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Abidemi |
Todd |
SEA Travels - Vietnam and Myanmar
Abidemi continues talking about her trip to Southeast Asia, this time talking about Laos and Vietnam.
Todd: So after Laos, where did you go?
Abidemi: After Laos, I flew to Vietnam. And actually I took the bus into Vietnam.
Todd: OK.
Abidemi: Yes. And in Vietnam, I traveled from the north, from Hanoi, to Ho Chi Minh City. But because my time was so short, I could only spend one or two days in each city.
Todd: Ah! What city did you like the most?
Abidemi: I think I prefer Hanoi the most. The food, the street food is amazing. It’s a very lively city, lots of motorcycles and traffic so it reminded me of Nigeria where I was born a little bit.
Todd: Oh cool!
Abidemi: Yes.
Todd: And what did you do in Vietnam?
Abidemi: I spent time in Hanoi. I also went to visit Sapa, which has a lot of rice terraces. So these are mountains where they’ve planted rice fields. So the scenery, the view is really beautiful. And you also get to meet the native people, the local people there. So I enjoyed it.
And then from there I went to Hoi An, which is a very historical city, very beautiful night scenery by the river. And then I went to Ho Chi Minh City but I could only spend one night there before leaving for Myanmar.
Todd: OK. And then, how was Myanmar? What did you do there?
Abidemi: Myanmar was my last stop. And I didn’t have so much time there but I managed to go—but I managed to visit some of the places I really wanted to see like Yangon, Bagan, and Mandalay.
I would say that Bagan was the highlight. They had many temples from the past and just seeing that many of them, it was very impressive.
Todd: That’s fantastic.
Abidemi: Yes.
Todd: So what country was your favorite?
Abidemi: It’s hard to say. They each have their own good points but I think I would definitely like to visit Thailand again.
Todd: Oh OK. Thailand is such a great place. Anyway, thanks Abidemi.
Abidemi: Thank you, Todd.
terrace
It has a lot of rice terraces.
A terrace is flattened hills that looks like steps in order to plant food. Notice the following:
- The rice terraces of Bali are very famous.
- Terraces help farmers hold water for their crops.
plant
These are mountains where they’ve planted rice fields.
Here, the word plant is a verb, and it means to grow plants such as trees, flowers, and grass. Notice the following:
- I planted some flowers in the garden.
- The hills are covered with planted wheat.
managed to + verb
I managed to go
When you manage to do something that means you are able to do it, even though you were not sure you could. Notice the following:
- Despite the traffic, I managed to get home early.
- I managed to finish my work on time.
impressive
It was very impressive.
When something is impressive, it is of very high quality. Notice the following:
- The ruins are very impressive.
- His salary is very impressive.
scenery
There was beautiful scenery there.
Scenery refers to things that make a place beautiful. Notice the following:
- I love the mountain scenery.
- The scenery is best in the fall
native
You also get to meet the native people
Here, native means having longer cultural ties to an area than any other group. Notice the following:
- They speak the native language.
- I ate lots of native cuisine.
Vocabulary Quiz
impressive • scenery • native
Related Video - One Minute English
About the Teacher / Creator
Hello, and welcome to elllo. My name is Todd Beuckens. I've been an ESL teacher for 25 years. I created elllo to provide teachers and students free audio lessons and learning materials not usually found in commercial textbooks.
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