After the end of the CELTA course, a few of us decided to go out of town for the weekend. We simply couldn’t stand the idea of being away from each other after spending 8-12 hours a day together – I think the intensity of the course banded us together. And they’re a nice group of kids. Would you like names? And countries of origin?
Greg (US), Anna (Wales), Nam (Vietnam), Mitchell (US), Jouke (Holland), Nikola (Wales), yours truly. Cameraman- James (Australia)
We planned on going to Halong Bay for swimming and boating and general partying. But alas, a typhoon hit, so we had to change plans. Nam pretty much arranged everything for us – it’s good to know a local. We started at Ninh Binh where there are some temples. Nam gave us a history lesson of said temples, and I would gladly share this with you if I could remember any of it. I got the impression that thousands of years ago, it was the capitol of Vietnam, but Hanoi stole the title due to geographical issues or something. 
The temples were beautiful, and the shrines held within were offered a range of gifts from small bills to crackers and chocopies. I took an excessive amount of pictures lest I forget a single statue or corner. **Warning, tangent ahead** Digital cameras are fabulous, right? You can take hundreds of photos, share them instantly, delete those that fail to capture your stunning radiance. My life the last 4 years is much more thoroughly documented than the 21 years prior. You could fill libraries with my flickr page and those of my friends. And I totally love it. I do. But then you travel to somewhere new (say, a temple) and then proceed to waste the entire time trying to get the best picture your amateur skills will allow. It sort of takes away from whatever holy thing you’re dying to get up on your webpage. In my traveling over the last few years, I keep expecting something more to happen when I visit these sacred or beautiful spots. I want to feel connected to something outside of myself without the help of mind-altering substances (such a shortcut really, it’s like cheating). I’ve succeeded (I think) on occasion. There are times when I can snap myself out of my daily reality and stop that endless loop of bullshit that runs through my head all day. The forgotten childhood curiosity and wonder shows its pretty head, and I can feel that I’m just a tiny piece of something much larger. But it’s usually quite brief and utterly rare, and almost never brought about by the grand sights meant for that sort of thing. As awe-inspiring as the Grand Canyon was, I could barely get myself to think past “Wow! That’s a really big crack! Hee, hee, I said crack.” Pondering over the giant crack further (hmmm…it took the Colorado River 6 million years to carve out that crack…six million years is like…ouch my brain hurts…awesome) made me feel that awe I’m supposed to feel, but mostly in an academic or intellectual way. Boring. Am I looking for God? No, not particularly. I still identify as an atheist, but I’m a hippy atheist dammit and I yearn for some sense of spirituality. I don’t think I have to drag God into it. Shit, this is going down a rabbit hole, so to prevent myself from attempting to hash out my beliefs (or lack thereof), I’ll go ahead and end the tangent. My basic point was supposed to be about my disappointment in not being moved by moving sights, and my theory that my camera may play a (albeit small) role in that. But I’ll end the tangent with a quote from Tom Robbins’ Still Life with Woodpecker, which I sadly finished today:
“In a society that is essentially designed to organize, direct, and gratify mass impulses, what is there to minister to the silent zones of man as an individual? Religion? Art? Nature? No, the church has turned religion into standardized public spectacle, and the museum has done the same for art. The Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls have been looked at so much that they’ve become effete, sucked empty by too many stupid eyes.”
Ahh, where was I? Ninh Binh. Right. The highlight of the trip was the Tam Coc river canoe ride. It’s about 2 hours long, and you go through 3 different caves along the way. It was absolutely gorgeous, and presented that scenic side of Vietnam that I was hoping to see. Once you get to the halfway point, there are a bunch of women selling cokes, water, beer, and candies out of their canoes. You’re ruining my attempts at a religious experience with your cokes, ladies! Jeez. Mitchell pointed out that along the river, it seemed to be our Vietnamese rowers who had the bright smiles on their faces and the tourists who all looked weary and grumpy. The Vietnamese would just chat away as they passed each other, perhaps comparing their living foreign cargo. Our dude thought we were French. I’ve now been confused for a Russian, a Frenchy, and an Aussie. Still inexplicably flattered by this. American guilt?
After Ninh Binh, we stayed in Cuc Phuong National Park. We got to see some endangered monkeys at a rescue center, and monkeys are just as cute in real life as they are on Animal Planet! They’re just like us but smaller and cuter! I could watch them swing for hours. We also got to explore a cave. 
I think there were tombs in this cave, but I don’t recall seeing a tomb or much of anything else for that matter. It was pitch black, so we basically just scuffled along with the help of one small flashlight and a cell phone light. The caves came equipped with bats as well, yippee! We ended at an opening and decided we would just climb around the side of the mountain instead of going back the way we came. It was quite challenging for the flip flop wearers of our crew (hey, we thought we were going to be swimming and drinking), but we made it alright eventually.
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