel free to relax and get acquainted with your new friends before boarding your flight to South East Asia!

Day 2 (Wednesday) Today is lost as you cross the international dateline. Fear not – you will get this time back on your way home.

Day 3 (Thursday) Xin Chow! Welcome to Hanoi! After you check through customs and get your Vietnam visa stamped in your passport, your Rustic Pathway's leaders will meet you in the airport arrival hall. Once we're all together and everything loaded into or van its off to dinner. Vietnam is known for its amazing cuisine and you can't go wrong with anything on the menu. Tonight we are staying in a hotel near the airport, so we can get a quick start out to our hill-tribe village in the morning.

Day 4 (Friday) Rise and shine for your first full day in Northern Vietnam. The landscape out the window as we drive through mountainous cliffs towering above lush rice fields is truly breathtaking. Up, up, up we go through the hills to our service village. The hill-tribe village of Ban Kho Muong is located inside Pu Luong Nature Reserve and is really, REALLY, off the beaten path. We'll stop for lunch at Mai Chau where we will also be able to check out a large collection of local woven textiles for sale, which reflect the different cultures of the minority Hill-tribes. You'll also notice all kinds of strange things, such as giant glass jars with cobras and large lizards distilling in them. Don't worry, we're not going to drink any but they sure are fun to take pictures of, sort of looks like a mad science lab. Over the hill and through the woods to the hill-tribe village we go. We are almost there now, and the van has taken us as far as physically possible. Grab your stuff and over the mountain range we go into our first village. We'll walk as a group to stretch our legs and breath in the fresh air. Once we arrive there is a freshwater creek that runs down the mountain where we you can jump in and cool off. Change into comfortable clothes and talk a walk around the village. The children will invite you into their homes and show you around. Our stay for the next three nights will be in these traditional hill-tribe houses. We have one for the girls and one for the boys. Each house has electricity and a hot shower with toilet downstairs. It's quite a comfortable accommodation, and a lot of fun, sort of like sleeping in a tree house.

Day 5 (Saturday) Good morning! The sounds of crowing roosters will let you know its time to wake up, unless we decided to eat them the night before. On the same note, if you're a vegetarian there are tons of fresh vegetables, rice and tofu to go around. After breakfast we'll begin our service projects. The schoolhouse could use some renovations and there is always plenty of work to do in the rice fields and gardens. There is also a small "town-hall" which we have some restoration ideas for.

Day 6 (Sunday) By now you've had a full 24-hours to get a taste of what village life is all about. Today we'll continue on our service projects. Afterwards we can swim in the creek, walk the buffalo to pasture, take a hike to the top of the mountain, or just hang out with your new friends teaching English and learning Vietnamese. All the words you can learn now will be a huge hit the further we go on our journey. In the late afternoons all the village women head out to collect small amounts of wood for cooking with that evening. Take a woven bag and walk with them, smiles are endless here and your work is very much appreciated.

Day 7 (Monday) Wake up and drink some hot tea on the balcony of your house while deciding how to best finish up your morning here. Add the finishing touches to your projects, take some group photos, and give out some high-fives to the kids as we get ready to head to our next village. After breakfast we will set out for the massive Kho Muong cave. Next we will continue on to Ban Pon Village for some lunch and finally arrive at Ban Nua for our final home-stay. (It is a 1.5-hour trek between Ban Kho Muong and Ban Pon and a 1-hour trek into Ban Nua).

Day 8-9 (Tuesday & Wednesday) Today we are heading back down the mountains to the city of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Tonight we will be staying in the historic Old Quarter and you'll sleep well after we get some well-deserved foot massages.

Repack your bags to accommodate for any souvenirs you purchased along the way and get ready to explore the history city of Hanoi, which just celebrated its 1000th birthday in 2010. After breakfast, hop back in our van and cruise down the tree-lined streets, over to the Temple of Literature. This temple was constructed in 1070 and served as the city's first university. Later we will check out the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and then wander through the Old Quarter for some shopping. We'll grab our last bite of Vietnamese food for dinner and finish off the night with a famous Water Puppet Show. This trip gives you such a wide range of rewarding experience you won't want to go home. From your heart-warming stay in the mountainous hill-tribe to making a difference for the local school children, your days will be filled with a sense of and accomplishment and wonder, not to mention your legs will be in great shape after our journey through the mountains!

Day 10 (Thursday) Off you go to continue your journey. Whether it's home or on to your next amazing destination, your time spent in Vietnam will stay with you for a lifetime. After hugs, and maybe a few tears, it will be time to say goodbye… Vietnam will miss you!

PACKING LIST

A quick note: Many students over-pack and sometimes have to pay for overweight bags on domestic flights. The weight limit is 15 kilograms (33 pounds). You'll have access to laundry at the end of this program, so you won't need that many clothes. We won't tell on you if you wear the same t-shirt twice!

Students also need to be able to carry all the items they bring on this program. We will be hiring a truck to transport our luggage for the long trek, but for all other walks and movements between villages you must be able to move what you bring. You do not need major backpacker style gear for this program, a moderate backpack will do. Wheeled suitcases are not recommended for this trip, as we will be traveling down long rocky trails and roads and through streams… but it is well worth it! Email Vietnam@rusticpathways.com with any questions.

Carry-on Luggage: A small backpack works best, that you can later pack inside of your larger bag if you wish.

Passport and Wallet
A photocopy of your passport
Sunglasses
A durable camera, smaller is better for this program
Camera charger and memory card
Journal
A good book
A pen

Checked Luggage:

2 Photocopies of your passport
1 NALGENE OR PLASTIC / METAL WATER BOTTLE (empty on the flight), you will use this every day.
Insect repellent with DEET, one bottle-PLASTIC BAG. If you are not sure what to buy, a product called BEN's BUG REPELLENT, which has 30% DEET works very well and is what many of us use. Most Outdoor Retailers carry this brand or a similar one.

Long pants - one lightweight pair (not jeans, as these are heavy and do not dry)
Shorts-two or three pairs (CONSERVATIVE PLEASE, we need to be mindful of the local culture)
Swimsuit
Underwear-7 pairs
Socks-7 pairs lightweight fast drying synthetic athletic socks are best
5 T-Shirts, tank tops, and or athletic shirts.
One light long sleeve shirt
Materials such as polypropylene and capilene dry fast and help you stay cool.
Rain jacket-lightweight, vented is nice
Sneakers- light, breathable, fast-drying and have good traction. (Cross-trainers or moderate hiking shoes will work, and bring one pair of sandals or flip-flops for walking around the village)

Personal first aid kit, several band-aids of assorted sizes
Double antibiotic ointment
Medical Tape
Preferred mild pain reliever
Sterile bandages-4-6
Ace bandage
Antiseptic wipes 10
Sunscreen (Pack in Plastic Bag)
Hand sanitizer-2 small bottles (Pack in Plastic Bag)
Watch / travel alarm clock

Medications - don't forget to let the staff know if and which meds you take
Travel toothbrush, toothpaste
Travel soap container and soap
Contact lens care supplies if needed

Optional Items:
Pictures of home, to share with the Vietnamese people you'll meet
A Deck of Cards
Vietnamese / English phrasebook
A bag for dirty clothes-this can be a mesh bag, a pillowcase, or trash bag, etc.
Allowance: $150-$300 The local markets have an amazing variety of crafts, clothing, and miscellaneous trinkets and shopping there is a real treat, so budget more if you're a big time shopper and less if you're a go light, less is more, bring home only the memories kind of traveler.

FAQ

Is Vietnam dangerous?
Granted, Vietnam has had a rough past but the country is experiencing a booming recovery thanks in large part to tourism. Both Hanoi and Saigon are incredibly tourist friendly. As far as the danger due to landmines, the areas where we will be have been thoroughly cleared and are very safe. Any area that is not safe is not approved for tourism by the Government or local Authorities. That being said, Rustic Pathways staff members and guides always take further precautions to ensure the safety of our students.

What is the route we will be traveling?
Students will fly into Hanoi and have their first night to get settled. After that we are heading north to the hill-tribe village of. We will stay four nights here in a traditional home-stay and then head down to the city of Hanoi. The airport is an hour outside of the Old Quarter, which is where students will be staying in hotel accommodations.

Is the trek difficult?
The total trekking time breaks down like this: 1-hour from our drop off point into our first village. We cross one stream, hike up and over one mountain on a wide path used by all villagers. Three days later we begin a 1.5-hour trek from to our next village for lunch. The grade is more difficult in areas but we will be going slow and sticking together as a group. After lunch it is an easier grade down into our final village for our last home-stay, 1-hour away. We will be stopping for water breaks, photo opportunities, and also to explore some mountain caves. We all start together and finish together!

Will I be able to talk to my child?
All our staff members in Vietnam have cell phones and are in constant contact with the main Rustic Pathways office. In the case of an emergency, we will be notified by our main office and pass any necessary information on to your child. Our students, however, are not permitted to have cell phones because these tend to interfere with group dynamics. Our staff members will notify you by email within 24 hours of your child's safe arrival in Vietnam. Students will have access to Internet once back in Hanoi if they choose to use it.

Should I be taking Malaria medication in Vietnam?
This decision is best made by you, your child, and your family physician. For up to date information to help your decision please visit the World Health Organization website (http://www.who.int/en) and Center for Disease Control (http://www.cdc.gov/) in addition to consulting your family physician.

Do I need a mosquito net?
We provide mosquito nets when necessary so no need to bring your own!

What should I bring?
Check out the packing list but please pack lightly! Remember that you are in charge of carrying your bag so the lighter your bag the easier on your shoulders! It is very easy to purchase additional clothing or items that were forgotten at home.

Where will we be staying?
The first night is in a hotel near the Hanoi Airport. The next morning we head to the hill-tribe village of Ban Kho Muong located inside Pu Luong Nature Reserve (northwest Vietnam). This will be a traditional home-stay and these wooden houses are very large and cool. We have one house for males and the other for females. Each house has a downstairs shower with warm water and bathroom. It is cool enough in the evenings for just a fan and each house is supplied with floor mattresses, pillows and mosquito nets. While in Hanoi students will be staying in nice hotel accommodations with a built in swimming pool.

Staff stays with students 24-7 in all of the accommodations.

Are there still spots available on Vietnam Service?
Yes! Please contact the main office at 1-800-321-4353 to find out about availability so you can come join us this summer!

Departs Tue	Returns Fri
19 Jun	29 Jun
3 Jul	13 Jul
17 Jul	27 Jul

TOURING + ADVENTURE

COMMUNITY SERVICE

LANGUAGE PROGRAMS

LIFE SKILLS

VIETNAM SERVICE & TREKKING

HIGHLIGHTS

TRIP DETAILS