Office: +84 2143 885 885 / Hotline: +84 914 697 345
general tips
Save all your documents twice (scan them with your phone or computer, take photos or make copies of them)
Bring sunscreen for the whole year (in Vietnam they have sun cream but with whitener)
Bring enough stuff for the cold season
Solid shampoo is a good way to save up space and weight in your bag
If you prefer hard toothbrushes you should bring more than one, because a lot of toothbrushes they sell here are soft
Bring your own medicine when you're car-sick (you will drive up a lot of steep hills)
Bring some fancy clothes because you will attend a lot of meetings and dinners
Don't try to know everything about Vietnam in advance, sometimes it's good to just go with the flow and experience everything on your own
Don't worry about being lost or without any friends, everybody that you meet or ask for help just wants the best for you and they always try to help you with your problems. So don't worry too much!
personal tips
Klara
“Learning to say NO is just as important as saying yes. A lot of time people will try to talk you into stuff that you wouldn't do on your own and if you don't want to do it just say NO. I'm thinking about the time when they try to convince you to work but it wasn't on your schedule, or in terms of eating and drinking. Be aware of your actions.”
frequently asked questions
Do you need stuff for the cold season ?
Yes, you do! It's hard to imagine that it will be cold in Vietnam but especially in the north there will be cold days where you need warm clothes. In Vietnam the main season is warm and hot so everything is customized for summer. Because of this there are no heaters, the houses are not insulated, the stone houses store the cold and the floor is tiled. That's the reason why the outside temperature is the same as the inside and 15 or 18 degrees feels very cold.
What's the best way to connect with other people ?
There are many ways to connect with other people and we can only answer this question based on our own experiences. But for sure you will meet a lot of new people, you will get invited by many people and everybody will be curious about you. Naturally during work in your schools you will have contact with a lot of local people and everybody will be excited to meet you. Besides that when you live in GEL there are other foreign teachers that you can connect with. If you always try to be open to everybody, friendly and you want to bond with someone there will be infinite ways to get friends. We also found a lot of new contacts during sports like football, badminton, volleybal,...
Where will I live ?
When you want to know more about the topic accommodation, just go to this page: ABOUT GEL
How is the transportation in Lao Cai ?
In Vietnam everybody has a motorbike, thats the way of transportation that everyboy uses for the daily live. We as volunteers also used motorbikes because without motorbikes every way would take us ages and its just inconvenient to walk.
What are the 10 best places to visit in Vietnam ?
Ninh Binh
Ha Long Bay
Sa Pa
Hanoi
Hoi An
Ha Giang
Cat Ba
Ho Chi MInh City
Nha Trang
Da Lat
How about food in the accommodation?
We don´t know how the food is supplied if you live in the school or when youre at a host family but we can talk about the food in the GEL house . In our case we cooked for ourselves but there was the option that they arrange a cook for us. We just planned our food for one week and bought everything at the market or in the supermarkets. The kitchen has everything you need and in the supermarkets you get everything you want.