We’re No Land Lubbers

Back to Cat Ba City, Vietnam 

Hi, it's Dex. After a fun, but chilly night’s sleep on the boat, I went downstairs to find Mom with Lauren, who was reading her French book.  Mom was trying to follow along and could kind of understand the comic she was reading.  I noticed that the book was in cursive, which is hard for me and she’s only six! After breakfast and some more boat confusion, we were, or at least the guides were surer of the plans.  So, what I understood was, we were going to head back to the harbor to drop off Kieran and Amanda, before climbing, but what I didn’t know was that we would pick up a boatload of people, literally.

Lauren and Kylie

When we finally got back to where we started in the morning, we and four other people got into a little basket boat to take us to the rock climbing beach.  The main “junk” boat was too big and wouldn’t make it in the shallow cove.  After putting on our harnesses and listening to the instructions, we were ready to climb.  There were two ropes set up, so Kylie and I bravely stepped forward to go first.  The climb was really hard and a couple of times I got into a jam.  I had to backtrack a little bit to find a good foot or hand hold to pull myself up.  After about ten minutes, I finally made it to the top.  Kylie, quicker and on the shorter route, was already down waiting for me.

After playing on the beach a little bit, Kylie and I decided to make a shell shop. For about ten minutes, we ran around the beach collecting the biggest and prettiest shells we could.  Then we found a nice place to set up all the shells and opened a “store.”  Though nobody ever came, we still traded shells with each other and had a good time.  It was about then that Dad came and said Kylie and I could have another turn.  I was able to do the one Kylie did, which luckily was a little easier.  There were more handholds, bigger rocks, and places to rest.  The hardest part was actually touching the eyelets at the top.  I was just a little too short to reach but finally, after clambering up another rock, touched the top rope.

Meg on her way up

 

When I got down, I watched Kylie finish and slowly get lowered back down.  Coming down, was one of my favorite parts.   Since we had some time, we started playing in the tide pools, which had lots of hermit crabs and sea snails.  I also noticed a pineapple tree, which Mom and I had been searching for ever since getting to Cat Ba.  We must really be in a tropical place.

Just then, I noticed Conner and Nate setting up new ropes.  Conner called me over and said I could try one of the two new routes.  Not knowing what I was in for, I picked the one on the right.  It was super hard, especially because I’m not very tall.  I almost quit a few times since I got into another jam and could hardly move. Thanks to Conner’s careful guidance and Mom and Dad’s encouragement, I finally made it.  I felt really proud when I finally touched the eyelet.  

 

Conner said it was a 6-1, whatever that means.  Kylie and I played on the beach while everyone else finished their climbs.  I found a really big snail shell right before I left and decided to keep it because it had some really cool spikes on it and even a tiny muscle.  When we got back to the junk boat, I was really excited for lunch, because I already knew how good it was from yesterday.  We talked with Graham from Washington state, who was just doing a one day tour and afterward jumped off the top of the boat one last time.  Another basket boat took us back to the harbor.  Unfortunately, I realized that I forgot my big shell.  Ahh, dang.  

When we got back to the office, we had to say goodbye to the French family.  Then we got our bags and walked across the street to the hydrofoil, a fast passenger boat to the big city of Hai Phong where we would pick up our sleeper bus.  Once there, we decided to get some Pho, but … that meant crossing the road – four lanes of speeding, weaving, honking traffic.  Eventually, we made our move and made it across.  I was terrified.  We found some pho (noodle soup) along with some Oreos and chips for the bus.

When we finally got on the bus, we saw we each had a top “bunk” and strangely enough, ended up next to another French family, who were traveling for three months and had two kids, Zoe (9) and Tom (7).  The beds were narrow and uncomfortable.  I was so glad I was small, but poor Mom and Dad could barely fit. (Dad’s note: apparently at 5'4" and 5'7" we are at the high end of Vietnamese.  I did not envy the 6 foot plus French father who somehow crammed into place.)  After some more bus confusion, we started moving and it became clear that the “sleep belts” were there for a reason.  I would have bounced off my top bunk many times if it weren’t for that handy device.  On the plus side, at least our driver didn’t honk.