Scott + Audrey in Viet Nam: It's a jungle out there

Thursday, July 7, 2011

5:18 PM (Vietnam Time)

Scott and I visited a private island today. The hotel manager, Bac Chau, his sister, and several other men own an island off the coast of Ha Tien called Re Lon Island, meaning “large roots.” They are working to turn this island into a vacation destination for tourists within the next three years and must visit frequently to oversee the construction work. We left with Bac Ly (Bac Chau’s sister) at 7 am this morning. Scott and I bought some street food – baguette with scrambled eggs – and got our first dreaded run-in with MSG! No wonder the food tasted too good. MSG is a substance that looks a bit like salt that is added to many Asian foods because it enhances the savory flavor. MSG makes food taste amazing, but it comes with side affects for some people, including Scaudrey. Scott gets a tingly throat, and we both become extremely drowsy to the point of exhaustion, and a sleep comes that neither of us can fight back. This is exactly what happened, but at least it helped us to fall asleep on the ride there.

Adventure girl!

He's been dying to get one of these hats

We arrived 2 hours later at a small beach, where we waited for the boat to arrive. The boat pulled up, and it was a tiny wooden boat with a rhytmic motor that echoed through plastic pipes and that barely looked like it could stay afloat. The man manning the boat could not pull it up close enough to the shore, so we had to ride on a styrofoam platform to get to the boat. I got in the water, Asian squatted on the platform, and the man pulled me across the water onto the boat. Scott did the same thing, and I was afraid he would break the poor thing since Scott is oversized here. Once everyone and everything was on board, they started the engine, and we rode off toward the island to the beat of the engine’s Blue Men Group.

Waiting for the boat

Floating dock

A little wobbly

The expert

The ride was bumpy and waves crashed on either side of us, splashing our faces and our clothes, but we were in heaven. Ever since Bac Chau told us about the island, we have imagined going their and yearning for an adventure. We were definitely feel that on the boat as we splashed through the waves toward the island. After a 20 minute boat ride, we docked on the island and were surprised to find that some people were living there and that it was not completely undeveloped. Homemade shacks and huts made of leaves had been constructed. Scott and I were in awe, though, because we were on a private island! We explored and took some pictures, and Bac Ly and the men asked us to follow them. For the past 2 weeks, a dirt road had been dug out along the coast of the island, and we walked along it. A little boy, who looked about 5 years old and who we later found out was eight, followed Scott and me the whole way. The men and Bac Ly pointed out the sites of where they were going to build different parts of the resort: bungalows, a spa, and a resting house. They then decided to hike up into the island at a pretty steep elevation.

Captain and his right-hand man

Island time

Audrey's tour guide

Tough guy

We headed into the forest with a man with a machete in the lead. Scott and I were huffing, puffing, and sweating all the way up. One old man laughed at us as he pulled out a cigarette to smoke and disappeared into the jungle. Thoughts were crawling through my head: what if spiders, snakes, and jungle creatures jumped out at us? We kept on trekking to a destination we did not know. We were crawling under branches, pushing through leaves and shrubs, and stepping over long roots and vines. Finally, we heard it. It sounded like a strange bird, except its sound wasn’t pretty. It was more of a screeching and screaming. There was commotion overhead as we tramped up to the tree, and we looked up to find FLYING FOXES!

Flying foxes

Largest genus of bat

Island co-owner

Scaudrey in the jungle

The men had brought us all the way up here to see these creatures that lived in this particular tree. These flying foxes are also known as fruits bats, and this genus (pteropus) is one of the largest in the world. The flying fox is an endangered species and is protected on this island. It is something truly spectacular to witness this rare animal in its natural habitat. There is no other way to describe the fox, aside from my Californian jargon—it was gnarly. Once we quieted down, all the bats flew back to the tree to hang. I had never seen a bat before, and they are really strange creatures. Their bodies are almost rat-like except they have a large expanse of leathering wing. Scott took many pictures, and we marveled at Mother Nature. I felt like we were on the Discovery Channel or some Indiana Jones movie. After the hike, the men took us to the more untouched beach on the other side of the island. The clouds had cleared up, and the sky was blue. The rocks were covered in barnacles, a sign of a healthy ecosystem, and light waves were crashing on the red rocks. We could see other islands and fishing boats lining the blue horizon.

Blue skies

Back at the beach where the hut was, I lounged in a hammock while the men laughed at how tired I was. Scott took out his frisbee to play, and the young boy shyly accepted the offer. At first, he was extremely hesitant to catch and throw this foreign disk, but he eventually gave in to fun as little kids often do. He giggled and laughed and seemed like a real boy. His 3-foot demeanor was so intimidating to me earlier as he was walking next to me along the road, barefoot, watchful, and silent. We decided to jump in the water, so I told him we wanted to swim. He disappeared back to the hut, and then came bounding back with his shirt off and sandals and jumped into the water. The three of us splashed around and tossed the frisbee around in the water and enjoyed the Vietnam sun and the island’s waters. We were called in for lunch by Bac Ly.

Soaking it in

We headed back up to the man-made hut to find a feast laid out before us that had just been cooked. There was a bed of sorts made of bamboo that we all climbed on to eat lunch. Everything was freshly caught today. We had vegetables with fresh muscles, grilled fish, rice from Bac Ly’s farm (best white rice we have ever had!), and of course, nuoc mam (fish sauce). We ate out of little white rice bowls with chopsticks, and all the men commented on how well Scott ate with chopsticks and how he held the rice bowls like the locals. Scott and I ate until we were stuffed, an then they brought out a pot full of hand-cought sea snails. The woman of the hut went outside to chop us toothpicks out of bamboo, right then and there! We pulled the snails out of their shells, picked off the innards and footpads, dipped it in fish sauce and put them in our mouths. They were chewy, sweet, and tasted like the sea. Scott and I enjoyed several with Bac Ly and could not believe that we were sitting in this hut, eating sea snails like we were island people.

After lunch, Scott and I fell asleep in hammocks to be woken up by one of the island owners, saying that it was time to head home. The boat ride back was bumpier than the first, and we were sad to leave. Bac Ly told us that if she comes back while we are here, we were invited. We were absolutely fine with that.

After a long ride back home, we were hungry. We also ran out of water in our room. All the people in our guesthouse were making fun of us for buying a 20 L jug of water by the name of “Caliwa.” Scott had come to call his water, “My boy, Caliwa.” They wondered why we were spending money on water when the guesthouse had free water from the hospital. Scott went to return his boy, Caliwa, and get his deposit back. While there, the owner of the company was excited to meet Scott and talk about his children who were studying in the States. He also recommended that Scott try the grilled fish here. Scott came back excited and ready to find the $3-4 fish that the Caliwa owner was talking about. We hopped on our bicycle and ventured out toward the dock. We went down dark street after dark street asking where we could find ca nuong (grilled fish). We finally found it and sat at the small tables and chairs outside the restaurant. We could see the fresk fish marinating and grilling. We ordered ca bo, which turned out to be an extremely meaty fish. The waiter brought out rau, rice wrap, and noodles. We fashioned ourselves little spring rolls filled with fresh fish. At one point, I got so excited about the amount of meat we were getting and the whiteness of the flesh, that I knocked over my entire bottle of beer. It seems that I constantly make a scene at the restaurants at which we eat. I have not seen Scott happier about food here. He kept saying that he could eat at this restaurant every night and never get sick of it. He would even come back if he got a stomach ache from eating there. The damage we did was only $10 USD for the two of us, and that included a large, daily caught fish.

-Audrey

See the rest of our full-size photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbauer810/sets/72157627011360334/with/5855972348/