I Take Time for Nature

On my final sightseeing day I arrange for an overnight to Cuc Phuong National Park. To meet up with the tour I am required to be taken by motorbike to my lodging. Backup! What?? I reluctantly climb on the back of the motorbike, hold on to my driver who is holding on to my suitcase with one hand and his cell phone in the other, and before we head out I say to him “Just don’t kill me”. Of course, he laughs, thinking this is a joke.

Actually, the same thing occurred yesterday when my plans changed at the last minute, so I am a veteran on motorbike passengering now. In fact, the view is very different from the back seat. The ride feels slow, centrifugal force is non-existent, and I survived. Both times.

I am getting used to the ways of this country, honored to have been here for 3 whole weeks, and feeling meloncholy at the prospect of departing in 2 days.

I make the best of my day by visiting a few more temples, befriending people from Japan, and Latvia, and seeing some birds new to me, including 2 spectacular cranes. So I am all primed and ready to do some birding tomorrow, fueled this evening by a lovely dinner of fried spring rolls, rice, deep fried bamboo, potato wedges, sauteed bok choy, and chicken with vegetables, elegantly arranged on a platter for me by the wife of the owner of the Tam Coc Garden Homestay where I am spending the night.

The place is off the main road, down a few alleys, past a rice paddy or two, and at the end of a cement street of mostly poor homes. I venture off the Homestay grounds and quickly find myself the focal point of the neighborhood. One woman stops on her motorbike and attempts to sell me a massage, which I politely decline. A man eyes my binoculars and bursts into laughter, calls his wife to the porch and now they are both quite hysterical. I show him my bird field guide to assure him my binoculars are for watching birds, not for peeking into windows, but upon seeing the pages and pages of different birds he laughs even harder. I turn back to the street, embarrassed, and head back to the Homestay, all the while patiently reminding myself I am in a land I do not yet understand and who does not understand me.

Elena from Latvia communing with a water buffalo at Hoa Lu Temple. She and her handsome friend, Janis, have convinced me to put Latvia on my bucket list.

Stage for water puppet show.

Lovely, meditative pond.

View from Tam Coc Garden Homestay. In early morning, wild mountain goats are seen maneuvering the impossibly steep limestone karst cliffs seen in the background just above the rooftop.