These were taken in Paradise Cave. It is 31 km long and is the longest dry cave in the world! You have to climb about 524 steps to get to the entrance of the cave. When you enter it looks like a huge cathedral where white crystal stalactites hang all around. Some look like groups of huge melting jelly fish. You feel like you’re on another planet. Everywhere you look- it’s insanely beautiful.
The first picture is of the steps we climbed to get to the top. Not only is the scenery beautiful, but there are huge boulders and caves lining the stairway. Every so often you hear an animal sound. I swear Emme and I were communicating with something that sounded large but friendly. Every time we would stop then jump down a step it would make a noise. Then I started thinking that maybe the animal was large but not friendly- so we moved onward.
The other two pictures are of the river we were on with the women rowers. Long and windy- so peaceful.
Lennon was prepared for cave exploration that day! He kept his headlamp on for quite some time.
He was a heck of a driver even though his feet barely touched the pedals. Just kiddin’!
These photos were taken in Tam Coc on the rowboats. There are rice paddies and gardens lining the river. They are so green. There are also some homes and caves along the river, so the people don’t have to travel far to get to work.
The only way to see Tam Coc is by hiring a rowboat to take you down the Ngo Dong River. It is about a two hour trip and the rower sometimes uses their legs to row as well. Jesse was in a boat where the woman who (was 42) rowed back and her grandma (who is also a great-grandmother) rowed all the way there with her feet. She had to be in her 80s! She rocked it. She is the living of example of “use it or lose it!” If you keep going, you might get a bit slower- but at least you’re still moving. If you stop, you might not be able to get going again!
(This was written while on a train ride after a couple of other nights of travel that were a bit challenging. No worries, though. That’s part of the deal. The good news is- we always ended up where we wanted to be.)
We are on an overnight train to Dong Hoi and I have to admit, this has been a doozy of an evening. My feet are covered in mosquito bites that itch AND hurt. What is up with that?! I took a picture of the toilet- that was fun to use while going 70 miles per hour. The blanket Maddux and I are sharing smells like feet. I am listening to someone puke as I type and I think the inebriated guy two seats up from me just peed in his pants. I am watching liquid trickle down steadily from his seat area- hopefully, he just spilled his beer.
We had another gross travel experience at night two days prior on our way to Ninh Binh. It was only a 4 hour bus trip, but it was like being at a slumber party where only weird middle aged men with stomach problems were invited. Yuck! Then there was the white family stuck in the way back bouncing up and down – wait! That was us! Aye-yi-yi!
In the middle of the trip, a guy one row up from us starts loudly going through his ringtone options. Everyone is trying to sleep and he is going through EVERY ringtone on his phone. He never found one he really liked, so he just started jamming to some of his favorite tunes. What in the world!? The people around him must have really been in touch with their inner Buddhas because everyone seemed fine with it. My inner Buddha must have been asleep because I sat there angry for about a half hour listening to his cheesy music.
The funny (or sad) thing is- is that I am STILL thinking about that night a few days later at 3:08 in the morning. I should move on. I wish I could sleep. I wish I could brush my teeth! I’d settle for a good hand washing! Yikes!
The toilet picture is from the train – it looks better than it did in person. The other photo is of Emerson trying to make sense of the whole scene on the bus- it was weird!
You see this everywhere you look. I think I posted about it already, but sometimes a family of five will be teetering on a cycle. Usually, a couple babies are smushed in between, with the mom sitting side saddle and maybe a kid in front of dad. They must save lots on gas.
Oh my goodness! I have to share this story because it was like participating in some embarrassing scavenger hunt. I needed to buy tampons this morning so I had to somehow convey to our non-English speaking cab driver that I needed to go to a pharmacy/store. He didn’t understand so Jesse did the whole washing hair, taking a shower charade figuring a place that sells that stuff must also sell “lady supplies.” 🙂 I certainly didn’t want to do a charade for feminine hygiene products. I’m not shy but come on! So we stopped at about six stores and I had to show them a tampon- people wanted to hold it and examine it like it was a new fangled hi-tech gadget. Some male store owners seemed offended. One shooed me out of his store! Store after store and we were still empty handed. Our cab driver was having a hard time making eye contact with me at this point. Oh for Pete’s sake! This was getting ridiculous.
We finally found a store with women in it. One woman grabbed the tampon and said “no! you’re in Vietnam!” Then they sent me to a shed out back for a week (just kidding!) A woman stuck a large, neon packaged pad in my hand. An old woman sitting on a chair taking in the whole scene smiled big (she only had one large tooth left on her top row of teeth but that’s a whole different story.) She started yelling “Kotex! Kotex! Kotex!” All the women were talking about me and laughing as I left. At the last store I went to -the shopkeeper woman examined the tampon. She looked at it and shook her head disapprovingly. Then she put some pads in a black bag and tied a tight knot at the top. I handed her the cash, she slipped me the bag. I felt like a drug deal just went down. So strange!
A little sidenote: The amazing part for me about getting older has been the fact that very few things (if anything at all) can embarrass me anymore. It is like I have grown immune to what people think of me. Thank goodness- otherwise my face would be red a majority of the time and I’d probably be embarrassed about that!
marschmadness 