A Southeast Asian journey while uni is out. Part One: Hoi An

Students have the best and the worst deal. We have oodles of free time and yet that time should be filled with studying. Intellectual investigation. Essays. Short tests. Exams. Assignments... and yet we want the social life, gourmet treats and the never ending travel experience.

Erasmus gives us one way to travel. A semester abroad here or there. But there are other ways to work and earn while traveling... Especially during uni holidays.

I work as an expedition trip leader taking secondary school children on expeditions worldwide. This year our destination was Southeast Asia, so I cast aside Scandinavia and it's summer season for the heat and humidity of Vietnam.

Hoi An

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Hoi An is a city of lanterns, silk, leather and, while I was there, the festival of the full moon. The old town is delightfully designed alongside the Thu Bôn River with age-old temples of polished hardwood and bustling modern markets with the ubiquitous motorbikes buzzing ceaselessly through it all.

Hoi An is a UNESCO world heritage site with a history as a 15th century trading port. Many parts are still well preserved and fascinating to wander through.

There are indigenous and foreign influences and there is no doubt that the tourist influence is large. Fairy lights lit up little rowing boats that took foreigners and Vietnamese alike on 15-minute jaunts up and around the Thu Bôn river while others used long poles with wire attached, placing waxed paper candles to float on the water surface in a hope to bring dreams true.

The old town was cordoned off to blaring scooters and we wandered aimlessly from ice cream crêpe makers to fruit and veggie stores and in amongst beautiful ceramics with dragonflies and owls depicted on them.

Local food stalls all had colourful plastic chairs and tables that had your knees about your ears as you ate. A design very clearly for the petite Southeast Asians. But the deep fried spring rolls, the noodle soups, the white rose dumplings and the chili flavours were divine - possibly even addictive... hold on was that the MSG?

The heat sapped our strength and the hotel swimming pool served as a midday refuge each day from the bustling city.

One afternoon we roused the energy to go to the beach, and with the hot sand scalding the soles of our feet we scampered into an ocean that we expected would cool us, only to find warm bath-water that served only to add salt to sweat!

Still, the sea was a beautiful blue and we were at the beach and this was called work... life must be good!

Hoi An is littered with guest houses and hotels. Everywhere advertises activities for the ever on-the-move tourist but I do wonder if mitigation measures are needed to stop the sheer volume of visitors from over-running the authenticity of the city's heritage, and the lives of the people that live between and within it.

Vietnam is mass tourism at ridiculously cheap prices. An ensuite room at $10 and a meal at $2 and all served with plastic bottles of water that fill every bin and roadside drain that exist.

Can a UNESCO world heritage site ban plastic bottles? As travelers there, we could certainly give it a go.

Wanting to work as an expedition trip leader? Here are some tips for Erasmus students:

• Do a wilderness first responder course - just 6 days.
• Do a mountain leadership course - just a week.
• Travel lots on your own.
• Apply to work as a leader for one of the many expedition companies... Camps International, World Challenge, Outlook, Secret Compass, Nat Geo Student.

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