ON THE ROAD/ HA LONG BAY

In recent years due to deforestation and climate change, floods have become a yearly problem for residents of Central Vietnam during the rainy season. While a few days of our trip were muddled up by the inclement weather (not that we could avoid driving through flooded roads, an experience that reminded me of making the choice to "forge the river" in the early 90's computer game "Oregon Trail" except that in real life, I was not worried that my oxen would drown but rather that I might perish in the rapidly rising water!) the brief inconvenience we experienced pales in comparison to the long term problems faced by those whose homes and entire livelihoods were completely destroyed by the flooding.

Seeing firsthand how flooding devastates the Vietnamese countryside, I found it hard to imagine that this is a YEARLY occurrence--meaning that people return to their homes, replant their crops, and resume their day-to-day lives only to be ousted again sometime in the future by the capricious nature of...nature. Watching children playing alongside roads turned rivers, I was struck by the tenacity of the human spirit; I am not sure that perseverance is ever something I will completely understand but over and over, in both my travels and my every day life, the fact remains: in spite of how awful/terrible/ life threatening things can be, somehow, in the midst of chaos, life carries on.

The many tour boats of Ha Long Bay

Nga, one of our program administrators, and I inside one of the caves at Ha Long Bay.

Channeling my best friend Lauren, photographer extraordinaire, I decided to try out her trick of using my sunglasses as a tinted lens for my camera. ON POINT as always--her suggestion made for a particularly awesome photo!

At Ha Long Bay, there are many different caves open for exploration by tourists. This cave, although less dramatically lit and stalagmite-y than the other caves we visited, was my favorite stop of the afternoon, mostly because it still managed to look and smell like a cave (I am all for flashy lights and dramatic music, but the way some of the caves are staged at Ha Long Bay is taking things a bit TOO far!)