VAN LONG NATURE RESERVE HAS A LOT TO OFFER

Just look at that boat!

When you reach, you will find that the length of the Van Long Nature Reserve is bordered by a road. It is a nice straight road and you can walk along it as you gaze at the wetlands. You will find that this is a great option if you don’t want to get into the actual boat and float around. If you’ve got a cycle or a motorbike then riding up and down the road is a great way to see the vast expanse of protected land. We did this even though we did head out on the boat tour. We chose to take the boat. Why? It was one of those traditional boats that were woven together. I think the experience itself was calling our name so we decided to go ahead. I mean look at the boat! Why wouldn’t we? Getting into the boat always takes a great deal of balance from my end. Not something that I have been blessed with. Let’s face it. Once a klutz always a klutz! Luckily I made my way to the sweet spot of the boat without throwing us over. Shawn on the other hand was his usual balanced self.

The illusion!

At first glance I was almost mistaken. Anything that rocks on water feels like it is floating on the depth of a river if not an ocean. The Van Long Nature reserve builds that illusion up. The water should appear stagnant but it doesn’t. Tiny ripples caused by the evening breeze mimic a tide or a flow. As the lady rowed along, I noticed that the nature reserve was actually quite shallow. There was a lot of different kinds of aquatic plants in the water that made it hard to see just how shallow though. The calm of the evening is often interrupted by the rustle of the leaves and the flight of birds. Did I mention that the best time to sight a variety of the avian species is in the early morning or in the evening? I’m not sure what the early morning timings of Van Long Nature reserve are but since I am not an early bird I tend to choose the evening. If you get here in time for the sunset, it is really pretty. We found ourselves floating around watching the birds swoop down and catch a bite to eat while we enjoyed our boat ride. It was late evening. In fact, once we were done, the sun was rather low on the horizon so we decided to stay and watch it set.

Sometimes hard work will get you nowhere!

Since the boat wasn’t one that we had been on before we were intrigued. The rounded shape is something that you see in the Vietnamese countryside. Most tourist boats in Trang An and Tam Coc however do not resemble these. They are built to carry more people. One of the constant sounds that I remember was the rhythmic splash of the oars. The lady who guided our boat through the backwaters was an expert. It takes skill to navigate through those waters. Shawn tried his hand at it and soon came to realize just how strong the Vietnamese women are. Me? I preferred to be perched on a safe spot. I was half worried that if I moved too much, we would all fall straight in. That however was my hydrophobia acting up.

Tourists lounge locals work! I think this man was catching snails.

The tour of the Van Long Nature reserve came to a stop and we saw a group of tourists watching a nearby hill intently. It took us a while to understand what our guide was telling us. She spoke no English and us no Vietnamese. Eventually we figured out that there were monkeys in the distance.

We were trying to spot monkeys in those hills!

Eyesight is always a bone of contention when you are trying to spot something. We spent over half an hour looking at the mountain in the distance. The seconds ticked away and the minutes passed us by but we could see nothing! There were people getting excited all around us and yet neither Shawn nor I had spotted the elusive creature. Shawn used his DSLR as a telescope but not luck. I tried the idea and failed. Just as we were about to leave I saw a spot dart across the landscape. It moved ever so fast that I wasn’t even sure if I saw what I saw. It was only when the incident recurred seconds later that I understood what everyone had seen and interpreted was more like a Rorschach’s test without my glasses.

And so they take flight!