Vietnam ,Part 2

On the third day in Vietnam I traveled 4 hours by bus to Cat Tien National Park. It was absolutely glorious! Many of you know am a fond of the wilderness and of hiking and that is all I did for the next 2 and a half days. 13 of us arrive around noon and got assigned room numbers. Since my name was at the end of the alphabet I got a room all to myself. Finally, a chance to be alone. My room was in a different building from the rest of the group and on top of that it was about 120 yards farther back in the woods from everyone else. I was in heaven. After getting settled in we took a boat ride up to a village where we spent time talking to the locals who were descendants of the X’tieng and Ma ethnic minority groups. We got back to our rooms 2 hours before dinner so I decided to take a walk with my Oceanography professor, his wife, and 2 other students. After dinner everyone went to sleep because there was not much else to do but I was not tired yet and decided to take a walk. I headed into the forest and then psyched myself out about 10 minutes into the walk and turned back. We woke up early the next morning, ate breakfast and then did a 10 km trek through the jungle. I was in front of the line with our tour guide and some of our group fell behind because they were taking pictures so I basically had a one on one tour of the Cat Tien jungle. Half way through the hike we stopped at a small village and observed crocodiles. On the second half of the hike I basically did a speed walk with my professor. It was an easy hike because the ground was flat and at sea level, therefore very easy to breathe. We got back for lunch and then had free time until dinner so I rented a bike and peddled 20 km through mud and rocks. So fun! I got really muddy and my shoulder muscles were sore because the bike was of course too small for an American. After dinner we got on a bus that did not have a roof and went searching for wildlife in the dark with the help of spotlights. The best part about this was that it was pouring rain, I was soaked the minute I stepped onto the bus. Loved it! The next day we went on a short hike and discovered a moon and sun bear sanctuary. It’s an organization called free the bears and they save black bears from bear farming and as pets. The bears were living in cages not much bigger than the actual bear and had catheter tubes running into their sides so they did not have to get out of the cages. The sanctuary was just built and only 16 bears lived there. This could be a good trip for future Semester at Sea participants who are interested in animals and in building onto the sanctuary. After the hike we had lunch and then boarded the bus for another 4 hour drive. I don’t know what part I liked more; having a whole room to myself, hiking 10 km in 2 and a half hours, biking through mud, sitting on a fast moving bus while rain poured down on me, or seeing bears regain their freedom again. This trip was hands down 10 times better than the Amazon but ties with hiking Table Top Mountain in Cape Town.