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| Mol loving the scenery of our post-beach moto cruise |
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| Ho Chi Minh temple |
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| Walking up to Ho Chi Minh Temple |
We soaked up our last week of summer vacation.
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| Lounging in the falls |
On Saturday we rose with itchy feet. Molly identified the nearest national park to Hanoi and within a half hour, we embarked on our first motorbike-fueled day trip. The hour and 45 minute "fresh" air tour up to Ba Vi National Park on our long term rental wasn't enough to cool us off. We walked along a jungle path and soaked our sweaty skin in the first possible siting of a waterfall, hiked the 1000+ steps to the Ho Chi Minh temple at the top of a mountain, and again soaked in an expansive waterpark. The water park had multiple layers of pools and falls, only to be topped by a more intricate web of tree and fern lined pools and falls just up the road. My principal spent the entirety of Sunday here with his family. After sharing stories and pictures, neither of us seemed to go to the same pool. The park is enormous but dense jungle obscures any view of pools that lay just beyond.
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| Mol on the bridge after one of many soaks |
The more memorable trip was out to Cat Ba Island and Lan Ha Bay. It started with an early morning which included physically hitting our cab driver awake from the backseat at 6:30am in bottleneck traffic and thereby slashing his overpriced fare. Up all night, buddy? We narrowly made our transfer to the triple bus/single boat ride to the island. Once again, we cooled our bodies on the beach and ate cheep pho with an elevated view of a passage in the bay that eventually leads to the Philippines and lined with a few of the hundreds of jungle capped limestone atolls that make up the bay. We booked an all day sea kayaking and climbing trip for the following day through Asia Outdoors - a very well established and affordable tour guide company. Kayaking through the peninsulas, weaving around the floating villages from which archaeologists have found artifacts dating back 5,000 years - since the bay filled with water from the recession of the last ice age - we enjoyed the soothing strokes. Our Slovenian guide showed us a swimmable lagoon only approachable by kayak, as the entrance cave is only a meter off the water level at high tide, encased on all sides by black and white limestone cliffs, which, when not totally vertical, host a couple of trees until the angle eases and flora entirely covers the rock. After our homemade Vietnamese lunch on the tour boat, we set off on a basket boat for our deep water soloing afternoon. The leathered man with a massive smile captained the small boat, overflowing with 6 eager climbers from Italy, Australia, France, and North America. Our friendly Canadian guide communicated with our captain using a blend of gestures and symbols which route to drive the nose of the boat to. The captian was a pro, and had been delivering foreign climbers to remote rock faces on his boat for the last 11 years! The climber would step of the boat,and clamber up the overhung pockets, tufas, edges, stalactites, and cracks until they were ready to drop into the water. This activity is the perfect mix of freedom, relative safety, climbing, and cliff jumping. The rock is solid, the angle is powerful, the water refreshing, and the exposure freeing. I love it and am fortunate to partake in such a seemingly frivolous activity, but it lets me escape all other thoughts and become fully present, a difficult but necessary practice in other aspects of life. The pinnacle of the trip was reaching the golden ledge - a 20m ledge just big enough to turn around - taking a pull of the stashed rum, viewing a unique perspective of the islands, and stepping off the ledge, just climb back on the boat and do it all again until I was too pumped to continue. Molly was a little nervous about her abilities, but she crushed many routes! She and I debriefed our epic day and how well it separated us from the moving the logistics we have been so riddled with over the last 3 weeks (months). The night was capped with 5 hours of dinner, cheap Bias, and unplanned club dancing, all with a nice Dutch couple we met kayaking, Kevin and Ember.
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| Floating Villages in Lan Ha Bay |
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| Run to the Beach on Cat Ba Island |
Traveling with Molly makes the experience so rewarding and special. We are able to divide and conquer our chores, the passenger can be the necessary navigator on the moto, and we share mutual inspiration for meeting people, eat new foods, and explore the natural beauty of other parts of the world - on hands and feet! As we say to each other, we have high highs and low lows, and each are necessary. Being with her provides the opportunity for frequent reflection and mutual enjoyment of the moment. I can't imagine how Vietnam would look without her. She makes it beautiful! She also feeds the fire of inspiration traveling has re-sparked in me. Being here excites me to teach students, plan lessons, coach and play soccer, learn basic Vietnamese, run an asian ultra, climb limestone, pray in temples, meet cool people, practice yoga, and of course, swimming in refreshing water. The next many weeks will be prioritized by school, nesting in our new little hood and home, and building relationships with students and fellow staff. Peace and love.
