What a rollercoaster ride the reporting trip to Vietnam was! And when I say rollercoaster I really mean it - there were so many ups and downs - one minute I was managing to conduct an amazing interview in a beautiful hut in a remote, traditional Vietnamese village, the next I was lost and well and truly alone in the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City at 11pm with no idea where the hotel was or how to go about trying to get there. Emotions were high, storied were unique and once-in-a-lifetime experiences were had - the trip (all in all) was a definitely a success.
A group of 10 students, 1 lecturer and 2 tutors travelled to beautiful Vietnam from the 18th to the 29th of April to report as foreign correspondents. We visited the busy and compact city of Ho Chi Minh, the spacious beach-side town of Danang, the tourist and fashion hot spot Hoi An and finally, Hue - a city with tall buildings as well as remote fishing villages (and home of the now infamous bar, 'Brown Eyes' - a place I can only describe as a Vietnamese replica of the Down Under bar in Brisbane...).
Read our stories here at: www.uqinvietnam.com
I can honestly say going on this reporting trip to Vietnam was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences in my life so far. Of course, we all had our breakdown days, we got lost and some of us got food poisoning; but we all met amazing and interesting people and created many unique and insightful news and current affairs stories inspired by Vietnam.
Stories topics were extremely varied, they included Vietnam's stance on homosexuality, ex-Viet Cong soldier's wishes for peace, the elimination of malaria, the culture of weddings and marriage in Vietnam, world-class vet science programs, climate change, childhood poverty, attitudes towards breast-feeding and many, many more.
The group we took was also varied, but everyone worked well together and helped each other through their ups and downs. Beer was extremely cheap (too bad I can't yet stomach the taste, I was the kid at the table with the Diet Coke), the food was amazing at most places (and vomit inducing at others). I have to say usually I cannot stand Hungry Jacks, but the visit to Burger King on the last day at Ho Chi Minh airport was perhaps the most glorious meal of the trip. As a group of 13 Australians loudly rejoicing in the classic 'chips and a Whopper' combo we certainly drew attention from Vietnamese onlookers...
Over the 10 days we went in groups to interviews with very interesting and welcoming Vietnamese people, we also met many Australians on the way who were a great help. After gathering content all day we edited through most of the night (most of us considered 3 hours sleep to be a luxury by the end of the trip). Vietnam offered so many differing experiences; we visited remote fishing villages in Hue where children played soccer in neighbouring vegetable fields, traveled to rice paddies and buffalo farms on an all day bike ride around Hoi An (I can't say I recommend biking along Vietnamese highways), swam in pristine beaches in Danang, found one of the most amazing and typically Australian bars/clubs in Hue, bartered with varying degrees of success in Ho Chi Minh City and dodged traffic EVERYWHERE!
By the 29th everyone had an impressive range of video, radio, photo and print stories that they were rightly proud of. We started the trip absolute strangers and arrived back in Australia as friends. It's hard to describe such an intense, immersive and intercultural experience in a few short words, but I hope by seeing our stories you can get a taste of all the amazing people and places Southern Vietnam has to offer.
I cannot wait to travel back to Vietnam as a tourist and further explore this eye-opening, friendly and truly unique country.
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