Lak Lake To Di Linh

This morning we awoke to the pleasant surprise of insect free bedding. The defensive measures, wet towels, that we put at the door held the bug battalion at bay. Gordon was out here and there providing air cover. As we walked over to check lit out, the kids spotted this scene of bug flying critter carnage providing the fodder for an ant feast. We were able to use the 'See it could have been worse' line, to which they sped up their pace.

After a little breakfast we boarded our next mode of transport, elephants. This huge lumbering segment of God'screatures were the Caterpillar Machinery of their time, but in Vietnam they are now just for the tourists. After boarding from a high platform, we took our elephant down a path and though the water of Lak Lake, which came surprisingly high up on the beast. He rolled up and down some steep underwater gradations and it was a little like being on a slow motion roller coaster.

The mud, after we exited the water, was a few feet deep in places, and whenever our guy seemed to be a little stuck he would always manage to pull his feet out accompanied by a huge sucking sound. The extremities of Patti's great creature are in about 18 inches of muck.

Tara's way with animals was a factor once again for today's activity. When Patti and Tara reached the water their super taxi was going to have nothing of it. In fact, he started backing up and did not stop walking backwards for what seemed like an eternity. Needless to say I was praying for their safety from my perch afar-off. Patti instructed Tara to hold on tight as she was very worried that they might be part of a stand up, and dumped off the back. After a little calming their elephant took the high road.

When we were done with the water we went four wheeling through the village. We basically just walked through everybody's business, it was a little awkward.

I have been able to practice my Vietnamese quite a bit and even picked up a few new phrases. 99% of all the folks we have interacted with do not have English As A First Language and barely a second or third. My vocabulary is still very minuscule but comparatively better than the English of these first graders who could only say "Hullo." They need some work :-)

Riley tells us that her nickname is 'Water Buffalo', and now we have the picture to prove it. Tara was not going to press her fortune by getting on this big guy. Even though the kids of the village ride these around, she was not convinced that there would be any love for her. Our guide continues to claim that Riley is the first tourist ever to ride a water buffalo.

After the elephant races we continued down the road and made a few more stops. One of which was to visit a family that has what might be best described as a silk worm farm. Here is inspector Riley getting a closer look.

We ended our drive at the nights accommodations which were head and shoulders above last night. The property is a set of villas complete with pool, waterfall and fishing hole.  The kids loved the dinner as it was in essence an all you can eat bar-b-que cooked in real time right at your table.  This place had all kinds of bugs as well, but I was able to leverage last nights success into a convincing pep talk for tonight.  Tara fished for the first time just like an old pro.

Patti had read that in Lak Lake all money is gone from the ATMs by 10:00 am. We confirmed that also is true for all towns in the countryside. We had our guide stopping here and there and everywhere as we tried to find 9,500,000 to pay him for services being rendered. We still have not been able to get more money...this could get interesting.

Today's images in the 2014 Lak Lake To Di Linh album.