Primates and Ha Long Bay

We've been out of the jungle now for ten days, so where did we end up this week? A monkey sanctuary! I'd been having withdrawal symptoms, and as Karen, Naomi, Chloe and Dave were keen on a day trip it seemed like a good plan!

The Endangered Primate Rescue Centre at Cuc Phuong National Park is home to monkeys and gibbons that are dire need of human intervention if they are to continue living in the wild. Vietnam has 24 species of primate, including 12 species of langur (the ones with the cool, punk-like haircut), 5 species of macaques (a stereotypical monkey), 2 species of slow loris (nocturnal bundles of fur with large eyes) and 5 species of gibbon (the acrobatic apes with long arms and legs). A quick tour of the rescue centre introduced us to several of these, including the Cat Ba Langur, of which there are only 60 wild animals remaining, and the beautiful Duoc Langur. (Worth looking up on Google until I get some pictures up!) The centre keeps the animals in captivity before releasing them into one of three semi-wild enclosures in Vietnam. From there they can be released when they're ready to be returned to the wild. Unfortunately for many this isn't possible as hunting is still a massive problem in this country, and our guide wxplained that they were waiting until hunting stops before they can release certain species. I'm not an incredibly skeptical person, but I can see that the future is dim for many monkeys in Vietnam. Having said that, visiting the centre was a very positive experience and it seemed surprisingly well run, so maybe there's still a glimmer of hope.

Yesterday, we went on a group tour to Ha Long Bay. A boat trip took us to see some enormous hunks of rock towering up above the sea. Our grumpy guide pointed out that one particular rock is featured on the back of the 20,000 dong note. There were some interesting people on the tour, including a guy called Bruce from Australia who'd left his job for six months to travel, two Korean girls who got stuck in a kayak (due to lack of steering ability, not literally stuck due to being too round), and two Vietnamese ladies who thought we were so incompetent at using chopsticks that they had to instruct us everytime we tried to eat anything. It was a nice tour, albeit the weather was rubbish, and an enjoyable day. More enjoyable, I suspect, than the 20 hour bus journey we face tonight into Laos...

...stay tuned!

Rachel