Meeting our sponsored child (part 4!)

I really enjoyed spending time with M's family, in their environment, in the relatively deep countryside that travelling 3 hours out of Hanoi takes you to. 

So, it turns out that pineapples don't go 'peep peep', but chicks do...

Goat pen, Vietnamese style.

However, there wasn't enough time in the day to ponder the meaning of life in this peaceful interlude.  We had to be back to our hotel in Hanoi that evening, and it seemed that no sooner had we arrived at the pineapple field then we turned around and started to head back.

I think we were told that the pineapple field was near M's parent's cousin's house.  So on the way back we saw their goats, and passed by what I assumed was an outside toilet on the way to the yard of the cousin's house.

Quite a smart privy

On the way to the cousin's yard - no idea why they stack the straw like that!

When we got to the yard, the pineapples were topped and tailed and put into a sack to give to us!  We were slightly embarrassed by this gesture of generosity/hospitality, but didn't want to offend M's family by declining their kindness.  However there was no way we could take all the pineapples they'd offered us, so we compromised and accepted seven!  There was no way we could store them or prepare them when we got back, and they certainly couldn't fit in our suitcases, but we decided that we would worry about that later.

Where did you get that hat?

As we were leaving the yard, M's father offered Tom a lift on his motorbike.  No helmets, pineapple sack balanced on the bike between his legs, and off they went.  I'm sure this was Tom's favourite part of the holiday so far!

 So they went off first, and we followed on.... little expecting to meet a Manchester United fan on the way (the boy, not the cow)!  

As we neared M's house I took a last shot of it to remind us of how remote it was, yet how connected and small a world it is that we all live in.

After the walk, back at M's family house, being given tea and pineapple that had just been picked from their field.  Their neighbour was still drinking the rice wine, and Tom was worried they'd make him eat pineapple, which he doesn't like....

The final photo of us with M and her family (not her mum, she came with us in the taxi-bus back into town for some reason... oh yes, she plied Tom with a bag of raw sugar-cane as she thought he was too pale and needed some energy!)

So, although the day for us didn't end here, we still had to travel back to Hanoi, travelling the same roads we'd come on so as to drop off all the officials where we picked them up, this was the end of our actual meeting with M and her family. 

I hope the photographs speak for themselves, as I'm struggling to find words adequate enough to express how I felt.  Humbled and enormously grateful for the opportunity to meet with a genuine Vietnamese family.  This wasn't just another tick box experience of the Vietnamese tourist.  This was a wonderful opportunity to cross cultures, and build memories - on both sides.

Kat.