I took a motorbike taxi to Butterfly Valley with some other people from the climbing shop that were going out that day. The drivers waited for us while we climbed. My ribs were still pretty sore since I had started climbing again since arriving in Vietnam. I had taken so much time off while teaching the monks that I thought they would be better by now, but I suppose all things heal in due time. Not a big deal though, I think my skin on my fingers hurt more than my ribs did. Once again, all that time off climbing I had lost my callouses on my hands! Tragic I know...but also in due time they will return. So the important thing during a time like this is to focus on how to enjoy and get some milage on the rocks. Just moving around felt damn good to the rest of my body. Each day that I climbed I was sore like none other and felt I could sleep a year after, but pushing myself a little while here was what I choose to do. Time is money and I cant stay here for ever...or I'd die...of Rabies. Gotta short time before I needed to get to S. Korea for my next shot, so I wanted to climb as much as I can. I'm pretty sure that Sangwon in Seoul will force me to rest alot...even if I'm okay...so enjoy now was my goal hahaha.
This is how they keep cattle tied up. They dont brand or tag cattle usualy here, and they just run a rope through their noses to keeo them from running off. I thought this little one was so pretty, and so different from the waterbuffalo I had seen all over the country sides of the rest of SE Asia. A real cow! Wow!
The climbing was fun, sharp but still fun. I questioned some of the bolting on the routes and wondered if I was safe if I were to fall, but that was on the lower grade stuff. Strange that people would be careless on the lower grade stuff considering that is where people warm-up and where beginers (or injured people) would be climbing. It was a nice day though, and I am glad I got out and saw the place.
My time had come to leave Ha Long Bay area…so before I left, I stopped in town to pack my things.
I decided to get a mango shake and some apple cake that the menu at the cafe boosted...I was a little surprised when the 'CAKE' that arrived at my table was nothing less than simple fried apple rings...guess thats what I get for expecting a cake when I have never even seen an oven anywhere in Asia. Oh well...it was deffinately an interesting experience HAHAHA.
As a last stop some of the climbers were at the shop and I stopped by to thank the owners for letting me join their outtings the past couple days at such short notice. As a farewell we took shots of the local rice whisky...nothing to write home about....but I decided to write home about it anyway...because that was also an interesting experience.
I took a motorbike from my guesthouse to the docks where I then took a small boat from Cat Bat Island to the port on the main land.
The port I arrived at was very industrialized and not at all like the experience I had while touring the bay on the junk the previous week. It wasn't touristy, it wasn't beautiful or picturesque, and it for sure wasn't like the postcards I sent home. It was raw and ugly and I liked it.
You may think...wow...she went to a dirty ugly port and felt happy; what is wrong with her?! But I don't see it that way at all...
This is what the land looks like after it is sucked dry of usefulness, this is what it looks like when the only purpose is to function in order to make money. It's not pretty, glamousous, or proud. It's something to be ashamed of and yet it is something to be inspired by to not let happen to other areas around the world. It's a tradgey to nature and yet I liked being there for the short time that I was. I felt that it is important to understand that when you travel to another country and the tourist industry pushes so heavily this nice image of what a place will be and you experience that and feel good then just go home from your holiday vacation. While often times there is a whole other world behind the scences you never see, experience or even phathom.
I like to discover those worlds, places, people and experiences. I feelt that those things are what makes the different cultures and people stand apart. I have found many of these types of experiences in different places around the world, and regardless if it is a good feeling, a bad one, or an overall shock, I always feel richer inside because of them. You gotta open up your mind and your eyes to see the world as it really is.
In this photo I sat on the curb of the street and waited for the bus that would take me to the next city where I would then catch a bus to Hanoi before leaving Vietnam and head for Seoul, S. Korea.
Vietnam had been a great expereince. It's a bit hard to explanin...its over-run with poverty, and everyone is looking to make a dime off of you. People are not nearly as kind with out hidden agendas as to how to take advantage of you and it is far more difficult to travel around than it was in the rest of Asia. It was a great experience, and I would love to go back again in the future and see the areas I didn't have time to see due to my medical conditions at the time...Time to get to the hospital in Seoul for my injections for Rabies!
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