While the guidebooks and, especially, the hotels really hype the EPRC as a world-renowned facility for saving primates, it sure doesn’t have that appearance. Granted there is probably a lot that is happening behind the scenes, but from our perspective is a small group of cages holding monkeys. That said, though, it was pretty interesting. (And rampant with mosquitos!)
The first was a Cuc Phuong Langur, indigenous to the area. The distinctive appearance being that it looks like it’s wearing a pair of white shorts. From what I could understand, they are born without the marking, then it appears yellow, later changing to white as an adult. And all the langue have the faux-hawk hairdo going for them, making them easy to identify.
The Grey-Shanked Langur is from the south of Vietnam and the little family there included a 5-month-old baby. They've built the cage special for them, and a couple of the other monkeys that come from warmer climates, to include small houses that the monkeys spend their winters in.
We also saw gibblons from the area. The cool little fact about gibbons is that they are born yellow, then turn black and then at about four years old, if it's a girl it's turns back into a golden color. There were several, including the Golden-Cheeked Gibbon that did the same sort of color switcheroo. Watching the monkey playing around was in huge contrast to the monkeys at the Thu Le Zoo, thankfully.
And out behind the center, there's the forest where they release the animals once they have been reabilitated (brought there after being retrieved from poachers and the like). As we walked by, we could see one of the Cuc Phuong Langurs playing in the tree, swaying from side to side.
We walked back up the road to the driver who took us another 9km into the park where we could hike the path. I hadn’t known just how far it would be, but I made sure the kids wore close-toed shoes and pants. Audrey had only capri pants and I was stuck with flip-flops, but we did the best with what we had. With a farewell wave to the driver we took off up the path, but we hadn’t made it more than about 10 feet when Audrey spotted this spider. It was, quite honestly as big as her whole hand with a web at least two feet wide. Stuart was brave enough to get a photo while we girls scurried away. Along the way, we ran into a small lizard, more spiders, some teeny-tiny mushrooms and a bunch of gigantic leaves.
The trek continued uphill for more than two hours and we were completely drenched in our own sweat and then with the rain that managed to fall through the canopy. We maintained the positive attitude past the 1000-year-old tree and again uphill, but as we came to another resting spot and the mosquitoes were feasting on any open flesh (my feet, Audrey’s legs), I was more than ready for it to be done. Audrey was exhausted and the path continued to narrow. When was the last time anybody had come this way? There’d been some other foreign tourists ahead of us when we’d started, but we hadn’t seen them again. We hadn’t passed anyone and no one was coming up behind us. And that path. It was grown over and hadn’t looked like anyone had been there in months. I just didn’t like the look of it and I was starting to worry that maybe we were taking the extra long (or wrong!) way back to the main area. I made an executive decision that we should turn around and despite Stuart not agreeing with my perspective, he agree and we started heading back down. We hadn’t even made it thirty feet before meeting up with the Vietnamese family that we’d passed at the ancient tree. Then the debate started again.
They seemed to know where they were going. And the old lady wasn’t shying away from it. I supposed if she could do it, so could I. We turned around and followed them out. Stuart was right in the end—it would have been further to turn around and go back. Thankfully we followed them through the adventurous trail, where the sidewalk ended and we slogged through the mud and overgrown path. We passed enormous spiders and spikey bushes. We got dirtier and wetter, but in another half an hour, we made it out into the open air. From the forest, we could see a building and I assumed it was the building near where the car was parked, but as we emerged from the forest, I realized we weren’t back where we started. We were someplace completely different. Scattered around the area were bungalows that can be rented for a night or two (which we may end up doing at a later point). Once we got out there, after having some fun with the gigantic leaves and being apalled by the filthy pool, we realized we’d lost the Vietnamese family (and especially Grandma, as we’d taken to calling the older woman). Now where? Follow the road, I figured. We headed out that way and it wasn’t long before we spotted Grandma turning the corner. What a relief to know we were heading in the right direction.
Just down the road another quarter mile or so, we were back to where we started—dirty, soaked and exhausted. We were too tired to eat, even though it had been hours since breakfast. The driver was patiently waiting for us and we headed back the way we had come, stopping briefly at the Cave of Prehistoric Man.
Now this sounds like a pretty interesting place: a cave where they found evidence of humans from 7000 years ago (including pottery, tools, skeletal remains, etc.). We reluctantly hiked up this hill, our legs still wobbly from the last hike, with flashlights in hand. As we reached the top, we could smell the incense wafting from the cave; someone had been here recently. But at that moment we were the only ones around and the cave was dark, the flashlights barely making a dent in the blackness. It was a bit much for me and with a cursory peek in, I scurried away from the entrance. Audrey wasn’t averse to going in, though and took the flashlight to have a look. I followed behind, reluctantly, and we realized that it was only a small cave, an inlet on the mountain. Inside, to our disappointment, there wasn’t a thing to be seen. Just an empty cave.
The most interesting thing about the Cave of Prehistoric Man? The fact the the rocks at the cave entrance, and the ground where were stood, were filled with snail shells. Not discarded ones from lunch, but actually immersed into the rock. At one point, this place had been underwater it seems. And <i>that</i> was cool.
We drove back to Ninh Binh, with a bit of napping (or hibernating as Audrey calls it) interspersed with awe at the rain that was beginning to fall. I was so glad we’d gone when we had and avoided most of the rain. Little did I know that it was a tropical storm heading in and by the time we got back to the hotel the rain was falling so fast, the roads were beginning to flood. And we were supposed to catch a bus back to Thanh Hoa.
There would be no buses heading out from the bus stop, the hotel clerk told me. Our only choice was to stand out on Hwy. 1 and flag down a passing bus to Thanh Hoa. Well, that certainly wasn’t going to happen in this weather. Boxes were starting to float downriver/down the street at this point and I wasn’t going to ask my kids to stand out in it, just hoping that I’d figure out which of the dozens of passing busses was the one I wanted. So, I talked with the hotel clerk about getting a taxi. He suggested I just get the same driver and have him take us back to Thanh Hoa. We had to get back for class in the morning. The driver agreed and was back, in the middle of the heaviest rain I have ever seen and willing to drive us the hour-plus south so we could get home.
The drive back took nearly twice as long with the flooded roads and slow traffic, but at a bit after 5pm, we were finally back to Hong Duc’s campus. I’d already paid $34 for the car ride when we’d checked out of the hotel, but this guy had really, really gone out of his way for us. Dangerous conditions. Hours in the car. Hauling three stinky foreigners around. He deserved a little extra. So I gave him a coulple hundred extra VND for his efforts. He was, as could be assumed, a bit surprised to get the money, but it was worth every bit of it to see the smile on his face. That man, Mr. Phu, had certainly earned it.
travel blog: www.teresaandkids.com travel site: www.vietnamwithkids.com