Historically, Adam has been afraid of driving motorbikes in Asia and of seeing snakes in the wild. In the middle of Halong Bay, on the seasonally deserted Cat Ba island, the lack of traffic made following the windy and hilly island roads easy.
In Cuc Phuong National Park, our “expert” guides informed us that the snakes and tree frogs were in hiding due to North Vietnam’s chilly spring, but this didn’t stop us from looking for them constantly without any luck. We continued our search at Cat Ba with the same chill weather, but much less people, enjoying slow meandering hikes. Our stubbornness paid off. We watched a tree frog jump from leaf to leaf. While still excited about our sticky-footed friend, we realized we were standing right next to a bright green tree snake. With these two finds, these new-found jungle dorks would have left the park happy. Unfortunately, nearing the end of our hike, we interrupted a giant King Cobra in the middle of a sunbath.
Adam’s still afraid of big snakes, and this one gets bigger every time he thinks about it. Hiking through the Cat Ba National Park the seemingly endless jungle-covered hills surround you, obscuring the ocean on all sides. Giant snakes aside, we like it that way.
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