December, Pre-holiday

Sorry for the long delay in my blogging. But, then, you all know that I am not ever frequent in my communications, so trying to post even monthly is a challenge for me!

Scout’s “CAS” Week December 2-5

After a lovely Thanksgiving feast with the Sumrows, the following week Scout had her first time away from us–a three night/four day school trip to Vung Tau. Her school does this each year for the first week of December. Each grade level goes to a Vietnam location for 3-5 days for Creative/Activity/Service experiences. She loved hers, and the Year 6 girl drama was deftly dealt with. She returned full of stories.

In the meanwhile, I ran a SEAMEO staff training: “How to talk about your job in English” and Shannon concluded his fall semester online UAA courses.

Travel: Cat Tien National Park December 6-8

At the conclusion of CAS week, Scout had a 3-day weekend, so we booked a trip to the national “jungle” park, just a 3 hour drive north of HCMC. A driver picked us up at 7am Friday and we saw, for the first time, the city north o f us and its surrounding areas. We stayed at a hotel just a 2 minute walk away from the park. We spent the first afternoon at Cat Tien on a slooooooooow walk through the jungle. I must say it was the slowest walk I have ever taken. It was like doing meditation or yoga so that you could take in the world that none of us live in.

Then we took a bike ride through the local “town.” This felt great after the slow pace of the jungle walk. However, I did one of my classic falls (which happens when I bike slowly). I turned a corner, looked back to tell Scout to also take the turn, and ran into Shannon. Down I went into his bike, hitting my right knee. Blood streamed down my leg, so I rinsed it off and got back on the bike to continue the tour. Scout played nurse in the evening. 🙂

Saturday we hiked to the crocodile lake. We started on bikes, but mine fell apart after 5 minutes, so a truck came along to get us and we rode on seats in its open back until we arrived at the hiking trail. (Scout loved this.)

Crocodile Lake reminded me of more secluded places in Alaska, except that crocs were swimming around! Both Shannon and I want to return to Sapa and Cat Tien, but our goal this year is to see as many places in SE Asia as possible. I guess that means I must spend more time in VN because, like Alaska, there is so much to see.

Sunday morning we woke very early to take a boat slowly and quietly along the river that separates the town and the national park to watch for birds.

Once we returned and had breakfast, we jumped on the back of motor bikes and took a tour across town to a local waterfall for a swim. What a cool experience to travel at 30 mph along country roads, stopping to look at rubber plant farms, temples, etc.

My favorite “take a way” from this short trip was seeing and hearing gibbons in the wild. Marina Kenyon is the English primatologist who started the gibbon rescue center here 10 years ago, and she is my friend whom I met through my waterfit+ classes. (Scout doesn’t know this yet, but I am learning the gibbon calls, which I practice with Marina sometimes in the pool!) My other favorite take a way from this trip is how much it is NOT touristy. Although not quite Alaskan, it is very real.

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