The next morning, we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. I learned there were two other guests that were staying separately. I wonder if the chefs here were annoyed they had to cook so much for so little of us.

Tam and his pho, he said he didn’t taste the love in it.

Corn soup with goat heart and toasted rice cracker. Also, some nearby boiled chicken and veggies.

Tam holding one of the five bananas I ate for dessert.

We hopped onto the tour van and headed to another restaurant. I don’t remember how long that drive was, but we literally just ate. I can’t complain, I love a food tour. My favorite dish of the Vietnam trip was here: corn soup with goat heart, served with a crispy rice cracker. I also ate like 5 bananas; I love bananas.

A plot with water buffalo, kalabaw in Tagalog.

The area we were in is called Ninh Bình; our tour guide called it the Hạ Long Bay of the mountains. Like many parts of Vietnam that we visited, there were rivers, wetlands, and marshlands. In the distance you could see these towering mountains; they reminded me of the mountains I had seen in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. One of the mountains in the distance was a bright, striking white… Typical of limestone. Did they mine limestone here? Limestone is used for construction… I suppose that could have been it, especially with the boom in Vietnam’s economy in the past 15 years.

It’s amazing that humans can level giants that have stood for millions of years.

We drove deep into these mountains, until finally we were next to a river called Tràng An. Our next activity had locals paddling us around to different valleys within these mountains. The smooth, murky waters reflected the forests around us, broken by only by diving birds or jumping fish.

We hopped on a boat with two strangers and took off. The woman rowing our boat wore long sleeves and a big hat, no doubt a way to protect herself from the sun. There was no wind pushing through the valley, so it was humid as ever. Our first stop was at a temple built into the side of the mountains. I wondered if these were newly built or have been there for a while. In any case, I fed the koi fish, before taking off again. Also, Uncle Dad said we should hurry.

The boat ride would be 3 hours.

After this, we entered our first cave, where the temperature instantly dropped. While it was required for us to wear life vest, we were not required to wear any helmets in this cave. Surprising, since many of the cave ceilings came as low as our heads. There were a few times the woman told us to duck. The only source of light in the caves came from the bolted into the cave walls. Imagine rowing through this cave with only a torch? Or maybe even just a gas lamp? What if your light went out? Would they travel in groups or in pairs to always have a source of light? What if you find out you have claustrophobia in the middle of this? Why would someone choose to row these caves, not knowing how long it is? What drove them to explore this, especially without knowing what was on the other side?

A train of boats within one of the caves.

When we finally did get through to the other side, we were greeted by some temples. It was beautiful but I had MANY MORE QUESTIONS. How long ago was it built? It didn’t look like any of the cliffs nearby were mined, so how did they get materials for the temple through? How many trips did it take? Aside from the people, this place was quiet. You could hear the trees rustle, the birds call, and the water lap up against the stone stairs of its dock.

We would go through 2 more caves of varying lengths and see more temples. There were plots of farmed land with other structures getting built. We even saw a man paddling with his feet. I imagine doing these trips every day was extremely tiring. In one of the caves, the woman pointed up at the ceiling to show me how tall it was. Even the light couldn’t reach it. At this point, we also heard squeaks calling down to us. I whispered to Tam, “I hope it isn’t bats.”

I bet you can guess what they were.

Seconds later a bat flew out towards us, and all the passengers on our boat gasped or screamed. Hard to tell. The woman rowing our boat chuckled at us. Before our trip, Tam and I visited a travel nurse for advice on what shots to get. He said we should get the rabies shot if we thought we would be seeing stray cats, dogs, or bats… We opted in, just in case. By now, we had now seen all three, so I sure am glad we did.

Eventually, we saw some structures that looked newer. Apparently, The Kong: Skull Island was filmed here. We didn’t stop at the island with these structures… And clearly the structures were never removed. I wonder how people felt about that.

After we finished in Tràng An, we headed to our next city, Phủ Lý, to check in to our hotel, managed by Vincom. For background, Vincom is a large Vietnamese conglomerate, with its business interests in retail, hospitality, technology, and more. When we entered the hotel, we were greeted with marble floors, a vaulted ceiling, and golden columns, all reminiscent of the Baroque period. Of all the hotels we stayed at, this one was the fanciest and felt most out of place with the surrounding neighborhood. The other buildings seemed to be 3 floors at most, this one was 20. Dirt clung to the overhangs and signs of all the buildings, but none seemed to be near ours.

We heard people practicing for Reunification Day, the day northern Vietnam recaptured Saigon, now officially called Ho Chi Minh City. For people in the diaspora, this was known as Black April… For all the death, grief, and sadness for the lives lost and families split as a result of the Vietnam War. It’s jarring to see and understand that this could be a celebration, when your family’s trajectory was directly impacted by it.

We rested for a bit, headed out to dinner, and got a Cambodian style dessert across the street from our hotel. On our way back to our room, we explored the pool, the gym room, and other rooms in this building. What kind of people came to this town? What kind of business was conducted here? It was such an fancy hotel so out of place in this part of town.

Once back to our room, we watched condensation form on the window, blurring the any light that could reach us.