Cai Lay

“I drive you by motorbike from Ho Chi Minh to the site or we travel by taxi?

Wish you best, my good Alex!” - from an actual email

I‘ve been waiting for this reply for so long. Two years since I left Cai Lay and the two houses-

On my Junior year of high school, my class visited Vietnam to participate in a Habitat for Humanity project to help build two houses in Cai Lay.

The volunteer work was nothing too complicated. We built brick walls with cement and some of us painted doors.

My class fundraised for 6 years (since middle school) to participate in this project. Being a part of changing people’s lives felt like once in a lifetime experience and the connections we created with the families were special.

Two years after the team left off, I got to revisit the two houses we help build. They were beautiful.

Vietnam was the second country I visited during my “1 Month 7 Countries” trip. The first day when I arrived was tough. I lost around 200 bucks from a taxi scam at the airport, and please do not ask me how. I was exhausted from the flight from China and the incident was 110% my fault haha.

Being able to revisit Cai Lay was great. I spent the night at a local hotel and rode the bus back to Ho Chi Minh the next morning.