Monday, February 23, 2009

Vietnam: Day 6

Day 6 (Friday, Jan 9, 09): Pu Luoong/Thanh Hoa/Ha Long (B, L, G)
This morning, we'll hike around the village, then head to Hin village where your vehicles will be awaiting for you to take you to a local market-on the way. It's an excellent opportunity to photograph the local commodities, the interactions between buyers and sellers, and the culture of Pu Luong's minority communities.
From there, we drive to visit the remarkable water wheels of the Muong people. After lunch, we'll take a ferry to cross Ma River and hike a kilometer to visit Cam Thuy 'Scared Fist Stream'. We then drive to Ha Long City where we'll spend the night.
The Sacred Fish Stream is a unique and mysterious experience. Fast-flowing water gushes out of a cave at the base of a limestone precpice. Just outside the mouth of the cave where the current is strongest, dozens of large freshwater fish with pink-tipped fins congregate and jostle to be as close to the cave entrance as possible. They remain there all day, occasionally breaking off to swim downstream to feed and then return to the group. They are entirely oblivious to people-you can pabble amongst them if you wish, but beware of slippery stones and the strong current. The nearby villagers revere the fish and protect them from poachers, which may account for the fishs' indifference to human interlopers.

no journal entry from this day

Looking back...
This is was very light day, thankfully. We walked from the homestay for about 5 minutes and saw the vans waiting for us, which was a reilef. Drove and drove and drove. Sacred fish stream...pretty cool, but not as exicting as it sounds. I also didn't get too many great shots there. We ate another delicious lunch. P ate chicken head. She also bought a large knife. We get to Ha Long City at night and ate some yummy pho and/or rice for dinner and P bought some of us our first beers that was had in the country. Yay for my first legel beer: Bai Hanoi!

random shot:



















good shot:

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