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Donnerstag, 4. Oktober 2007
04.10. (Phong Nha)
ihmsen, 12:27h
After my trip to Hoi An I decided to take a stop at the release site of our primates in Phong Nha and to see the famous cave there.
Unfortunately (there it is again) I arrived on Tuesday just a few hours ahead of a typhoon.
At the beginning it wasn't so bad, just raining all the time, which is not so special for Vietnam, as you might have read from my last blogs.
Phong Nha is similar to Cuc Phuong, it is situated in a mountainous area and as well is pretty far from every major traffic hub, so once there, it is not so easy to get away.
When I arrived the project manager and his wife were gone to take a short holiday in Cambodia, now that the release ceremony and all the stress connected with it, is over. So the only people in Phong Nha were the Vietnamese project assistent and the German volonteer Judith.
So yesterday after lunch we decided to take a short look at the release site to see if everything is still in shape after all the rain. We started to worry a little bit when we had to drive through several stream had appeared where used to be the street.
One was so deep and had such a current that we had to park our scooter and proceeded on foot.
We discovered that the situation was problematic and we should open the flood gates, unfortunately Judith forgot the keys at home (and I will blame her for that my life long ;)), so we had to go back to fetch the keys.
And now the, ehm, interesting part begins, as it was already pretty close to dawn and the typhoon got worse and worse.
We called the Vietnamese assistent and drove back to the hill. It was already raining so heavily that you seemed sometimes to hit a massive wall of water, even before we arrived to hill we had reached the point where a raincoat is useless, because your clothes already seem to be so wet that they won't take up more water (which proved to be soo false ;))
At the time we reached the first flood gate darkness had already fallen, so we had to open it only lit by the small light of our torches.
That's definitely something that belongs on the to-be-done-in-life-list. It is actually pretty much of a experience to walk around barefoot (as flip-flops are actually the kind of shoes made to walk in water which reaches till your hip) at night in the jungle during a typhoon.
But the floodgate had to be opened or the water would underflow the fundaments of the fence, so our choices were limited.
Two hours later we had cleaned all the exit canals (some were blocked by whole tree trunks) and opened all flood gates we drove home, which as well proved quite adventurous, because meanwhile the storm had grown to it's full strength and we drove in a slalom home trying to avoid all the branches flying around.
When we reached the village it got even worse, because there whole trees had fallen down and an electric line was cut, the ending whipping around. But somehow we managed to arrive safe in my hotel, just to see the next surprise, when parts of the roof fell down, fortunately in a section of the building where no one was at that moment.
Anyway, I was far too exhausted to care about that fact and nearly collapsed onto my bed, after we had our delicious survival dinner (two packs of cracker and four beer :))
When I woke up this morning the scenery had completely changed, the wind and the rain were gone, but where had been yesterday a street, now was a river. Which presented another problem, as we had no boat.
But with the help of a friendly priest, I could organised one, which brought me, my driver and the motorbike out of town to the highway which was build on higher ground.
So now I'm in Dong Hoi waiting for my bus to Ninh Binh. As I wasn't able to take a shower yesterday night or this morning (even if we had had electricity and warm water, I probably wouldn't have taken one, because I was so glad to be at least half-dry), I am pretty sure that I stink like a polecat, a status which will last for at least 24 hours more, since I am wearing the only pair of dry clothes that's leftover. Anyway the nightbus isn't actually known for it's cleanliness :)
Unfortunately (there it is again) I arrived on Tuesday just a few hours ahead of a typhoon.
At the beginning it wasn't so bad, just raining all the time, which is not so special for Vietnam, as you might have read from my last blogs.
Phong Nha is similar to Cuc Phuong, it is situated in a mountainous area and as well is pretty far from every major traffic hub, so once there, it is not so easy to get away.
When I arrived the project manager and his wife were gone to take a short holiday in Cambodia, now that the release ceremony and all the stress connected with it, is over. So the only people in Phong Nha were the Vietnamese project assistent and the German volonteer Judith.
So yesterday after lunch we decided to take a short look at the release site to see if everything is still in shape after all the rain. We started to worry a little bit when we had to drive through several stream had appeared where used to be the street.
One was so deep and had such a current that we had to park our scooter and proceeded on foot.
We discovered that the situation was problematic and we should open the flood gates, unfortunately Judith forgot the keys at home (and I will blame her for that my life long ;)), so we had to go back to fetch the keys.
And now the, ehm, interesting part begins, as it was already pretty close to dawn and the typhoon got worse and worse.
We called the Vietnamese assistent and drove back to the hill. It was already raining so heavily that you seemed sometimes to hit a massive wall of water, even before we arrived to hill we had reached the point where a raincoat is useless, because your clothes already seem to be so wet that they won't take up more water (which proved to be soo false ;))
At the time we reached the first flood gate darkness had already fallen, so we had to open it only lit by the small light of our torches.
That's definitely something that belongs on the to-be-done-in-life-list. It is actually pretty much of a experience to walk around barefoot (as flip-flops are actually the kind of shoes made to walk in water which reaches till your hip) at night in the jungle during a typhoon.
But the floodgate had to be opened or the water would underflow the fundaments of the fence, so our choices were limited.
Two hours later we had cleaned all the exit canals (some were blocked by whole tree trunks) and opened all flood gates we drove home, which as well proved quite adventurous, because meanwhile the storm had grown to it's full strength and we drove in a slalom home trying to avoid all the branches flying around.
When we reached the village it got even worse, because there whole trees had fallen down and an electric line was cut, the ending whipping around. But somehow we managed to arrive safe in my hotel, just to see the next surprise, when parts of the roof fell down, fortunately in a section of the building where no one was at that moment.
Anyway, I was far too exhausted to care about that fact and nearly collapsed onto my bed, after we had our delicious survival dinner (two packs of cracker and four beer :))
When I woke up this morning the scenery had completely changed, the wind and the rain were gone, but where had been yesterday a street, now was a river. Which presented another problem, as we had no boat.
But with the help of a friendly priest, I could organised one, which brought me, my driver and the motorbike out of town to the highway which was build on higher ground.
So now I'm in Dong Hoi waiting for my bus to Ninh Binh. As I wasn't able to take a shower yesterday night or this morning (even if we had had electricity and warm water, I probably wouldn't have taken one, because I was so glad to be at least half-dry), I am pretty sure that I stink like a polecat, a status which will last for at least 24 hours more, since I am wearing the only pair of dry clothes that's leftover. Anyway the nightbus isn't actually known for it's cleanliness :)
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