Visit to Tran An - Part I

On Tuesday, Jean-Baptiste Regis joined us at Phat Diem. Jean-Baptiste is spending seven months in Hai Phong teaching English as part of a program sponsored by French missionaries. He graduated from college last year in Nantes, France, and wanted to do something different before starting work. He is 25 years old and his parents live in Paris. Fr. Khue insisted that we take a day and visit both Trang An and Bai Dinh, and we accepted. Huang, one of the pre-seminarians came along as he speaks both French and English besides Vietnemese. Trang An is a river (actually, a very large stream) that is shallow, calm, and runs underneath the limestone mountains. Quan paid 80,000 dong for each of us (about $4.22) and we got into a boat with a guide/paddler.
The wonder of the mountains coming directly out of the water is like what we saw at Ha Long Bay. We were always looking up, and each turn of the river brought about new vistas. Every spare bit of earth was packed with vegetation with only the sheer rocks bare of any growth. The air was quit except for the crickets, the goats, and the sound of the oars in the water.



The river goes under the mountains. I thought that perhaps the air would be cooler under here, but it was just as hot and the humidity was more oppressive. There are normally lights all underneath, but the electricity was out and my fear of enclosed spaces kicked in. We had 500 more meters to go until we reached the other side, and knowing that we would have to do this again to return, our guide kindly turned back.