The first activity planned for today was a rowing trip into a cave which is near the hotel. We filled up on a good three course breakfast again!! New things to try this morning were dragon fruit, pork dumplings and local honey tea. All delicious.
Our planned route for this boat trip in VÂN LONG nature reserve is renowned for beautiful scenery, a wide range of birdlife and a very distinctive monkey population. The Delacours langur are a critically endangered species. There are estimated to be around 275 remaining in North Vietnam. Their black and white colour and long bushy tail makes them really unique. We were hoping to spot some!
We got into the typical Thuyen Nan squid boats two at a time and started off on our trip. The scenery was spectacular and the mistiness of the morning only added to the atmosphere. The water was punctuated with stunning pink water lilies and flanked by rushes. The soundtrack to our morning was a medley of bird calls, monkey noises and the lapping of the oars in the water. After a while, we were lucky to spot a monkey in the far distance. We only managed to see this due to our expert guide!
We looped around a small cave and headed back down the river. After a while we saw that Ronny, who was in the boat in front of ours, had spotted something very exciting! We expected this to be another monkey slightly closer up, but when we drew level with their boat, we were treated to the amazing view of a full family with two babies. The babies were very lively so we were able to watch them leaping around. Dave was extremely happy as he had a perfect opportunity to test out the zoom on his new camera. 
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Sorry about the number of photos, I couldn’t cut them down any further. Also, video of the langurs later.
Burnt Rice Factory
We were off again at 10 to visit some farming families. The first family lived in a typical tube house which was narrow at the front, but then extended a long way at the back. The lounge was very traditional and had many pictures of ancestors and family members, including one who was a veteran of the Vietnam war. At the back of the house was the area where they produced the Vietnamese burnt rice. ( It is called cơm cháy – literally “scorched rice”) It is a popular crispy snack and specialty dish traditionally made from the crust left at the bottom of an iron pot, then fried until golden and often topped with pork floss. We all had a chance to taste it and it was really delicious.
On the way out the family gifted several of us a pomelo each – handy for a snack later!! 😀
Our next stop was for lunch and an insight into rice farming. We approached the farm through mango, lime, sweet potato and pomelo trees. Before lunch, we had the opportunity to head out into the rice paddy and try out some traditional techniques for transferring water, fishing and planting rice. We all had great fun donning the traditional outfits and wading through the thick mud. Our resident photographer, Thin, got some great photos for us! 😀
We were hosed down, scrubbed our hands free of mud and sat down for our lunch. This was cooked in the open air by the family and comprised of the following:
Spring rolls dipped in soya bean sauce. Goat meat with veg, fresh garden herbs and fresh pineapple,
Crab and green leaf soup, morning glory and banana fritters. It was really great.
After all this excitement, we got back to the hotel and had a couple of hours free before the afternoon activity options of a local walk or bike ride. We met in the bar before heading off and to my great joy I was finally able to buy some beers after our successful trip to a cashpoint this morning! We were very grateful for the multiple stops at cashpoints that Thin had arranged for us and for the various offers of loans since our cards had been failing to work!!!
Dave went cycling and saw lots more monkeys and some water buffalo up close. My guide also got very excited when he spotted the monkeys, soI managed to get some video….David Attenborough beware!
He cycled to the village with the guide and saw how they use every little space to grow fresh vegetables and herbs . Also there were a lot of children who wanted to wave and say hello – exhausting and then he saw the local temple. Dave was also the only one of the group to go on the bike ride so he felt a bit bad for the guy as he would only get one fare. He was also very excited to see the monkeys so close, so hopefully the trip was worth his while! The rest of us went for a lovely walk and saw some very cute goats, cows and a lot of birds.
Grown Up Delacour Langurs
Baby Delacour Langurs
We gathered in the restaurant at about 7.30 to avoid the mosquitoes who were inhabiting the bar by this point! From eight we were able to take our time over a chicken hotpot. We could cook it ourselves this time in the boiling pots of broth and could add chicken, tofu, fresh and dried noodles, mushrooms, Chinese cabbage, sweet potato, carrots and greens including the various flavourings such as soy, lime and chilli.
We then settled our bill and headed off at 11:20 to get our night train onward!